[Macworld]

Post your comments for Review: RoadTrip 2.0 here

[hammer32]

If you have an in-car Mac or a laptop will RoadTrip allow you to view your current position on the Mac's screen as well?
If it does, can it be set to automatically track the GPS position and rotate the map so 'up' is the direction of travel?
Thanks!
Sean

[Yogie]

As RoadTrip is only a piece of software and trip-planning tool, you need a GPS Garmin device which will show up your current position!

[wolfjo]

One aspect I don't understand from the description is the transfer of the route from the Mac to the GPS device. I am assuming this is what you mean. I description of how to get the route on and off the GPS unit to the Mac would be really nice.

[cat4ever]

While the review seems to imply the you can use this with a garmin nuvi device, it never comes out and says you need to connect it nor how you would connect it. I would assume usb2? Also, are all the NUVI devices the "road map" kind, or are there small/cheap handheld models you can use this with, or could you possibly use it with a Garmin Edge or Forerunner? Seems like all you would need is a GPS signal.
Jeff

[cat4ever]

btw, if this is decent mapping software, this is a HUGE deal. Should be in red as it's one class of SW the mac has been without since the days of Street Atlas. MANY people have been waiting for this, and ESPECIALLY if it connects to a gps unit.

[Yogie]

Yes you need to connect your GPS device via USB (so to my Vista eTrex HTC) and then you can dowload or upload tracks from/to the GPS device with the RoadTrip software...

[Yogie]

Yes it is a great planning tool - but there is a lack in the software - when you buy a MapSource Product (a Garmin Map for uploading into RoadTrip) you need to have a Windows Computer :( you have to install the MapSource product onto a windows system and then you need to convert this installed map to a readable format for RoadTrip on your Mac. The converter is also free for download and use with your Garmin device and software. I wish they would change this - not everybody has a windows computer by hand!

[hammer32]

Yogie said:

As RoadTrip is only a piece of software and trip-planning tool, you need a GPS Garmin device which will show up your current position!

Understand, I should have made my meaning a little bit clearer: "with a Mac, a USB cable, and a Garmin GPS device, will RoadTrip display your current position, follow that position as it changes, and rotate the map on your laptop so 'up' is the direction of travel?"

Thanks,

Sean

[danham]

Yogie,

Sorry, but your info is way out of date. No need for Windows at all to install or update maps or to plan routes. No need for any conversion either - Garmin maps have been Mac-compatible for some time now.

As for the other questions here, the answers can be complicated. Not all Garmin GPSes allow pre-planning of routes, so it is important to carefully compare model features before buying. Also, none of the nuvi lineup will output the NMEA data which would be needed to use Road Trip as a laptop-based navigation device.

For answers to all of these questions, may I recommend the Garmin nuvi forum at gpspassion.com, which I help moderate:

http://tinyurl.com/yed9d2

-dan

[HyperMactive]

This is great and all, but when are we going to get a real GPS driving app on the iPhone???
I don't want a Garmin GPS device. I own a GPS device with a nice touchscreen. It's my phone. Apple needs to pull its collective head out and provide/allow a real voice-based turn-by-turn navigation app. The wait is getting ridiculous.

[danham]

Sean:

It depends. First, you need a GPS which can output the right kind of data stream to the laptop via USB. Then you need to own a legal copy of the detailed maps which are on your GPS plus on your laptop. All by itself, RoadTrip does not come with these maps. Some Gamin GPSes do, but out of the box you cannot download the maps from the GPS to RoadTrip. And some GPSes which output position data will still not work with RoadTrip because the maps are not compatible.

RoadTrip is an excellent tool for advance route planning when used with certain Garmin GPSes, but not the right choice for a laptop-based navigation system in your car.

As I said above, it can get complicated, so feel free to follow the link in my earlier post and find answers.

-dan

[cat4ever]

It sounds like they are SO close. What brilliant management genius is keeping them from going the tiny extra step and selling a shrinkwrapped mac app with a "headless" gps unit included? They'd sell millions for $79 with very little work on their part.

[danham]

It would be nice to have a decent Mac laptop/GPS app, but to call them "management geniuses" is a tad harsh.

What do you think the profit margin on a $79 headless GPS is? What do you think the profit margin on a $400 all-in-one GPS is?

In many ways, the all-in-one is a much better solution than a laptop, for reasons ranging from convenience to safety, to added features such as real-time traffic, which would be a lot harder to implement on a laptop (and certainly not for $79). It's also not practical to take a laptop on a walking tour, for example.

Also, you have to consider that RoadTrip is the long overdue Mac version of Garmin's MapSource software, which was designed to complement their GPS units, not to be a laptop-based navigation system.

For those with Intel MacBooks looking for good mapping and real-time nav solutions, they are certainly available, but only as Windows programs (don't get me started on how awful Route 66 is).

-dan