OziExplorer on Standard Car Navigation GPS.

[Hastykiwi]

Cracked it! I took my LG LN500 car GPS, (what you see suckered to everybody's windscreens), cracked it, which means i changed the start up in it so it does not automatically load the Navigation software, but instead loads to win CE. At this point I had a windows desktop, and the opportunity to run other software.

Next step was to download a copy of the latest Oziexplorer, (with built in keyboard as your typical car gps does not have one), and load it up. The newer versions of OziEx do a better job of automatically finding the internal GPS settings and getting up and running.

From there, i needed a copy of 'Image to OZf'. This software convertsnormal pc oziexplorer .map files to operate with oziEx CE. A couple of minutes work and a map I had made from google MV was now ready for the CE version.

The amount of information available on the small unit is staggering. Alttitude, acceleration, speed, and compass etc. Great piece of software.

Now i can run any maps i like for off road, as i would have with the laptop, and also flick back to the standard navigation software that came with the unit to run on road.

SWEET!

Nick

[Waxenwane]

Good job, what size SD card does it use? I did the same with one of the $60 ebay specials which works very well and is only limited by the 2 gig capacity of the card. I can never get enough maps on there, unlike my laptop which is only limited by the HD capacity.

[Hastykiwi]

the map of perth is about 15mb, so i figure i'll get a few in there. Of course, I could download a higher resolution. A 4gb sd is not too expensive at the mo, and will enough for the trips around WA.

Nick

[HBWC]

thats good but on some you have to load other programs to do this and i carnt be bothered explaning so this has most of the links you will need

[ame=http://www.4wdmonthly.com.au/forum/showthread.php't=67366]Off road maps with IGO8 - Australian 4WD Action Online Forums - the 4WD, 4x4 and offroad truck community. Get the latest tips, news, reviews, images and video clips.[/ame]

their is a fair few links within links

[Cap]

Excellent. I did the very same thing already. These little units are handy for sure. I downloaded maps from GoogleMV, converted them and now I have 4wd terrain maps that work perfectly

[Hastykiwi]

Yeah, exactly. As long as the unit is running on Win CE your sweet! The Google MV is just too easy and you can make up a map for where ever your going. Admitedly I wouldn't mind something with a slightly larger screen as mine is a couple of years old and about 3.5 inches, but given the cost of this conversion is nil, who cares.

N.

[Cap]

Same here, mines a small screen. BUT... I have a laptop and also an application that MS makes that allows you to view your GPS screen on the laptop. However, the way it increases the screen size is by magnification, so 2x is OK but starting to get pixely. My laptop is also a touch screen and I can use the touchscreen like I could on the GPS. So basically its like the gps, only bigger

[Hastykiwi]

Now thats pretty cool. I was using OZex on the laptop with a GPS mouse, which worked fine but was clumsy big, and limited life on battery. The Navi GPS just makes it so much less messy. How do you connect your car Navi to laptop?

Nick

[Cap]

My Navi has only USB facility, no serial. So the USB connects to laptop and also acts to charge battery at the same time. So all I need is inverter in car to power the laptop. But essentially its not a vital component having the laptop, just a bit of a geeky thing really