Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/10/13
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Peter, Some of the dedicated GPS apps on smartphones will come with their own maps builtin/stored on the phone (or downloadable). Apps like Goole Map (or the much maligned Apple version) will need a data plan or as Bill correctly pointed out you will know a co-ordinate but have no idea how you got there or where you are going. GPS' are not terribly useful without maps (good for backtracking but that's about all). I use an iPhone with a 3rd party GPS map which allows me to download maps from OpenStreetMap.org for the times when I don't have mobile data access, like right now as I am in China. Regards, Spencer On Oct 12, 2012, at 15:14, Peter Klein <pklein at threshinc.com> wrote: > I'm turning to the LUG's vast pool of expertise here. I'm not a > cell-phone expert. I use the prepaid Tracfone service on a simple, > several year-old Nokia. It's just a phone. Costs me about $120 per year. > That's "year," not "month." Which is why I've kept it simple. > > So last week I was in New England, and used a friend's GPS to get in and > out of Boston alive. And I got to thinking, "Hmm. This could actually be > useful." > > Another friend mentioned that rather than buy a dedicated GPS, you can buy > last year's phone inexpensively, and put a GPS app on it. Add maybe a nice > HP calculator emulator and internal phone book/scheduler if the latter > isn't already included. Useful. He seemed to say that you didn't need a > data plan for GPS apps. Can anyone tell me if this is indeed the case? I > assume you download the app and maps on your computer and transfer them to > the phone via cable or Bluetooth, or to an SD card, but I don't know. > > The phones Tracfone supports in my area include the LG 500G and LG 800G, > which are app-capable. Can somebody tell me if they support a GPS app? > Will I be able to use it with the Tracfone service, or am I going to have > to buy some other service as well? > > Sorry for the "grasshopper" novice question. > > --Peter, opening up a can of worms... > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >