newbie questions, just bought M5

[m5_jay]

I just ordered the M5 off COSTCO, yay! my new toy!
This is my first PDA, but not my first GPS (been using Street Pilot C330 for a while) .

I have a few noobie questions please bear with me:

-I understand this runs some sort of scaled down windows, so what do i do for virus protection?

-Whats a good place to start if I want to develop applications for the M5 GPS/GIS based?

-I use ESRI products at work and was wondering if points I geolocate on field could be exported as a text file or some ESRI/Arc based format to manipulate after field work.I do understand that this PDA is not really geared for high accuracy field work but I was just hoping to develop mobile GIS applications

-I read in a few posts that the new firmware upgrade is not a good idea, whats ur take guys?

-Will 3-D map view be added to this later or is there a freeware that allows this?

Thats a lot of questions, appreciate any replies and Thanks!
Jay

[AnswerDude]

-I understand this runs some sort of scaled down windows, so what do i do for virus protection?


Windows Mobile is not a scale down verion of desktop windows. You cannot run programs written for the desktop on WM devices. Virus on desktop do not effect WM devices. Currently there are only proof of concept virus written for WM os but not in the wild. However, proper precaution and practice such as regular backup is recommended.


-Whats a good place to start if I want to develop applications for the M5 GPS/GIS based?

http://msdn.microsoft.com/mobility/gettingstarted/windowsmobile/default.aspx
https://www.garmin.com/DeveloperZone/

[AKlopper]

-I use ESRI products at work and was wondering if points I geolocate on field could be exported as a text file or some ESRI/Arc based format to manipulate after field work.I do understand that this PDA is not really geared for high accuracy field work but I was just hoping to develop mobile GIS applications

You can transfer the waypoints that you create to MapSource and save them in a variety of formats.

-I read in a few posts that the new firmware upgrade is not a good idea, whats ur take guys?

I suspect you won't have a choice. All new units probably ship with version 2.50 of the software already installed.

-Will 3-D map view be added to this later or is there a freeware that allows this?

It may well be added later. There isn't a programmatic way to access the Garmin map data, so you would have to install a third party map application with its own map data to get a 3D view.

[m5_jay]

so you would have to install a third party map application with its own map data to get a 3D view.

Does such a program exist, is it free/cheap? and where can I get it?

Does Mapsource come bundled with the M5 or is it a separate purchase?
Thanks though!

UPS is supposed to deliver today around lunch time...I ccannt wwait! :)

[AKlopper]

Does such a program exist, is it free/cheap? and where can I get it?

You could try www.tomtom.com. I haven't used this myself, but I've read mixed reports about it (on these forums, mostly). People generally seem to feel they are better off with Garmin's maps and software, and that the 3D view is a gimmick that they switch off after trying it a few times.

Does Mapsource come bundled with the M5 or is it a separate purchase?

You get MapSource maps with the M5, but not the MapSource software itself. You can download that for free from Garmin's website, however, as your ownership of the maps gives you the right to use it.

[GPS seeker]

You could try www.tomtom.com.



I tried Tomtom on my IQue M5. It works great! The 3D view is impressive. Tomtom also picks the satellite signal quicker than Ique Map. The only problem is that it lost signal every 2 or 3 mins then comes back just in a sec. I suspect the baud rate on the receiver setting may not put in a good one. Any body know what "GPS baud rate" should i set for the Garmin GPS receiver? I set to 115200 at moment. It works though.

[AKlopper]

I assume you are using COM2 on the M5 for the NMEA data. On my M5 there are frequent gaps of 2-4 seconds in this data, even though the GPS has a good signal. It may just be my M5, or it may be a problem with the COM2 stream driver in general. Anyway, it may be that TomTom can cope with gaps of a certain length, but when you occassionally get one that is longer, TomTom says that it has lost the signal (I've never used TomTom myself).

This is all assuming that TomTom doesn't have built-in M5 GPS support, of course. I'm too lazy to look at the moment... ;)

[m5_jay]

I have been using the M5 and StreetPilot C330 side by side, I took a short road trip this weekend and mounted both the M5 and the C330 on my windshield. I just found the C330 to be a much more robust and reliable unit, now whether its just this particular M5 I got or its an inheret M5 problem I donot know but I will return the M5 and stick with the C330.


I took a short detour to a Gas station on the way and suddenly the M5 said that it couldnt get a satellite reception and it took a while to get back on, It couldnt reroute from the detour , the c330 surprisingly stayed on track all the while.

Another annoyance, when the M5 loses the signal (this has happened quite a few times but never with the c330) it comes back to a zoomed out view, i also find the redraws/refreshes much slower than the c330. the calculation seems slower compared to the c330 too.

Now I know you might feel I am comparing apples to oranges and that ones a pDA the others a vehicle nav system but I figured that both where garmin products and based on the same basemaps and probably have similar GIS engines running them so, this comparo.

I will wait a while untill I get another PDA, If the M5 has a slow map render/refresh rate will the M3 be any better??