Portable Satellite Navigation Systems --

Report of Microsoft Streets & Tips 2006 with GPS Locater I went out to find a good map for the nether-lands of California's Riverside County, having recently discovered that a whole lot of people live out in the boonies now and the road system is struggling to keep up with the traffic, and when I couldn't find one I decided to kill four birds with one stone by picking up a copy of Microsoft Streets & Tips 2006 with GPS Locater for $69 at Amazon . I installed this product on my laptop and immediately got extremely detailed maps for all of North America [Microsoft's Autoroute 2006 extends this product to European roads], from TeleAtlas , Woodall's and the NAVTEQ map database software that allowed me to build any kind of itinerary, no matter how detailed the segments. I could print the turn-by-turn directions or save the directions as a web page. Then the fun began. I had a trip to the Porsche dealer planned for Monday morning and decided to test out the voice-prompted Turn-by-turn directions. NAVTEQ initially routed me on the Tollway as the quickest route between two points, but I wanted a drive up the Pacific Coast Highway, so I put in a few intermediate points that generated the route I wanted. Then I plugged the PHAROS GPS 360 into the laptop and installed the laptop under the Cayman's engine cover storage net and started on my way. As soon as I backed out of the garage the GPS linked-up with the satellite and a pleasant female voice announced that we were at the starting point of the trip. Once moving forward she began announcing the turns that were coming up in increments of miles. I followed her directions but then intentionally took a slightly different route to see what would happen. After the missed turn she announced that I was off route. Down the road a mile or so she began giving me directions for returning to the original route. I followed these directions and when I returned to the original route she announced that we were now back on route. This continued, unobtrusively, all the way to the Porsche dealer. Prior to departing I had turned on a variety of features to see what would happen: the GPS trail, which shows you the route you actually took when I finally took a look at the map after the trip, rotating the map to follow the travel direction, which I couldn't look at because I intentionally stored the computer behind me as I relied solely on the voice directions. Back home and on the network [I noticed my laptop was connecting to the Porsche dealer's wireless network when I arrived at the Service Department, I clicked on the map of the trip and then linked out to Microsoft's Virtual Earth site - very similar to Google's map site - where I brought in the high resolution satellite photos of the area covered by the trip, later I switched to the 3-D maps that are very much like Microsoft's Flight Simulator. Before you know it, your little trip has become a 3-D video Game environment. I had driven the Acura RL two years ago and was impressed with the voice guided turn-by-turn directions. Microsoft Streets & Tips 2006 with GPS Locater seems to do provide nearly identical navigational assistance -- for $69 -- GPS device included. I have ordered an Air-Auto-AC adapter, which I didn't already have, so that I can run the PC forever in the Cayman and will investigate using an iPod FM Receiver interface to tie the Satellite navigation audio into the Bose radio. With the laptop lying flat behind me and the 3.4 liter engine making it's concerto Grosso noises I could miss an instruction with the built-in laptop speakers. The GPS worked great sitting on top of the laptop under the Cayman's rear hatch and the storage net did a great job of holding the PC and GPS receiver in place. This may seem like a Rube Goldberg contraption, but there is something to be said for planning your trip the night before on your networked laptop, the MS&T allows you to download up-to-date road construction information, which has a great screen, mouse and keyboard, and then simply taking the laptop out to the car and putting it under the cargo net, placing the GPS receiver on top of the open laptop and then driving off. Ordered the Monster RadioPlay 300 Universal Full Spectrum FM Transmitter (MBL-FM XMTR300) for the Audio input for the radio. This morning I put the laptop on the front seat of a loaner car I am using until I pickup the Cayman this afternoon. This time I got to watch the display of the route instructions as well as the dynamic route and maps on the laptop screen. This could be useful if I got stuck and had to find an alternative route, otherwise, as I expected, it was an unnecessary distraction. The voice commands should be adequate if you have plotted a good route. One nice feature that I will try out this evening is that you have four display options for the maps including a night screen that glows green on a black background. Note: Navteq supplies maps to Porsche's PCM systems : Porsche 3 CD Map Set 2004.1 This 3 CD map set includes nationwide coverage for the continental USA. It also includes Hawaii and selected cities in the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec. It includes over 4.6 million miles of road and more than 1.3 million points of interest. Points of interest include 482,392 restaurants, 68,372 hotels, 96,190 ATMs, 68,833 gas stations, and 183, 542 auto service and maintenance locations. This map set requires PCM2 Version 3.0 system software available through your local dealer.

Good work MP. I use Microsoft S&T + Google Earth for all my exploration planning but have not intergrated it into the CS.

Price update: Amazon is now selling the MS Streets & Tips with GPS receiver for $69 -- see the link above. I just installed the Monster RadioPlay with the laptop equipped Sat Nav and it works great. Not only will I be able to control the volume but now when I switch to other stations or to the CD players the Sat Nav voice will be turned off. I played some iTunes on the PC and they sound pretty good too, not quite as clear as the CD tracks but close. So, no need to spend time loading the iTunes to an iPod ...just bring the whole music/podcast/videocast DVD library along for those long trips where you need Sat Nav, road maps for all of North America and entertainment when you are not wondering where you are going. Back to the Sat-Nav application. The GPS Task Pane on the video Display includes a digital readout of the speed of the car. Admittedly this does not bring a new feature to the Cayman, but in a car without the digital readout for speed this is another cool feature. I tried the Night Road Map display option the other night, this feature definitely reduces the brightness of the laptop video display, keeping it in line with night-time interior lighting of the Cayman. Using the video display is definitely only recommended if you are stopped, preferably parked, or you have a navigator who needs access to all of the information that can be presented on the screen by the app. Driving alone, the voiced directions are the least distracting and now that the voiced directions are coming through and controlled by the car radio, this is a very good solution.

This sounds like just what I can use....in every car..... 1 by 1 of course

Q&A Thanks for this post, I have been fighting the urge to buy a Nuvi 660, but did not want to spend the money for yet another gadget when I have so many already! Couple of questions: 1) Does the GPS have it's own power sourcve or can it work off of the Laptop's USB? 2) I was looking at getting this: Earthmate GPS LT-20 & Street Atlas USA Plus 2007, on DVD - Bundle How differant is it to what you use? Does the GPS it comes with look comparable to what you bought? I only want a GPS for the long drives, the day to day stuff I work out in prep of leaving and print maps etc.

The GPS Receiver bundled with the software, Pharos 360, plugs into the USB port. The Monster RadioPlay does require it's own power sorce as does the Auto/Air/AC adapter for the laptop, which I now have and which is necessary for long trips. The Cayman can support the two Auto/Power adapters with ease. Pocket Streets for the Pocket PC and Smartphone is also included in MS S&T.

pictures are in order I think.

Santa Fe, Let me know if these pictures help. Apologies about the glare on the screen. Snapped while driving.

I think folks would like to see the whole set up. But the wire management would be a good place to start.

Scroll up. I have added some pictures. Let me know if other angles are desired. I will post some shots of the installation in the Cayman later in the week.

Very cool. You are the man MP.

Streets & Trips 2008 Update: Nav systems getting better every day Streets & Trips 2008 Update The 2008 version has a number of new features. I have used the perspective map view and automatic re-routing and both are nice. However, Google Maps and the ability to send Google Maps and routes to your in-car Nav system are an excellent solution, available on some 2008 in-car Nav systems. Nevertheless, a PC based Nav system that you can take anywhere [I fired up the Nav system on a Phoenix to OC flight just to track our air speed, altitude and position relative to the ground - very cool -- although in complete violation of FAA rules which prevent the use of a GPS receiver during a flight] is still attractive. Of course my smartphone has Google Maps as well as MS LiveSearch and both have real-time traffic conditions as well as access to the latest NavTeq Map Database. Both have served me well, once when I was using a light rail system in San Jose and no one spoke English and I was unfamiliar with the various stops. Updated maps Updated map information for United States and Canada. Complete map coverage of the U.S. and Canada including local roads plus locations of ATMs, gas stations, hotels and more. Perspective Map View Use the perspective map view to get a view more like you would see through your windshield. Automatic re-routing When you miss a turn, Streets & Trips 2008 will automatically update your directions to get you back on track. Connected Services Provides traffic congestion, incidents, construction, and local gas prices without an internet connection. Includes the new MSN Direct receiver and one-year subscription to MSN Direct for traffic updates and gas prices.*

This all sounds like a wonderfully complicated way to find one's way down the road. I have a Garmin Nuvi 350, purchased on sale at BB and it works great without all the additional software, wires, laptop, etc. It provides better guidance than the Navtec system in my wife's CLS. It talks, walks (portable), give me average speed, max.speed, down time and all the usual nav stuff. What more could you want????

Sounds like a good setup, mpollard. Very Ingenious! I have been using Garmin GPSs for years so when the nüvi® 660 came out I bought one. It comes with Bluetooth® wireless technology with a built-in microphone and speaker and an integrated FM TMC traffic receiver that alerts you about traffic tie-ups and road construction. (It also also has a wireless FM transmitter so you can hear MP3s and audio books through your vehicle's stereo but I don't use that feature.) The best thing about it is that the car symbol looks a lot like my Cayman! I like the Garmin so much that I carry it when I use my wife's Mercedes . . . even though she has an in car navigation system.

The way I drive, a laptop would be all over the place, plus I'd have concerns over where to put it w/ a passenger, safely securing it when unattended, wires everywhere, and boot times. I use MS S&T at home for route planning, which my Nuvi unfortunately doesn't do. I'd love to have a compact Nav that I could load MS S&T route files to - that would rock!