Route Planning

[fordse]

Hi all,

I'm thinking of buying an iQue 3600, but I need to know if it would actually do what I'm hoping.

I am the Orkin Man during the day :), and here's what I want to do: Based on having my customers entered into my Address Book on my Palm/PC, I want to be able to plan my route on the PC and sync this route/map back onto my iQue, and then get the nav help on the road.

Can the iQue (with its bundled software) do this, or does it just find addresses/locations on the fly on the handheld itself without any corresponding PC mapping?

Thanks all!

[iQueRMA]

The routes on the PC do not transfer over to the iQue but you can create these routes directly on the iQue and save them.

[fordse]

So does it come with mapping software for the PC so I can see all my stops on one map at least?

[mariusp]

I've only had my iQue 3200 for three days now but here's what I figured it can do:
- Use Date Book which is essentially a calendar / appointment management tool (similar to Outlook, can sync with Outlook too) to set up events for a given day.
- You can attach a location to an event using either:
- An Address Book entry
- A point of interest
- An address that you specify

- You can view all events for a day, set up alarms and choose to route to the event's attached location.

- Alternately you can set up a predefined route with via points and detours and such...


- You can use the tracking feature to record a track log that you can examine at the end of the day. It shows you where you've been on the map, the distance covered, elapsed time, avg. speed, etc...

I'm not sure that you can download the track log to the PC though, maybe some of the senior members know. It would be nice :)

Also you can check out Garmin's web site and take a look at the applications manual for the 3600.

Hope this helps,

Marius

[iQueRMA]

Yes you can transfer the track log from the iQue to your PC but it requires you to download the software from Garmin's website. It's titled "iQue Transfer Waypoints Ver. 2.2 as of Jan 28, 2004". I've attached the link below.

http://www.garmin.com/support/collection.jsp?product=010-00264-00

[fordse]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! Sadly, it looks like the iQue isn't the solution for me after all. I really need something like MapPoint (though much less expensive) that can sync with my Palm, plus includes GPS navigation.

I've used Yahoo! Maps Beta, but it's limited to 25 stops per map. Oh well.... :(

[mariusp]

Cool, thanks a lot. I was able to download the tracks, convert them to GPX files using GPS Babel, and load them into Google Earth :) sweet!

Yes you can transfer the track log from the iQue to your PC but it requires you to download the software from Garmin's website. It's titled "iQue Transfer Waypoints Ver. 2.2 as of Jan 28, 2004". I've attached the link below.

http://www.garmin.com/support/collection.jsp?product=010-00264-00

[Ken in Regina]

Cool, thanks a lot. I was able to download the tracks, convert them to GPX files using GPS Babel, and load them into Google Earth :) sweet!
You don't have to do that. You can look at the tracks in Mapsource on the PC. Once you have them up in Mapsource you can just go to the View menu and select the "View in Google Earth" item at the bottom of theView menu. Simple and slick. :)

...ken...

[TWN]

Fordse, I run a service business with several hundred customers and use the 3600 to manage daily routing and service scheduling.
If you are still interested, let me know and I will explain how I do it. ZZZZzzzzzzzz.........T

[JMckie]

For most practical purposes, I find route planning just as easy and more convenient on the iQue than on the desktop. Once you're used to it, that is.