iPad wifi - GPS

Thanks very much Fred. I'm now also told it has my name & drivers licence engraved on it, so probably not much chance of an exchange!

Paul

Fred,

your going to have to excuse my ignorance but I to am getting the wifi/3G ipad for Xmas. Is this receiver an actual stand alone (unsupported by 3G) satellite receiver. Ie; will it work for me in the middle of the Great Sandy where the merest thought of 3G is a distant memory? I'm a bit new to these things and was going to stick with the Trackranger/Ozi set up on a laptop and use the Ipad for a few other bits and pieces as well as engine diagnostics through the Torque App. Can I use it as a navigation redundancy with the badelf GPS receiver?

Thanks

Mick
(Not quite a Luddite but I can see it from where I'm sitting!)

Hi All,
the 3G Ipad has WiFi as well as GPS. The WiFi only Ipad does NOT have GPS.
Yes, the GPS will work anywhere like any other GPS. Can't speak for its quality of reception as I do not own a 3G Ipad. have heard good reports though. I have just purchased a Bad Elf external GPS for my Ipad. No chance to test it yet and am yet to set up software and maps.. I do not at this time see the Ipad as a threat to my laptop running Oziexplorer or my 7"chinese GPS running the same; I see it more as a back up. Others may beg to differ... who knows.... lol (:
regards

Hello FredB,
Regarding your 7" Chinese GPS, how's the screen brightness? I have been considering buying one but have heard that the screen brightness is not all that great in daylight on the dashboard for some of the units. If yours is ok could you give me a link to it. If anyone else has one they are happy with the screen brightness could they send me a link to it.
Cheers,
Al-one

no problems with the GPS. bought mine from Elinz Electronics Melbourne
regards

A few photos of the iPad setup
http://bretthampson.smugmug.com/Hobbies/GPS/19787775_7cq3bc

That's a deliciously elegant setup Brett.

Not like my current thing with a Garmin eTrex on the dash, a laptop on the back seat and a touch screen mounted on a floor mount where your iPad is and 3 12V power leads (requiring 2 cup holder 12V double adaptors) and about 8 wires connecting it all together. And every so often when you hit a big bump a wire will fall out & everything stops. I'm exhausted just describing it! But it has got us to some fantastic destinations over the years.

However it does occur to me that I am never likely to be anywhere with my iPad without my iPhone which has a personal hotspot which apparently also gets the GPS signal to the iPad! See these links Wi-Fi iPad 2 Gets GPS With iPhone 4 Connection Sharing and Will iPhones Personal Hotspot Make the 3G iPad Irrelevant?. All with no wires apparently (other than those needed to charge the batteries). Hopefully.

So now, it looks like I await the visit of the fat jolly chap in red & white in 22 more sleeps to see what I can & can't actually do.

Interested in your apps though as I was thinking along the lines of VMS, which I note is available for $50 off for the next week or 2 @ $149. But free sounds good, especially if it gives me maps like the ones in your pics.

Keep you posted & thanks very much. ExplorOz to the rescue again.

Paul, Kalgoorlie

I've got the Mud Map app and whilst pricey ($150-199), it has excellent turn by turn nav, topo, hema and other touring maps included, as well as the ability to download, for a reasonable price, 25k sheets if desired.

It's called VMS I think and it's log is a 4WD on a sun set incline. Search the app store.

You've already got a handle on how to get good GPS to a wifi iPad, but holler if you have problems.

Just re-read that you'd found VMS. Have a look at Motion-X - can download great free maps for use when out of cell range. Much cheaper, but different benefits.

Tim

Are you saying that MudMap could guide you through the Simpson or off road outback track? Tracks like the French Line or the Rig Road through the Simpson. Or is it just a city, town or main road street by street gps?

You did say; "I've got the Mud Map app and whilst pricey ($150-199), it has excellent turn by turn nav, topo, hema". From that I understand that you are saying that it can follow a Hema map.

I do not understand how you can download when out of cell range. The way I see it is that no connection to a cell means no connection to the internet. Thus no download. Or are you talking about a download from a PC?

Let me explain; Whilst I worked in electronics and communications and computers for decades things are moving fast and with the use of acronyms I get the wrong side of things.

Phil

Hi Brett,
I am going to have to look at your setup as I definitely don't like the memory map option, and its expensive. I have heard that memory map is not that great either.
regards

If you have no maps then those like vms or memorymap (also packaged as Hema app) are good with their preloaded. What I didn't like was that I couldn't import my own maps into them.

I myself didn't want to be tied to an app that could only use the maps supplied by the app developer, hence I wanted an app that could convert ozi files and the standard ecw map format so that if they decide not to develop the app anymore, then I can move to another app and not have to buy the maps again.

I have already downloaded all Australia in 1:250k from Geoscience website (ecw files all for free). Got hold of all nsw 1:100k & most 1:25k for nsw (also for free on the net). Loaded up and works well.

The twonav app is not free but cost around $70, but they had a special a while ago when it was down to $40. Went and bought 2 x $20 itunes for $30 when they were on sale, so the app only cost me $30 :-)

The pc software that goes with it has a full function 30 trial and after that limited features if you don't want to pay like me, but even then I can still import and convert maps which is all I want to do.

The iphone gps receiver is not as good as the ipad gps receiver. The ipad must have a bigger internal antenna. The ipad/iphone do not need internet connection for gps provided the maps have been transfered to them before you leave.... a simple procedure like copying files on your computer.

Hi Brett,
Can I ask please where did you get the bracket/mount for the ipad & approx cost Thanks in advance

Hema now have a IPAD app with maps, $179

Apparently uses memory map as the driver app but comes with lots of hema maps.

Just search apple app store for hema maps.

I have been playing around with the free version of memory map on the IPAD.
I had a VMS 500S unit and was able to copy all the memory maps from the VMS unit to the IPAD, seems to work OK.



I have a horrible feeling it may be time delay on them but if not I have a fairly comprehensive set of maps on the IPAD.

Bitmap is also a goody as can use OZIEXPLOERE maps

Richard

Richard have you been able to get the GPS to work with the ipad BITMAP app? I canbt seem to get it to fire up, can see teh map but no GPS positioning

Bond,
Yep I have.

There is a problem with it in the previous release. A new one just came out a day or so ago.

Once you install it you have to delete your maps and then reload them again.


There is still another problem which I have reported where it does not show the correct location. I have reported that as well.

This has been the case since the iPad iOS 5 upgrade. It is out by a lot and would be unusable which is a pity.

Richard

Re Bitmap, I downloaded the app for my iPhone some months back & just couldn't make it work with any or my maps, especially my Natmap raster 250k set. The instructions were absolutely incomprehensible to me as were the responses from the App developer so I never bothered further. Anyone else had better luck more recently?

Paul Kalgoorlie

Paul,
Not sure if this is your problem but what you have to do
Is Put the map and image file in to a ZIP file (ie compress it) then add that file via iTunes to the bitmap app.

Richard

I do have bitmap installed but do not use it much. I only use to play around with and as mentioned above it currently has a bug which makes it unusable
I do not like the way it does things.
Like a lot of people I am hanging out for OZIEXPLoRer however if a version does not come out soon I reckon a lot of people will start using other tools.

I have been playing around with MEMORY MAP on my ipad recently and it looks OK. Given I have a VMS navigator and was able to move the VMS maps to the IPAD it has cost me $0 .

Richard

Seeing as Tim couldn't be bothered answering my post I will ask it again.

Does Mud Map have turn by turn navigation with the Hema maps?

That's what Tim posted.

Anyone know?

Phil

Hi Phil,

Maybe dry your eyes about my response speed - your post was off-topic and buried in a follow-up. This isn't the Apple Store my friend.

VMS from Mudmap has turn by turn and also Hema, but it doesn't quite do both together.

How about filling the idle time waiting for a response looking here. VMS app info

Or reading the rest of the thread

There's a good chap.

Steady on there Phil - I suspect Tim simply hasn't been online again since to be able to respond.

The way I read it was that it does turn by turn but not necessarily on the Topo & Hema maps as they are mentioned after the turn by turn. I can't imagine anyone would have spent the time necessary to create turn by turn instructions for Hema & Topo maps.

Cheers Paul

Thanks Richard. If others can get Bitmap to go, I might have another crack at it. Thanks for all your help guys, it's turned out to be a very interesting thread.

Paul

Thanks Paul

That's what I thought about the "turn by turn". VMS does NOT have it on the Hema maps and I have not as yet heard it on any other navigation aid that reads Hema maps.

But then I read it again and it looked like he was saying that it did. I guess I expect too much in the punctuation and grammar department.

Turn by turn with Hema! Now that would be an advancement. I did it for a family run up to Cape York but I am certainly not going to do it again.

I wont bother about the other information I asked for.

Thanks Paul

Cheers

Phil

What a busy thread this is, seems like a dozen different topics.

I also have MUDMAP on my IPAD, it was free so why not. You pay for the maps.

It is not turn by turn. It works like Oziexplorer but can not use OZI maps.

Based on my VMS 500s device the turn by turn is a totally different application. You choose which app you want to run.

On the 500S I can pick turn by turn app or Oziexplorer or MUDMAP or memory map. So out of the 4 only the first is turn by turn.

I doubt that they have come up with any thing special to allow turn by turn on Hema maps.

Pity though. I used to run GPs stuff on a PDa which allowed me to run two apps as once. I had. copilot which is turn by turn running at the same time as Oziexplorer so I could look at the Ozi maps while listening to the turn by turn instructions, fun but not practical.

Richard

Hi Tonyy,
The holder I have for the Ipad is a standard Ram mount arm "RAM-B-316-1-202U" and the holder is "RAM-HOL-TAB3U". I chose this holder as it will hold the ipad with a silicon case on it (or any other tablet I may get down the track around the same size). Total cost for this was approx $100 plus shipping. The arm I got locally while the holder I got off ebay from the states.
Only issue is it still vibrates a little to much on rougher roads, so I have come up with a very technical engineered solution. A strip of vecro that runs around the shaft of the holder to the transfer case lever. Its not in the pictures though it does work very well.

Brett

Sure is busy Rich

I also have a VMS in the dash. Best thing I ever did. Beats having to worry about laptops and the like being in sight and making the car "attractive" to thieves. iPAds etc etc. Dont have one nor want one. I dont even take my mobile with me. We have a sat phone for emergencies only. Other than that it can all wait until we get home.

But I was interested when one post said, or appeared to say, that they could download when not near a cell. Satellite download??? But I really do not care now.

I purchased a DVD with a bundle of maps on it and downloaded a heap giving us almost 10Gb of maps. And scanned a few of my own. I have several 8Gb cards that I set up for three different parts of Australia. That and paper maps will do us.

Very very rarely use it for street nav in towns.

Take care

Phil

Phil,
Not me who said could download without the net.

I have a gps as well as the iPad, we take the iPad to allow us to keep on touch with family.

Security is an issue as you sAy.

The mount I have for the iPad sits under the dash mat and can hardly be seen making less obvious than gps stuck to the window.

I find I can use the iPad instead of the paper map to get a big picture but still have paper maps. I know am getting over gadgeted if yo know what I mean. How did we survive before all this technology.

It is hard to think what will be around in 5to 10 years, assuming we are allowed to drive cars then :).

Richard

Rich

The download wasn't you.

Don't you worry about water with the ipad on the floor. Listen to what the woman says is under her seat in this youtube video: Stuck in the river

We had a leak once and it took ages to get the carpets dry. But that's where we go. If you are only "on road" then it is a different matter. We had water over the bullbar crossing Nolans Creek last year up on the Tele track on Cape York.

Before GPS's we used compasses and maps on the bonnets. We also had a "sense" of where we were. I will never forget going almost all the way around a hill in the Grampians on an army map reading course, at night. We cottoned on when one person said something about "not being right". Neither did the stars lie. The damned hill was full of metal. It threw the compas right out. And the instructors knew it too!!!!!

The sat phone is there for emergency. The boys can call us if they wish. Mostly they just send an email. A tad different to your mob.

Cheers

Phil

Terra,
It is not something that Apple make very clear as can be shown by the many questions on the topic.

Why it is not included in all models beats me though. But Apple plays the marketing game very well or should I say money game :).

Richard

Rich is right - it's not in the least clear when you buy online, as my wife did, that you don't get GPS with the wifi only model. In fact it was only when looking through the Navigation topic & past posts on the Forum here at Exploroz that I stumbled across it.

I'd love to be able to send it back but there is the matter of it having been very thoughtfully engraved with my name. There is also the matter of not looking gift horses in the mouth, especially when your wife is the gift giver!

I think the iPhone will be fine as the GPS unit.

I was lucky and found that out the same way before buying my wife an IPAD1.

When I bought my IPAD2 I didnt even get a sim card.

Rich

I have an Acer Iconia 32Gb WiFi only. ( which by the way has GPS )
Could you explain what's involved in running oz I on an android please??

I have heard that Androzic is the go on Android. It's free and uses all your Ozi maps. I'm assuming the Acer is running Android.

Gronk, you can download the android app from the Oxiexplorer android web site. Transfer the app to your tablet and install it. They also provide another app (image to Ozf) which you use on your PC to change the Topo maps which most of us have in Raster format to an Android friendly version. (Doesn't take long) . Transfer the transformed maps to your tablet in the oziexplorer map folder, Start up Ozi and away you go.
Also have Ozi on my android phone. Same as above just smaller screen.

I use a normal GPS for around town navigation but but the Android tablet is sooo much better for the 4WD off road maps where the tacks are smaller and my older eyes need a bigger screen. The tablet will also run other around town navigation systems such as Sygic (which is quite good) but I still use the normal garmin GPS as you look a bit of a dork with the large screen stuck on your window around town.
Beside not sure what the police might say about it.

Mikehzz, yes the Acer A500 is an android tablet running Android 3.2
My wife aslo has an Andriod Motorola Xoom tablet which i reckon is a bit faster on the draw.

Thanks for that.....will have to do a bit of playing..
I haven't got any Topo maps on the computer.....well I have on an old computer ( Topo maps) but I can't transfer them to the windows XP on the newer computer I'm running.

Brenton, I was very happy to see that some one had put up about the Android Tablet. I have a 7" I brought from E.Bay for $265 and it is the best GPS I have ever used, and I have had 5 before buying this one. The screen res is brilliant, I looked at a Hema 5 and it was just on a small angle from me and I could not see the screen. It does not have a phone but who wants to carry around a 7" phone.

Yeah my wife has a 7" Galaxy Tab android and it is a phone as well. Her little phone had problems so she put the sim in the Galaxy for a while and it was a real laugh watching her take a call :-). It is a good GPS as well.

Gronk, what's the actual problem with the file transfer. There must be a way. SD card, usb drive, cd burn, put the old drive in the new computer as a spare drive etc etc

My ipad gps works well sitting on the passenger seat. Don't know about a camera but a bluetooth camera should work. I would check Google first though :-)

Ipad like the Iphone uses assisted GPS, very fast and accurate to get a fix as it uses triangilation to establish position. The 3g function is needed for the triangilation hence why you dont get it in the wi fi only

It's best to mention that it doesn't actually need the assistance to operate as a gps. Otherwise people get the idea that it needs the phone towers. It does not. Nor does it use any data getting an assisted fix. The only time it will use data is if it has to download a map to display your position. Easy, put the maps on the device first. The assisted gps is full of misconceptions....

It's best to mention that it doesn't actually need the assistance to operate as a gps. Otherwise people get the idea that it needs the phone towers. It does not. Nor does it use any data getting an assisted fix. The only time it will use data is if it has to download a map to display your position. Easy, put the maps on the device first. The assisted gps is full of misconceptions....

I thought I should emphasize it by posting twice ;-)..... not.....the computer froze and I didn't think the first one got through. Oh well...

Assisted GPS is the way to go, no more waiting for signals, fast and accurate.