GPS abroad help.

[B1G GK]

Does anyone know who's good for GPS in Jordan,
Were doing a bike ride through the country at the end of Oct/Nov and was to track it on GPS without getting bummed for airtime.

[DrTre]

airtime? on GPS?

[B1G GK]

I am abit of a n00b so dont know the full technicals,
But say over here we use runkeeper on the iphone to track our path, our network provider will sting us for airtime if we use that over there (if compatable for the country) so were looking for other devices/trackers

[ewenm]

Get a specific GPS device, not a phone which needs an airtime app to run the GPS. Something from Garmin for example.

[DrTre]

ah, ok fair enough. gps is a passive system, you could get a cheap gps unit to store and download the routes off at later date if you're not fussed about it being "live"?

even on the iphone there may be a way to store offline maps, but I don't know if the iPhone uses "real" GPS or AGPS to locate itself

BTW, you're a lucky bugger going to Jordan, I love it. Amazing place.

[B1G GK]

DrTre said:

BTW, you're a lucky bugger going to Jordan, I love it. Amazing place.

Youve been?
Whats it like, Were doing a bike ride for Marie Curie Cancer Care from Amman to Petra, Details of where were going here http://www.justgiving.com/RandG-do-Jordan

Tell me more please.

[DrTre]

It's very friendly, you'll probably be pestered a bit in the tourist locations, but not in a bad way...they're just very good salespeople!

Petra is something that everyone should see once in their life..

That route looks class. There's so much to see and bike is a cracking idea, time of year is good too, not too hot but not cold. I've been to a couple of the castles, although not the loop and not the really good one.

Best of luck!

[GreigM]

you'd maybe be best with something like one of the garmin forerunner watches - it will record where you go, and let you download it and put it onto google earth....only thing to watch would be battery life - you'd need to charge it every night and if you'd be doing anything over 8 hours a day you'd need something else....but this would be an issue with any device.....

[Bill]

You can get apps that allow you to download maps so you don't need roaming data.

Eta GPS is world wide and most decent ones have basic maps in them already.

Edited by Bill on Wednesday 8th September 20:54

[CVP]

If on the bike and you are only using it to track routes travelled so you can download later, the Garmin Edge 500 is another option. It has a longer battery life than the Forerunner 305 but will still need recharging every day or two. If the trip is more than few days best to take laptop to download the Garmin tracked data to.

[Andy_GSA]

SPOT tracking - www.findmespot.com - sounds interesting for live tracking but the cost might be prohibitive.