posted 05-02-2001 11:08 AM ET (US)            

There are some freeware/shareware programs
that run on the Mac.

posted 05-02-2001 02:27 PM ET (US)         

Native Mac programs:
Look around the web for MacGPS (free) which will give instructions for upgrading to MacGPS Pro. I have MacGPS Pro and it works well with Garmin GPS units; but only Garmin units.

Look at:

www.gpsy.com

For software for Garmin and many other GPS units.

Both of these Mac programs work well for Track, Route, and Waypoint management. Also, realtime display. GPSy can also link to Street Atlas for moving map display.

Steet Atlas has some GPS funtioning built in as well.

If you have a Garmin and want to use the MapSource CDs you can them with Virtual PC 3.x or 4.x. I can't see why the Magellan or Lowrance software wouldn't work either; but can't state this as a fact.

Cables and other hardware issues:

If you have a beige Mac you will need a Mac serial cable adapted to work with your brand of GPS. www.gpsy.com has an excellent tutorial on this. The tutorial is free online, but consider paying them for GPSy if you use it.

If you have a colorful Mac (iMac, iBook, B/W G3, G4,Cube, PowerBook) that doesn't have serial ports then you will need a Keyspan adapter:

http://www.keyspan.com/products/usb/usa28x/

This will give you 2 Mac serial ports.

If you have a Garmin handheld look at:

http://pfranc.com/projects/g45contr/g45_idx.htm

Larry makes plugs that will enable you to make you own Garmin data/power cable. He gives instruction for Macs.

As far as the Mini-8 Din connectors go, get a printer cable cut it in the middle. You now have 2 cables with Mini-8 Din connectors on them. A little work with an Ohm meter will allow you to identify which wires connect to which pins. Use caution the the pin out won't be the same for both connectors; some wires are crossed deliberately for hand shaking reasons.

You can use the Keyspan adapter and Virtual PC to work with the Garmin Map scource CD-ROMS. I do so all the time.
Virtual PC on a beige Mac should work as well.

Here are the specifics of my system:

Dual G4-450
Gobs of RAM (I do video work)
Virtual PC 4.x/Windows 95/98
OS 9.1
Keyspan Twin serial Adpater
Garmin GPS 12 Map
cable made with Larry's connector
cable made to adapt the Garmin cable
Garmin MAP Scource CD-ROM
GPSY
MacGPS Pro

This all works without a hitch. I can use the Garmin with either GPSY or MacGPS Pro in the mac environement. Or I can use the Garmin program from within Virtual PC; including uploading map data!

I hope this helps.

Sean

You can take my Mac when you pry my cold dead fingers of of the mouse :)

posted 05-02-2001 02:46 PM ET (US)         

I will pass along what I can.

You can use a GPS with a Mac!!!!

posted 05-02-2001 05:22 PM ET (US)            

BTW: you should make a periodic backup of
the waypoints, etc., in your GPS, just in
case it dies, gets stolen, you get a fancier
GPS, etc. Every time I connect one of my
GPSs to MapSource, I backup the waypoints
and routes. I save them as a file with the
GPS name and date, for example: G162.200100502.MPS It takes about a minute,
and if you do it routinely, you won't lose
all those cool spots it took so long to find.

Chuck

posted 05-03-2001 10:13 AM ET (US)         

You are of course correct. Only the Garmin Map Scource CD will upload the cartography. This is true for Magellan and Lowrance as well.

I keep my waypoints stored in seperate files based on region or lake. That way if I am going to go out on Gull lake I can erase all the waypoints and upload only those for Gull Lake. Saves me from needing to scroll through lot of waypoints just to find a few that relate to one lake. it only takes a few seconds to upload a set of waypoints.