GPS on laptop

Somebody once mentioned that they have a GPS on their laptop and use
it on cruises to see what that cluster of lights is to starboard and see
exactly where they are.
Anybody with Mac experience that could suggest some possibilities.
Also, in general what kind of maps do you need? Maritime navigational or
something else?

"Kurt Ullman" wrote in message
...
Somebody once mentioned that they have a GPS on their laptop and use
it on cruises to see what that cluster of lights is to starboard and see
exactly where they are.
Anybody with Mac experience that could suggest some possibilities.
Also, in general what kind of maps do you need? Maritime navigational or
something else?

I think when you buy the GPS receiver that plugs into the laptop, the maps
for your laptop come with it. My GPS is a stand alone (hand held), but it
can do the same thing. If you have a car GPS, that will work on a cruise.

In fact, rather than bring your expensive computer out at night in the wind
(and sea mist) with the risk of getting salt water on it (or worse, inside
it)... why not just get a hand held or car unit?

For determining which islands are out there, the regular "pre loaded" map on
the GPS will work. Navigation maps for the GPS will give underwater detail,
ocean depths, shallow banks that have to be avoided, etc., but aren't
necessary for island spotting. I just use the pre loaded map.

--Tom

In article ,
"Tom K" wrote:

"
I think when you buy the GPS receiver that plugs into the laptop, the maps
for your laptop come with it. My GPS is a stand alone (hand held), but it
can do the same thing. If you have a car GPS, that will work on a cruise.

All the maps from Garmin look like they are street maps of the US,
Europe, etc. Don't know how well that will work much past Key West.

For determining which islands are out there, the regular "pre loaded" map on
the GPS will work.
You sure. As I mentioned my maps just look like they cover US roads.

"Kurt Ullman" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Tom K" wrote:

"
I think when you buy the GPS receiver that plugs into the laptop, the
maps
for your laptop come with it. My GPS is a stand alone (hand held), but
it
can do the same thing. If you have a car GPS, that will work on a
cruise.

All the maps from Garmin look like they are street maps of the US,
Europe, etc. Don't know how well that will work much past Key West.

For determining which islands are out there, the regular "pre loaded" map
on
the GPS will work.
You sure. As I mentioned my maps just look like they cover US roads.

My 10 year old Garmin (12 Map) has the Caribbean islands. But it's not a
car unit. It's a hand held that you can put waypoints in. It has a cursor
that you can move around. I can zoom out, then put the cursor over the
Caribbean, zoom in, and see all the islands. There isn't much road detail,
some small islands don't show any roads. Puerto Rico has the major
highways. St. Thomas doesn't have any roads marked. But the islands are
shown. Small islands like Pinel Island on St. Maarten aren't shown, but St.
Maarten is.

--Tom

Get a copy of Google earth for Mac, and a usb gps puck.

Check this site out, it can show you how to do all you want and more.

Clay


Kurt Ullman wrote:
In article ,
"Tom K" wrote:

"
I think when you buy the GPS receiver that plugs into the laptop, the maps
for your laptop come with it. My GPS is a stand alone (hand held), but it
can do the same thing. If you have a car GPS, that will work on a cruise.

All the maps from Garmin look like they are street maps of the US,
Europe, etc. Don't know how well that will work much past Key West.

For determining which islands are out there, the regular "pre loaded" map on
the GPS will work.
You sure. As I mentioned my maps just look like they cover US roads.

Kurt Ullman wrote in
:

Somebody once mentioned that they have a GPS on their laptop and
use
it on cruises to see what that cluster of lights is to starboard and
see exactly where they are.
Anybody with Mac experience that could suggest some possibilities.
Also, in general what kind of maps do you need? Maritime navigational
or something else?

1. If you have a balcony and a blue tooth gps you can set the receiver
outside and see where you are inside. 2. you will need different maps
from your car sytem. Maritime maps are available at various resolutions.
3. You will get at least the coordinantes from the GPS info screen. This
is useful if you have a good atlas/area map and know how to plot
coordinates.

--
Joseph Coulter, cruises and vacations
www.josephcoulter.com

877 832 2021
904 631 8863 cell

On Sun, 17 Aug 2008 09:03:14 -0400, Kurt Ullman
wrote:

In article ,
"Tom K" wrote:

"
I think when you buy the GPS receiver that plugs into the laptop, the maps
for your laptop come with it. My GPS is a stand alone (hand held), but it
can do the same thing. If you have a car GPS, that will work on a cruise.

All the maps from Garmin look like they are street maps of the US,
Europe, etc. Don't know how well that will work much past Key West.

For determining which islands are out there, the regular "pre loaded" map on
the GPS will work.
You sure. As I mentioned my maps just look like they cover US roads.


The last cruise I was on I brought some charts and had a small Garmin
GPS unit from the boat that read out in only lat and long. Neither
are expensive. With a little practice you can quickly plot your
location on a chart. As it turned out, I didn't really need it
because everywhere I went on the boat there seemed to be a monitor
with the ship's location that was also on the TV in our cabin.

Skip

In article , Skipfromla
wrote:

As it turned out, I didn't really need it
because everywhere I went on the boat there seemed to be a monitor
with the ship's location that was also on the TV in our cabin.

Some do this as a hobby. They like to plot it themselves.

--
Charles

Whay's a GPS? snior non tech
"frijoli" wrote in message ...
Get a copy of Google earth for Mac, and a usb gps puck.

Check this site out, it can show you how to do all you want and more.

Clay


Kurt Ullman wrote:
In article ,
"Tom K" wrote:

"
I think when you buy the GPS receiver that plugs into the laptop, the
maps for your laptop come with it. My GPS is a stand alone (hand held),
but it can do the same thing. If you have a car GPS, that will work on
a cruise.

All the maps from Garmin look like they are street maps of the US,
Europe, etc. Don't know how well that will work much past Key West.
For determining which islands are out there, the regular "pre loaded"
map on the GPS will work.
You sure. As I mentioned my maps just look like they cover US roads.

clint wrote:
Whay's a GPS? snior non tech
"frijoli" wrote in message ...
You must have been a great teacher. No wonder our schools are like they are.