The first GPS unit that lets you send text messages is supposed to be coming out July 31. It’s the “Earthmate PN-60w” from Delorme.com. (Catchy title, eh?)

Messages are conveyed via satellite and are not dependent on cell phone coverage, so you can send them even in the deepest darkest jungle. The PN-60w is ruggedized and waterproof, in case you are in one of those movies where you fall into the river and are swept downstream over the rapids.

Users can send messages to email addresses, cell phones, buddy lists, and social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, Fire Eagle, SpotAdventures.com, or Geocaching.com, complete with GPS coordinates. (Help! I’m floating downstream on the Amazon.) The map coordinates will help, even if they change as you move along.

The device comes with North America GPS, topographic maps and street coverage for the U.S. and Canada. Nautical charts, aerial images, natural resource maps, and other locations, are available by subscription. This “”save me,” or “I am here” device does not come cheap: you can pre-order it for $550 at Amazon.com.

Too bad it’s so expensive at $200. You could just use your GPS phone instead and go to  geocaching.com.

The eXplorist comes out in April. Magellan is also sponsoring a trash pick-up day to aid the environment. See magellangps.com.

Bob says he can go right to his car in any parking lot. But Joy says she once hunted for hers for at least a half hour.

Park’n Find from Affinicore, is a 99 cents iPhone app that helps you find your parked car, using the iPhone GPS. Besides geo-tagging your car, you can add notes, voice memos and photos. The app displays an arrow showing you which way to walk.

The advanced GPS and mapping features will not work well in an underground parking garage. However, Park’n Find is designed to be useful in all parking situations.  There are rotating selectors which allow you to record details like garage level, row, section, spot, etc.  You can also attach a voice memo and one or more photos.  If the phone can receive a cellular or Wi-Fi signal in the underground parking garage it should be able to approximate the physical address of the parking structure as well.

Google Phone

Recently we wrote about Google Maps Navigation, the first completely free GPS system with turn-by-turn spoken directions. The bad news was that it was only available on the Motorola Droid. The good news is that now you can get the same GPS system for the earlier Android operating system, version 1.6. This includes the T-Mobile G1 and myTouch 3G phones.

And if you read today’s news, you also know that Google is coming out with a Google phone, called the Nexus One, early next year.  The software it uses for making free Internet calls comes from a company called Gizmo5. You won’t have to sign up with any wireless carrier to get the phone. It will come unlocked. Regular phone calls might be free or subsidized by ads. Details here.

GPS (Global Positioning Systems) has become common in new cell phones. And of course there are many other GPS devices, such as Tom-Tom, Magellan, Garmin, DeLorme and Microsoft Streets and Trips. But one of the complaints we hear from readers is that getting new maps for some of these devices can cost $100 a year or more and are needed every time you change regions or countries. The Google map updates for the Android phone are both free and automatic.

The first phone to have Google Maps is the new “Moto Droid,” out in November. This is a $199 Motorola phone (after a $100 rebate) that uses the Verizon Wireless network. The “Droid” doesn’t just speak, it listens. You can use voice commands to search the web or find things stored on the phone: people’s names, music, photos, etc.

The Droid requires a voice and Internet plan from Verizon, which together cost $70 a month. At first glance this seems to negate the “free” part of Google’s map service, but the Internet access is essential not just for maps and voice directions, but for email, photo transmission and of course browsing the web.

The “Droid” will have access to more than 12,000 applications using Verizon’s high-speed 3G network. Users will be able to run six applications at once. The Droid phone itself comes with a five megapixel camera, a 16 gigabyte memory card, integrated Gmail and Microsoft Exchange email, and can record videos and transmit them to YouTube in two clicks. It has a slide-out physical keyboard. There are a ton of features with this phone and you can get more information at droiddoes.com.

The way to avoid expensive map upgrades is to use Google maps with your GPS device. Garmin and TomTom, the leading makers of GPS devices, both allow you to hook your computer to your GPS device and transfer Google maps. These are all free from “Maps.Google.com” and they are available for locations worldwide.

dangerous to ourselves and everybody around us. The other is that there are lots of ways of getting somewhere, not all of them helpful.

We started with Microsoft’s latest edition of “Streets and Trips,” which costs $79 with the GPS or $35 for the software alone. The software runs off a CD, so you have to take a laptop computer along to use Streets and Trips. The program now calls out street names, instead of having to look at the screen.

Bob says he is left with the nagging feeling that a simple paper map would be enough. Having to bring along a laptop is a nuisance and an added attraction to thieves. The advantage to using the software seems to be locating a restaurant, gas station, golf course, etc. and being able to plan the most efficient route. Streets and Trips has1.5 million locations stored on disk.

We switched to the Navigon 7200T, which has a list price of $450. It also has lot of high praises from users voicing their opinions on the web. Once again, this makes us wonder who’s making the comments and what are their connections to the manufacturer. Because using this thing was funny, as in humorous.

It takes voice directions but it couldn’t understand either of us. It doesn’t seem to understand number sets, as in “sixteen thirty Main Street.” It understood only if each number was spoken separately, as in “one, six, three, zero.” It advised us to turn at every street we passed that seemed to take us in the right direction. This went on for blocks, even for streets that were closed off, didn’t go through or had lots of stop signs. Knowing an area well, which we did, revealed how silly, even stupid, the directions were.

A gentle voice advised us of possible traffic problems along the way. Even though we were only a mile from our destination, the voice advised us there was heavy traffic at a point more than 20 miles beyond. Who cares? Pulling into a parking lot threw everything up for grabs. This is true for many GPS driving aids.The good news is you don’t need to bring along a computer for the Navigon and it showed points of interest many miles ahead, giving you time to think.

– A wrap-up of what’s good and what’s bad:

A reader in Arkansas said his Garmin GPS was invaluable for long trips but went bananas when he crossed into Canada and never worked right after that. They sent him a new one. He noted that GPS maps were really good in cities, not so good in rural areas. At one point his Garmin advised him to turn up a dirt track that was fenced off for a hunting preserve. Don’t go there.

The new “Shotgun” GPS device from TeleNav is only $299 and is an “Internet connected” device. This doesn’t mean you can surf the Internet on it, but it does mean that when you’re on the Internet using some other device, you can send info to your Shotgun. It would probably be something fairly obscure, because the Shotgun already has a database of 11 million points of interest.

Want one? There are a couple ways to go: expensive, and cheap. We decided to go cheap. That’s because expensive can be pretty expensive. We went to our local absolutely enormous electronics store and saw that $300-$400 was what it took. If you wanted a large screen, which was not that large, and have it mounted in your car, the cost was over a thousand.  

DeLorme and Microsoft both sell GPS devices form less than $65, but you need a laptop to use them. That brings them back to being expensive, of course, but there are some advantages. For one thing, a laptop has a much bigger screen than the GPS devices, like the top selling Garmin products. If you don’t have a laptop, you can buy one and still come out for less than mounting a Garmin unit in your car. And you get to have a laptop besides. 

The two low-cost systems cover the U.S., Canada and major roads in Mexico. (Other makers, like Garmin, have GPS software for many countries, but of course you pay much more.) Both DeLorme and Microsoft’s hardware and software worked for us but there were problems. If you’re going to get one of these, you should expect to spend some time learning how to use them before you go out on the trail, so to speak.  

DeLorme and Microsoft use small receivers that can detect signals from satellites. You attach them to your laptop with a cable and use a suction cup to stick the receiver onto a window or windshield. The suction cups were just about worthless, but you can put the receiver on the dashboard. Load the software and you’re in business – or not, as the case may be. 

J

As soon as we left our place, the DeLorme software told us to turn left onto Church Street. Well, turning left on Church would meant turning the wrong way on a one-way street. So we ignored those instructions and continued on north, and the program automatically recalculated the route. But it reminded us that we had seen several cars turn west onto Church St. over the past few months, right into the oncoming traffic. Now we had to wonder if they were simply following instructions from their GPS systems. Fortunately, there weren’t any accidents but it brings up an interesting point: If a driver follows their GPS instructions and turns up a busy one way street the wrong way and gets into a crash, can they sue the company that provided the software? (Microsoft’s GPS system, by the way, makes you click “I agree,” that you won’t sue them, each time you turn on their GPS tracking.)  

The Sony Vaio screen was extremely difficult to read because of outside glare, even though it was a cloudy day. Joy had to cover her head and the laptop with one of Bob’s old shirts – like she was developing film — just so she could read the map. After a couple of blocks she said it was making her car sick. Forget that; we knew where we were going and just went there. 

On the way back home, the unit told us to turn onto a busy highway that was in the right general direction but not the best way. Bob ignored it, since he knew how to get back, and continued driving on another highway that was more direct. Following the Microsoft directions would have added about five extra miles to a 15 mile trip.  

As we ignored the computer’s instructions, it kept telling us we should turn back to the street we had already passed. It kept this up until it would have added another five miles just to get back to that road. Finally, it gave up, accepting our new route and adjusting to it. We got home with no trouble. By the way: These systems will tell you you’re off- course even if you pull into a parking lot to change drivers, so much of their advice can be ignored.. 

What does this all mean? Get a map. It’s cheap, weighs just an ounce or two and requires no batteries. Some people have become so dependent on their GPS system they think they need it to go anywhere. Joy recently rode with a friend who gave her a lift home, and the woman started out by consulting her car’s built-in GPS system, even though she had been to the destination before and knew how to get there. 

If there is any plus side to this GPS routing software it is in the other information it contains. DeLorme has four million points of interest for the U.S. and Canada. Microsoft’s program has about 1.6 million points. DeLorme  had much more information about restaurants, coffee shops, hotels, etc.  

The bottom line: If you need software to help you plan an efficient route, Delorme’s program has more features. It lets you plug in a microphone, for example, and ask questions like “Are we there yet?” (You may need a child to ask “Are we there yet?”) Also, the computer voice in Delorme’s turn-by-turn directions include the street name, instead of just saying “turn right,” the way Microsoft does. Having the street name can be crucial in situations where there are several streets intersecting at nearly the same point or a street is closed off.  In short, Delorme’s Earthmate has better features but Microsoft’s Streets and Trips was easier to use.     

We connected the DeLorme Earthmate GPS LT-40 receiver to a Sony Vaio laptop, installed their Street Atlas 2009, and started out to drive from our place to a shipping service a couple miles away. We already knew how to get there, of course, but did DeLorme?   

As soon as we left our place, the DeLorme software told us to turn left onto Church Street. Well, turning left on Church would meant turning the wrong way on a one-way street. So we ignored those instructions and continued on north, and the program automatically recalculated the route. But it reminded us that we had seen several cars turn west onto Church St. over the past few months, right into the oncoming traffic. Now we had to wonder if they were simply following instructions from their GPS systems. Fortunately, there weren’t any accidents but it brings up an interesting point: If a driver follows their GPS instructions and turns up a busy one way street the wrong way and gets into a crash, can they sue the company that provided the software? (Microsoft’s GPS system, by the way, makes you click “I agree,” that you won’t sue them, each time you turn on their GPS tracking.)  

The Sony Vaio screen was extremely difficult to read because of outside glare, even though it was a cloudy day. Joy had to cover her head and the laptop with one of Bob’s old shirts – like she was developing film — just so she could read the map. After a couple of blocks she said it was making her car sick. Forget that; we knew where we were going and just went there.