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Stress-Free Beer Hunt Navigation Please note that this Web page was originally based on a device for GPS navigation that was unique, the Mio 168. Since then, other equivalent devices to it have come along, some of these being covered in this Web page. The Mio 168 has also been replaced by the higher-spec Mio A201, which is covered below. For now, the main part of the page still deals with the Mio 168, as the concepts covered are relevant to these other devices, and GPS navigation software and other map software purchased for them can be transferred to the other devices. At one time, I tried to keep up with all the new offerings that came after the Mio 168, but there are far too many on offer now, new ones coming out almost every day, so I am essentially not updating this page fully anymore, but if something with significantly different features comes along, I will report on it. The page should still of use for the general concept of using these devices for on- and off-road navigation. Satellite navigation is truly amazing technology. There are many devices available that exploit it, i.e. they are capable of picking up signals, no stronger than that emitted from a 50W light bulb, coming from satellites that are 16,000 miles (25,600 kilometres) above the Earth, and can then use the information to report your position to within ten yards/metres or so, and use this position to provide you with information, such as the direction of a chosen point in open country, or to tell you the next turn to take on your journey on the road. The technical aspects of GPS, which was developed by the US Military, are covered by websites such as http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/gps.html. I have found that the book GPS Made Easy by Lawrence Letham (Cordee Books, ISBN 1-871890-89-6) covers the practical aspects of GPS very well. It is available from www.amazon.com or www.amazon.co.uk. Note that there is a European satellite navigation system being developed, the Galileo Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) (www.galileoju.com); this should be commissioned in 2008. In the future, devices that accept signals from GPS and/or GNSS signals will be available. Those with dual receivers that can accept both signals will be the best option, especially if a lot of your driving is in places with tall buildings, where receiving signals from the satellites can be more problematic, i.e. there will be an extra thirty satellites from Galileo to receive signals from, on top of the Pentagon's twenty-nine GPS ones. Galileo ready receivers appeared in 2006, for example, the SE4120 from SiGeSemiconductor (www.sige.com). Until April, 2004, I resisted the temptation to purchase a satellite navigation system (Global Positioning System, GPS). I knew that these were an inbuilt purchase option for a car, but a lot of my journeys are by coach, or in someone else's car. I was also aware of some fairly bulky devices that one could attach to the dashboard, including those that were a form of sleeve around a Pocket PC (Personal Computer). These did not appeal. Then, the world's first Pocket PC, but see below, with an integrated GPS antenna was announced in the UK, the Mio 168 (Mio DigiWalker 168), from MiTAC International (www.mio-tech.com). I immediately purchased one of these from the then, only UK supplier: Evesham Technology (www.evesham.com). This comes with map and navigation software, CoPilot Live Pocket PC 4 (now CoPilot Live Pocket PC 6 is available) (which is the same as what you get in cars such as BMWs), which is provided by ALK Technologies (www.alk.com). The Mio 168 from Evesham comes with UK and Ireland maps loaded on a 128MB SD Card; it essentially works straight out of the box. It was very soon apparent that the Mio 168 is an outstanding product. The verbal turn by turn directions that it provides after one has entered a destination are faultless. There is a screen, of course, which can be glanced at by the driver, which shows a map of current position, topology of the next junction and optional information, such as the nearest town, road being travelled on, or road intersection. The Mio 168 was subsequently also available for purchase from other companies in the UK, such as Global Positioning Systems (www.globalpositioningsystems.co.uk), with, in addition to CoPilot Live Pocket PC 5 software (at a lower price than Evesham), alternative GPS software: TomTom Navigator 5 (www.tomtom.com); and Mio Map. I actually purchased a second Mio 168 from Global Positioning Systems, after losing my first one, during a Beer Hunt in Belgium; it arrived two days after ordering. As is the way of the world with such devices, on the day it arrived, they were offering it at the same price, but with a 256 MB SD card, rather than a 128 MB one! However, I wanted maps for other than just the UK and Ireland. With my initial purchase of the Mio 168, I got CoPilot Live maps for the whole of Europe that one can load onto your desktop PC. These can be downloaded to the Mio 168 after one has purchased an activation key from the ALK European website (www.alk.eu.com), which I duly did. One can download parts of these maps up to the limit of the 128 MB of the SD Card, but I wanted the flexibility to have maps for selected whole countries in the device, so I purchased a 1 GB SD Card, which allows me to have, for example, the whole of the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg permanently available, plus maps for other applications, see below. Of course, as a bonus, one gets a conventional Pocket PC, with the usual features of Calendar, Contacts, Word Processor, Spread Sheet, MP3 player, Picture Viewer, etc, which truly does fit in the pocket, even a shirt pocket, where the antenna can be unfolded for navigation on foot! Note that other GPS applications can be run on the Mio 168, including ones that is especially suited to walking, see below. There is an extensive database of Points of Interest (POIs), such as hotels, filling stations, parking places, etc, etc, included on the CoPilot Live maps, which one can be alerted to. One can also enter custom POIs for such alerts, for example a UK database of Speed Cameras can be obtained from www.pocketgpsworld.com/uksafetycameras.php. The root website for the latter, Pocket GPS World's www.pocketgpsworld.com, provides much information on GPS technology, including an excellent Message Board. CoPilot Live Pocket PC 5 contained a database of Speed Cameras, but it can be updated as required from this website. Click here for a detailed Pocket GPS World review of CoPilot Live Pocket PC 5. This has subsequently been replaced by CoPilot Live Pocket PC 6. Note that although sales literature suggests that one can key in post codes to set the target destination, this feature was only partially available with earlier versions of CoPilot software, for example, my house has the post code DN37 9HE, but one can only key in DN37 9, with CoPilot Live Pocket PC 5. Full post code input is provided for the UK and elsewhere CoPilot Live Pocket PC 6. and with devices having TomTom NAVIGATOR 5 software (www.tomtom.com). Note that there is an option when purchasing CoPilot Live Pocket PC 6 of a 1GB SD Car preloaded with European maps. It has to be said that my wife, Joyce, is not a good navigator, which has caused tensions in the past. These truly are a thing of the past with this device. I can down do stress-free recces and navigation for Speciality/Specialty/Craft Beer Hunts, totally confident that I will get to where I want to go. If you have been considering getting into satellite navigation, then I can highly recommend the Mio 168. The MiTAC website or www.google.com will lead you to where you can purchase one in your own country; as already stated, for the UK, see www.evesham.com, for Belgium/Europe, see www.mio-tech.be, and for the USA, see www.miogps.com. Note that GPS satellite navigation software is typically downloaded to a device such as the Mio 168 from a desktop computer or from a laptop. GPS receivers can be connected to the latter and the navigation software will run on them, but. of course, this is not generally as practical as running on a portable device, although, clearly, the display will be better. One practical point: on first setting up my Mio 168, it just would not "see" any satellites. After much tearing out of hair, I discovered that it was set, by default, to the wrong "Communications Port" (the Pocket PC's Port that is connected to the GPS receiver); For the Mio 168, it must be set to Port number 2, at a Baud rate of 4,800. It is well worth checking out such parameters on your own device, if you have a similar problem. Walking On and Off Road with the Mio 168/A201
The CoPilot Live software that came bundled with the Mio 168 does have an option for walking, but the only routes shown on it are roads suitable for vehicles. However, a quick Google (www.google.com) search revealed that the renowned walking maps produced by the in the UK are available in a form suitable for GPS devices. One company that the OS has authorised to do this is Northport Systems, who have the brand name, Fugawi™ (www.fugawi.com); Northport are based in Canada. Before committing myself to purchasing any of their OS maps for the UK, I wanted to be sure that the GPS in the Mio 168 would work with other than just CoPilot Live. To do this I downloaded Pocket Earth 3.0, one of the Pocket PC applications recommended by Microsoft on their Pocket PC website, www.pocketpc.com. A free-of-charge trial version, that runs fifteen times, can be downloaded from this site or from that of its manufacturer, Blue Point Studio. I quickly proved that the GPS features of this very nice, educational application work on the Mio 168, see the photo above, which gave me the confidence to purchase OS maps for it. Therefore, I did a further Google to find a UK supplier of the Fugawi™ OS maps. The Fugawi™ OS Maps for the whole of the UK come on four CDs, each of which can be purchased separately, in pairs, or all four. I chose the cheapest per CD option by getting the complete set from the UK-based mapkiosk.com. Their delivery is excellent: they came the day after order. Clearly, one cannot load all these maps into the Mio 168, even if one has a 1GB SD Card installed. What one does, is select an area from the map on the screen of your desktop PC that you will be walking in and transfer it to the Mio 168. As the Mio 168 is a new device, I was expecting some problems with this, but with help from mapkiosk.com and Northport, they were quickly resolved; Northport have subsequently made the process automatic. The photo, above right, shows part of an OS map loaded into the Mio 168. It really is marvellous having live OS maps on a truly pocket-sized device that the Mio 168 is. The performance of the GPS in association with the Fugawi™ OS Maps is incredible, for example, if you change direction by Ninety Degrees, by the time that you have finished just one step, the dynamic direction arrow on the map will have swung through the same amount and will be pointing in the right direction! As a bonus, one gets seamless OS maps on your desktop PC, the license allowing one to print A4-sized sections of them. Fugawi™ do other walking maps, for example, they have GPS versions of the TK 50 ones for Bavaria (Bayern), produced by Bayerisches Landesvermessungsamt (www.geodaten.bayern.de). I purchased these for a walk featuring five Beer Gardens, much of the walk being off-road, in Bamberg, near Franconia. I purchased these directly from Fugawi™ (www.fugawi.com), in Canada. I ordered them on a Monday, and they were at my home in Grimsby, three days later. Like the UK OS maps, the Bavarian ones are superb, and really did keep me on track on Beer Hunts in Bavaria. As I do a lot of walking in the Peak District, I also purchased a PC/GPS version of the OS 1:25,000 Explorer map, covering this area, produced by memory-map (www.memory-map.co.uk). This also works really well in the Mio 168. I purchased this from Stanfords (www.stanfords.co.uk), the world's biggest map shop, in London, England (12-14 Long Acre, WC2 9LP, tel 020 7836 1321). I went to the shop itself for this, but purchases can also be made directly from the Stanfords website. I subsequently purchased a further memory-map offering from Stanfords, the "A to Z of Greater London". This is truly excellent, the "Find Place" option quickly allowing one to find any, er place on the map; one also gets a whole UK Route Planner and a UK Road Map. I had one or two problems during the installation of the second set of maps, but the technical support offered by memory-map (click on Support and then SUPPORT FORUM on their website) is top class and very quick; I can't recommend this company highly enough. With maps from the likes of Fugawi and memory-map one gets a licence to print sections of them from your PC. These maps can be used as back-up should your GPS's battery give out, or whatever. It is worth considering printing them on, for example, memory-map Toughprint™ 100% waterproof paper. Note, however, that Battery Extenders are available for the Mio 168, I got mine from Morpeth Mobiles, www.morpethmobiles.co.uk, click here for the relevant page on their website. The Mio 168 does not have a spare battery option, so the Battery Extender gives peace of mind, when using it off-road for a lengthy period, especially as it is prone to switching itself on, i.e. when one accidentally clicks a button. To minimise problems in this area, I disable all quick launch buttons, including the audio recorder one. In conclusion, if you do walking, on or off road, in the UK and elsewhere, I can heartily recommend the combination Mio 168/Fugawi™ topographical maps. The Northport website gives details of other walking and marine maps, for the USA, Canada and elsewhere, which are sure to work with the Mio 168. The Mio 268 Plus, the Mio 269 Plus, the Mio 169 and the Mio A201 The Mio 268 Plus is not a later version of the Mio 168, but a pocket-sized GPS for road navigation that is not based on a Pocket PC, but on customised hardware from MiTAC International; its operating system is Microsoft Windows CE .Net 4.2 Core version. The Mio 268 costs less than the Mio 168, but gets good reviews for its simplicity of operation. Its MioMap CE navigation software is based on Navigon's Mobile Navigator 4.2 (www.navigon.com). The Mio 268 Plus covers the UK and Ireland. There is a 2.5GB hard disc version, the Mio 269 Plus, which covers the European Union (EU). Both can play MP3 files, as can, of course, the Mio 168. Unlike the latter, the Mio 268+is available in high street shops, such as Halfords (www.halfords.com) as well as specialist GPS and computer companies. Should you wish to run other applications, such as walking maps, then the Mio 268+ or Mio 269 Plus will not be for you; you need the Mio 168 or equivalent for this. Note also that there is a device which looks a little like the Mio 268+, the Mio 169, which is Pocket PC-based, which allows the user to use its "Pocket PC such as WORD and Calendar, but is significantly bigger than a PDA, so would not be the first choice for use when, say walking; if portability between one car and another was what you are after, it would be fine. Note that the Mio 169 runs under Microsoft WM 2003ME (Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition), which allows screen views in both Portrait and Landscape mode, the latter being particularly suited to on-screen navigation. It has MP4 (video) as well as MP3 (audio) capability. The Mio A201 is the hardware replacement for the Mio 168. Its GPS receiver has the very sensitive and accurate SiRF Star III chipset which picks up signals better than the one in the Mio 168, so is more likely to work in places that the Mio 168, such as forests and where there are tall buildings. It also has Bluetooth connectivity, so will communicate wirelessly with Bluetooth-enabled devices, such as mobile phones (cell phones), for which it could thus act as a hands-free kit. Unlike the Mio 168, the battery in the Mio A201, a Lithium-ion 1200mlAh one, can be replaced, which means that you can carry a spare battery, to ensure no problems with a long day of off-road use, see below. The Operating system is Windows Mobile 5, which means that the device can be operated in Portrait or Landscape mode, which the rotating GPS antenna of theMio A201 is designed to exploit. Note that, should you, for example, have CoPilot Live Pocket PC 6 on a Mio 168, you would not have to purchase a Mio A201 with the same software; you would purchase it without any such software and load the CoPilot Live Pocket PC 6 that came on a CD with the old device into the new device, i.e. there are different purchasing options with the Mio A201 and its equivalents, some without navigation software and some with, clearly costing different amounts. Garmin iQue 3600 and iQue 3600: Although, as stated above, the Mio 168 is the world's first Pocket PC with integrated GPS capability (software and an antenna), there are similar looking device that are based on a Palm PDA (Personal digital Assistant), the Garmin iQue 3600, www.garmin.com/products/iQue3600. and the Garmin iQue 3200, www.garmin.com/products/iQue3200. Garmin (www.garmin.com) are a big name in GPS, so this is a device that you should also consider if you want a device similar to the Mio 168, but prefer the Palm Operating System to the Pocket PC one. Other Pocket PCs/Palms, etc with in-built GPS capability Following on the heels of the Mio 168 Pocket PC-based GPS device there have been a number of similar devices. There are a number of offerings from Medion (www.medion.com). From their website, you can get to the Medion website appropriate to your country, e.g. www.medionusa.com for the USA, www.medion.co.uk for the UK, etc. There are various model numbers available, depending on where purchased: Medion PNA 100; Medion PC150; and Medion MD95025. Unlike the Mio 168 and the Garmin iQue, the Medion devices have a stub GPS antenna, as per some mobile phones (cell phones), rather than a more bulky, hinged fold-over one. The Acer n35 Pocket PC (www.global.acer.com) has a similar GPS antenna to the Mio 168, and DestinAtor ND Personal Navigation Software (www.destinatoreurope.com). The Yakumo Delta and Yakumo Alpha (www.yakumo.com) are yet further PC-based device with a similar antenna to the Mio 168. The Yakumo devices can be purchased, as can the Mio 168 and other such devices without navigation software, so that you can choose the application of your choice, but for example from Evesham Technology in the UK, the Yakumo Alpha can be purchased loaded with Marco Polo Sat NAV software, such bundling being generally the cheapest way to obtain a PDA with navigational capability. NAVMAN (www.navman.com), a long established name in GPS, have a Pocket PC GPS device, the PiN 570 Pocket PC, which comes with SmartST 2005 software and maps appropriate to your area, which, can, of course, be expanded upon. In publicity brochures, etc, it is usually shown with its GPS antenna down and thus not visible, although the antenna is very similar to the Mio 168's. ViaMichelin is the on-line version of the famous Red (Hotels and Restaurants) and Green (Tourist) Michelin Guides (www.viamichelin.com). Although not PDA-based, ViaMichelin do have an excellent portable GPS navigation system, the ViaMichelin Navigation X-930. An interesting offering from Hewlett-Packard (HP) (www.hp.com) is the HP iPAQ hw6510 or hw6515 Mobile Messenger. These are PDAs with a keyboard, camera, mobile phone (cell phone), internet capability and an in-built GPS receiver. Like the Mio 168, they run under the Windows Mobile 2003 Operating System, so can be loaded with a number of different satellite navigation offerings, including CoPilot Live Pocket PC 6, although they typically come loaded with HP's iPAQ Navigation Software package, which is based, like CoPilot, on map data from NAVTEQ (www.navteq.com), but, in other parts of the world, they are typically offered with local alternatives, for example, in Singapore, they can be purchased with navigational maps for Singapore, supplied by MapAsia.com, www.mapasia.com. Their Windows Mobile 2003 compatible MapKing™ maps (www2.mapking.com) for Singapore and elsewhere will also run in the Mio 168. Another offering from HP, the iPAQ 2110 has AA Navigator in-car GPS software (www.aanavigator.co.uk) from the UK's Automobile Association (AA) (www.theaa.com). This AA package is also available in non-Pocket PC devices such as the AA's own AA Navigator 5040T, which can be transferred from car to car. An interesting feature of this is that, as well as receiving positional information from satellites, it gets information by radio that allows one to route around traffic problems. Other GPS devices have this functionality, but it is done via an expensive Internet connection, and, of course, the AA are specialists when it comes to such information. Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) has its own GPS offering, Autoroute 2006, which will run on most PDAs. TomTom also market a TomTom HP Navigation Pack, which is very economic way of buying their software running on a HP iPAQ hx2110 Pocket PC, and a Bluetooth GPS receiver, the latter incorporating the excellent (i.e. very sensitive) Sirfstar III GPS chip. Another PDA with an inbuilt SiRF Star III GPS receiver, see above, is the ASUS MyPal A636, see www.asus.com. The latter website has links to local ASUS sites, such as the UK one, uk.asus.com. No doubt, there will be further, similar offerings to come from other manufacturers. with both Palm and Pocket PC Operating Systems. Navigation With Your Mobile Phone (Cell Phone) It was inevitable that this would become available. Present offerings typically do not use the antenna that the phone uses, but a separate GPS receiver that is plugged into the mobile or connects with it using a wireless connection, such as Bluetooth® or infrared. A good example is TomTom MOBILE 5, from tomtom (www.tomtom.com). There are also Pocket PC phones with GPS capability, such as the T-Mobile MDA Compact (i-mate JAM) with CoPilot Live Pocket PC 6, and Smart Phones, with, for example, the T-Mobile SDA with CoPilot Smartphone GPS software, in association with a Bluetooth or infrared GPS receiver, see www.t-mobile.com or www.t-mobile.co.uk for more information on these options. I should imagine that in the future, the same antenna will be used for both the phone functionality and the navigation functionality, thus avoiding the need for the plug-in or wireless GPS receiver. There is, however, a Smart Phone offering from MiTAC International, the Mio A701, with an integrated GPS antenna. at the touch of a button, you can send your exact postion to a number of pre-programmed numbers, should you, for example, have an accident when walking in some remote location. But when will the technology extend such that navigation can be done when there is no view of the sky? Mobiles can be used to receive audio signals in such a situation, so why not signals to provide information for navigation systems? Other mobile phone (cell phone) offerings include software and GPS receivers from Route 66 (www.66.com), which can be used in appropriate mobile phones from Sony Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens. Medion also have a mobile phone (Smartphone) with GPS navigational capability. Other possibilities include combinations of wireless (WiFi), cellular (mobile phone) and GPS technologies, such as those offered by Navizon (www.navizon.com). Google Earth This is a marvellous Google facility which allows one to view photos of the earth taken from satellites and planes. One types in a place name or its latitude and longitude (in degrees and decimal minutes format, for example, 53 33.9667' N, 0 7.88333' W, for the location of my house), or its post code, and the Earth is moved most elegantly to feature the place chosen. For some parts of the country/world, one has to zoom out from the default height above the earth to get a clear picture; this is when only a satellite photo is available; more and more of the higher resolution photos taken from planes are continually being added. Google Earth can be downloaded from earth.google.com. There is a free of charge version, which most people will be happy with; the version with GPS capability costs $20 (February, 2006). It is expected that google Earth will also be used to improve the appearance and accuracy of 3D GPS navigational maps. Do Not Buy Anything From MightyGPS (Mighty GPS Products): www.mightygps.com In June, 2004, I tried to buy some GPS maps from Toronto-based MightyGPS.com, their website at first glance looking quite professional. However, after paying using PayPal® (https://www.paypal.com), I heard nothing from them and the goods did not arrive. When I looked for contact details on their website, it was soon clear that all was not well: there was no address or phone number and the map locating them was strange, to say the least; they are not listed in the Canadian Yellow Pages (www.yellowpages.ca); message boards reported similar problems with this company, stating that it was certainly not housed in the office featured in the photo on their site. There is a fax number on their website, but they did not reply to the fax that I sent them querying what was happening. Of course, they did not reply to e-mails either. Clearly, they are a rogue company. Therefore, I initiated the PayPal Transaction Disputes procedure; this proved to be excellent and very straightforward to use; without any further intervention on my part, PayPal gave me a full refund within three weeks of my lodging the complaint. Based on this, I will not hesitate to make purchases using PayPal again, but they will never be from MightyGPS or from companies which Ed Gorenak is involved in, he being named by PayPal as the Mighty GPS "Seller". On reading the above about MightyGPS, someone e-mailed me stating that it was unprofessional to put such information on a Web page such as this. Clearly, I disagree, as it is still here! What other redress does one have in practice? White Beer Travels is steadfastly on the side of the consumer. It is one thing to make a mistake with an order occasionally, but something quite different to take your money and run. Now that is what I call unprofessional and more! John White (1945-), |
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