STVTalk.com

Dear readers,

I live often travel to areas which are not covered by the Zenrin map
data provided by Infiniti (and Nissan) for their navigation systems.
These areas are well covered by other map providers, like Mapopolis,
Microsoft, Mapquest or Google. (Sorry, I cannot compare with other GPS
data provider, because I do not use these products.)

I was wondering if someone could suggest an alternative to the Zenrin
data, whether it is a hacked DVD, a method to include more content on
the DVD or another product which will work with the car-integrated hardware.

Thank you in advance for your help,
Max

Max Plante wrote:

I live often travel to areas which are not covered by the Zenrin map
data provided by Infiniti (and Nissan) for their navigation systems.
These areas are well covered by other map providers, like Mapopolis,
Microsoft, Mapquest or Google. (Sorry, I cannot compare with other GPS
data provider, because I do not use these products.)

I was wondering if someone could suggest an alternative to the Zenrin
data, whether it is a hacked DVD, a method to include more content on
the DVD or another product which will work with the car-integrated
hardware.

Good luck, but I think your best bet will be to supplement your
integrated system with a separate unit - either Palm/PPC-based
or a standalone device like the Garmin Quest. These solutions
would give you routing with voice directions throughout the US
and most of Canada (and in many other parts of the world with
additional maps) and would also be useful in rental cars and
when walking in unfamiliar areas.

Peter wrote:

Good luck, but I think your best bet will be to supplement your
integrated system with a separate unit - either Palm/PPC-based
or a standalone device like the Garmin Quest. These solutions
would give you routing with voice directions throughout the US
and most of Canada (and in many other parts of the world with
additional maps) and would also be useful in rental cars and
when walking in unfamiliar areas.

Thank you Peter,

I already own a Palm with Mapopolis software, but I do not have a GPS
for it, because I find such devices too expansive and technologically
restrictive. I belive I will have to correlate the global position
returned by the in-dash GPS to the auxiliary map on my laptop (or
palmtop). It is however not very pratical.

I leave the question open and will try to work around this problem as
soon as I have spare time.

Anybody else has an idea?
Max

Max Plante wrote:

Peter wrote:


Good luck, but I think your best bet will be to supplement your
integrated system with a separate unit - either Palm/PPC-based
or a standalone device like the Garmin Quest. These solutions
would give you routing with voice directions throughout the US
and most of Canada (and in many other parts of the world with
additional maps) and would also be useful in rental cars and
when walking in unfamiliar areas.


Thank you Peter,

I already own a Palm with Mapopolis software, but I do not have a GPS
for it, because I find such devices too expansive and technologically
restrictive.

I'm a little puzzled. Seems like you went for the most expensive and
technologically restrictive system possible in getting something
integrated with your car. Adding a GPS to your existing Palm/
Mapopolis system probably wouldn't be expensive at all (about $100
if you have a suitable port on the Palm) and wouldn't restrict
you from new technologies in the future, whether they're GPS
improvements, mapping advances, or new PDAs, since each component
could be replaced individually. Here's a page with some of the options
for Palm devices:
http://www.gpsinformation.org/dale/Palm/phardware.htm

It's also possible that the GPS sensor already in your car
connects to the CPU/display unit via RS-232 and standard NMEA protocol.
In that case you'd just need an appropriate cable plus the knowledge of
how to connect it to the existing wiring.

I belive I will have to correlate the global position
returned by the in-dash GPS to the auxiliary map on my laptop (or
palmtop). It is however not very pratical.

Not if you're trying to do the correlation in your head while
driving. But very practical if you just add some type of GPS
sensor and hook it up so the Mapopolis software knows where you
are and can direct you to the destination.

I leave the question open and will try to work around this problem as
soon as I have spare time.