GPS Software, GPS for Laptops

GPS means the Global Positioning System, and it was designed as a system with the primary function to enhance the effectiveness of U.S. military forces. There are now many uses for GPS. In addition to military and surveying use, it is used for land, air and sea navigation, for vehicle tracking for personal and commercial vehicles and law enforcement purposes. GPS Receiver for Laptop

For the many different ways and situations in which GPS is used, GPS receivers take on different forms. Thus, there is a GPS watch for your wrist, a GPS cell phone, a GPS PDA, and, finally, a GPS laptop. The arrival of the GPS receiver has given rise to the new popular sport – geocaching. Geocaching is a great way to improve your GPS navigation skills and a lot of fun.

There are several ways to put together a laptop GPS system. For automobile use, there are GPS receivers made to connect to a notebook via a cable. This allows to place the receiver near the windshield where it will gather satellite signals. The wired GPS receivers are the cheapest way to go.

Another alternative for in-car use is a Bluetooth receiver. It will typically cost more, but the wireless technology offers greater flexibility. Mount the Bluetooth GPS receiver anywhere in your car and it will send data to your Bluetooth-enabled notebook. This receiver may also require a small antenna that will make for the best reception.

Laptop GPS can also be achieved by means of a compact flash or PCMCIA card. In this case you attach the GPS receiver directly to the laptop. The better CF/PCMCIA models have capability of adding an external antenna that makes for ideal reception. Of course, if you will use a CF/PCMCIA card for laptop outdoors, reception will be good.

GPS for Laptop: GPS Navigation

Laptop can be very handy in a car if there is a passenger to do the navigating. The large laptop screen is perfect for viewing GPS maps. There is topo map and street atlas software available for the laptop.

You can download GPS software for free. There are websites offering various free GPS software and descriptions of how to use the programs after you download them. Using free GPS software you can download programs that allow you to retrieve and display topo maps and aerial photos. Some programs allow you import scanned images and add longitude and latitude points and other data. Some programs allow you download street maps that are not included into your auto-navigation system.

Free GPS software is available for PDAs that are capable of communication with GPS receivers, and it's also available for cell phones.