GPS tracking
 

Several years ago we went on a schooner trip in Maine. One of the fellow passengers had a small GPS unit that he kept on during the trip. Later he emailed .JPG files of the trajectory to all passengers. It was really nice to have and print out for the photo album.
Anyone know what type of GPS unit it might have been? I would love to do the same for our upcoming trip to Switzerland & Italy.
Michele

Okay - I'm not a techno wizard and my DH and sons deal with the GPS, but I would venture a guess that if this happened with a GPS "several years ago" - then TODAY - almost any good quality GPS is capable of doing that.

I never really thought about printing out the points my husband inputs. That's a neat idea!

Of course, DH is still kicking himself for not taking a "way-point" at the Great Wall!!!!

You can buy GPS trackers quite reasnobly.
I have one to use with my camera, from Qstarz.www.Qstarz.com
SOny also do one and there is a really neat new one the APT photofinder: http://tinyurl.com/2hurxn

Just about any modern GPS will accumulate a tracking file that can be downloaded to a desktop and printed out. Google <b>geocaching</b>.

That's true, but if you want to link it to photos and embed the coordinates in the EXIF you need software to so it. The trackers I mentioned all come with easy to use software.

There are tools that will co-ordinate picture files from any recent camera with the data from any recent GPS unit. wwmx.org/ has one of them.

Very different from getting out the charts, the camera, the compass, the sextant, the sight reduction tables and the old slide rule. :)

((I))

I have two Garmin GPS units and they do very different things.

One is the Garmin Nuvi 370. This one guides me when I am walking and driving. I get voice prompts, restuarant locations, etc.

The other is a GPSmap 76CS. This one keeps track of where I've been, shows me where I am but isn't so good at telling me what to do.

My guess is that your friend used a mapping GPS like the 76cs. I use the 76cs on my sailboat and when I am done with a sailing trips, I can download my tracks and see how utterly aimless and right brained my sailing trips are! I can also view things like speed and altitude at any given point over the course of my trip.

For my European travels, I take the Nuvi.

One place that sells GPS data logger is www.buygpsnow.com ( http://www.buygpsnow.com/Department/...ta-Logger.aspx ). I have bought couple of items from them but not data logger.

Incidentally - I added the tracking and photo stamping capability to my toolbox for zero outlay for either hardware or software. Because my GPS isn't a dedicated unit with its programming burned into it: it's an iPAQ Pocket PC computer that will run thousands of (mostly free) programs.

Sshepherd - Do you need to buy a separate European mapset for the GPSmap 76CS? Or will Garmin let you use the Euro maps from the Nuvi in the GPSmap 76CS? I suspect not. I'd love to have both units but between the 2 devices (approx $400 each) and having to buy 2 European mapsets ($250 each), I'll never sneak this by the wife.

Perhaps just making each point of interest a &quot;Favorite&quot; on the Nuvi would give you map coordinates that you could upload into Mapsource on your home computer (?)

The 76CS unit came pre-loaded with a basic map set. I did end up purchasing topographic maps of the US and a European mapset called City Select, which is no longer sold.

I see that there is a world map set that sells for $99. That may do what you want.

The Nuvi I bought came with NA and Europe pre-loaded (no DVDs), but I've heard that you can ask the company to send the DVDs. But I don't know if those maps are compatible with the 76 series GPS. The Garmin site will show the maps that are available and what units they work on. If you'd rather discuss this privately, my email address is [email protected]

Well, I consider myself fairly technically savvy but just don't understand how it all works. I looked at the suggested websites and did some research on geocaching to see if it would help me but if anything it got me more confused.
Nevertheless, thank you all for your responses. It was a nice idea, and I'm not a quitter but so be it.
Meanwhile I'm glad the thread has initiated discussion and perhaps others will enjoy the benefit.
Michele

I finally found exactly what I was looking for and thought I would share it with all of you :-)
Michele

duh, it might help if in my excitement I also share the link with you: www.trackstick.com/