Best GPS Device in India

[sethumurugan]

Friends,

I really felt the missing of this feature in my sparky recently. On Monday I had to go to Oracle seminar at Royal Le Meridian hotel in Guindy, Chennai from my house which is near Vadapalani.

I know one regular route which is little bit longer as well as heavy traffic. It would be like sometimes it will take more than 30 mints to cross just 2KM stretch.

So I wanted to try Google maps and find is there any other way [I guessed it before being in Chennai for more than 30 years, but wanna make sure] and I found it also. But I had to take lot of left and right turns towards the end. I could n't take print also.

I just noted down the lefts and rights in piece of paper and after couple of turns I missed the steps and I ended up in main road again where the hotel is in my right where I am not able to do right turn and reach the hotel. So I had to go another round and follow carefully the directions and reached the hotel and I waster nearly 30 mints and traveled extra 6 to 8 KMs.



At that time I thought of a devise with GPS. If had this one am sure I would n't have missed the route.

Let me see. As suggested by Indian let me get a Android Phone or Low cost Tablet and try having GPS.

 

[appus]

@sethu sir,
When you buy low cost tablet, check it on showroom enabling the gps. Some tablets are not getting locked to gps easily as they have very low gps hardware on it (for the name sake)

And, about the above case. Please make sure you make 4-6 way point (destination) in between. Write down in a paper and distance. If you miss one, you can reach to the next way point (destination) and start from there. So, you need not worry the Kilometers if missed.

You make Vadapalani, Japharkhanpet, AshokNagar, Guindy as destinations (from above image).

Zoom it to the fullest and see the routes are having enough width, if not, drag to a different route.

As suggested by Indian, It is better to invest on android phone (4+ inches) than going for a dedicated device

 

[Gurrala74]

@Sethu,

The shortest route mentioned by you was correct as I have travelled to that hotel from vadapalani(from bhimas) and also from Ashok nagar(my previous office).

Yes, You need a good GPS instrument in your car or just a good phone like L 520 or Galaxy S duos.

I used to have same problems earlier, but not now and L 620 has wonderful offline Nokia maps and voice navigation which works perfectly in cities and also I have loaded a G maps which is more useful for me on the village sides and yes it is a great relief with my phone which I used to face lot of trouble in finding the routes in other cities, ofcourse not in Hyderabad

 

[Indian]

@Sethu,
Google maps is an excellent mapping software, but still for the purpose of navigation I think the offline maps have advantage. When your trip is planned try using the offline mapping. When you need a direction on the fly(un planned) and when you don't know the real destination address I think Google maps is the savior. Also under those circumstances you don't mind extra couple of kms or the data usage. I have seen many occasions in busy intersections the Google maps getting erratic. The offline mapping software prepared explicitly for the navigation and I think there is lot more logic built in in the application to tackle those situations.

As appus said, make sure the device you buy is ok for GPS navigation. Some of the cheap devices may get locked to satellites that easily. Another important thing to note is to make sure the device also has 'A-GPS' support. This will ensure that your device gets locked to the satellite faster by downloading the 'GPS Data' to you device when ever required. There are lot of utilities available for fine tuning the gps device.

 

[sethumurugan]

@indian @RK thanks for the input. I will keep in mind before buying one. Soon I will buy a phone with GPS [My son is pestering me for a phone, me and my wife thinking should we give him a phone this early or wait. So decision pending.] in case if we go for a phone for my son I will buy one with android and GPS support.

 

[Gurrala74]

@Sethu,

Sorry for OT, phone for kids is good and bad too.

Good : It allows us to maintain contact with him all the time and communicating will be easy

Bad : If he is moving to +2 now, I expect his 100% time in studies as this is the vital age which leads a child for too many diversions and these two years are critical according to me and after that you can have peace of mind as they get that maturity in everything.

For you, since you office does not allow a camera phone, Buy a phone with a good display size use it as a secondary phone apart from office mobile which should have good GPS support and will give bit premium feeling and I suggest Lumia 520 or similar size phone for the same but again it will cost you 10K, if you get a GPS device for less price then you can buy and fix in the car, but if you have mobile it is useful for you when you are out of your car too and also useful as a camera with good pixel rate.

 

[appus]

@RK,

Would not suggest a Windows phone as the Offline maps are limited. I read from one of your post that maps are not detailed when you go bit inside from city. There are other offlines maps available for android which gives better maps. You can try MapMyIndia (Sygic) in android which is comparatively better. Unless, WindowsPhone comes with more offline maps, your option will be limited only to Nokia Offline Maps. Going for Google Maps with DATA do not make sense all the time. It will be good once in a while.

 

[Gurrala74]

@Appus

I agree with you Yes I have mentioned Nokia maps detailing is limited when you go outside city limits, but they work perfect in city. Even out side city if you are on any NH or SH they work quite well but if you go bit interiors it has a problem not recognising the routes well. But offline maps in Nokia doesn't require any data connection and never eat away your battery much due to no signal search for map. So there are advantages and disadvantages with it. That is the reason I have loaded a free app of google called G maps for detailing in village side so that will solve my purpose, but they are only map and cannot provide you voice navigation. So it all depends on Sethu's requirement and which one to buy, I think I have even suggested him a Samsung Galaxy phone for these reasons.

 

[Superbad]

@Appus

I agree with you Yes I have mentioned Nokia maps detailing is limited when you go outside city limits, but they work perfect in city. Even out side city if you are on any NH or SH they work quite well but if you go bit interiors it has a problem not recognising the routes well. But offline maps in Nokia doesn't require any data connection and never eat away your battery much due to no signal search for map. So there are advantages and disadvantages with it. That is the reason I have loaded a free app of google called G maps for detailing in village side so that will solve my purpose, but they are only map and cannot provide you voice navigation. So it all depends on Sethu's requirement and which one to buy, I think I have even suggested him a Samsung Galaxy phone for these reasons.

voice navigation is available on android albeit dependent on usage of data.

there is Sygic (mapmy india) which does the navigation much better than nokia maps could.

Ex:

had tried sygic maps to reach from mumbai to goa and i could get two option of route via Nh-17 and NH- 4 easily.

i tired the same with nokia maps and although it took me with the same distance i lost out on 2 hours despite choosing the fastest route.

with sygic i was able to reach mumbai to goa with traffic in less than 12 hours via nh4.

the same through nokia maps , it took me through interiors of kolhapur to join me at Nh4 and took me 14 hours to reach mumbai, that too on practically no traffic on roads.

so their maps need optimisation in terms of road sense and not just the distance.

currently nokia maps are focused on optimisation with respect to distance.

 

[Gurrala74]

+100 Superbad, yes Nokia maps needs improvement further. I am afraid are we going OT in this thread

 

[appus]

I am afraid are we going OT in this thread

You are not. It is the GPS Discussion. Ofcourse android/windowsphone8/iOS will come in this.

And, any offline maps do not require 'DATA' ! Only google maps requires data.
Sygic MapMyIndia/TomTom/Garmin and many others are with Offline Maps.

Battery is eaten by 'GPS' more than 'DATA/Network'.

@superbad,
I agree on comparison with Nokia Maps (offline) as my bro was complaining. I think he got some earlier versions of it.

Eventhough sygic is better, they cant beat Google maps anytime. They also update very late.

When i went to chennail last time, i used sygic for reaching from Marina Beach to Little Mt and it took me thru all small roads. That was the shortest route. As I was not aware of the main points, I didnt add way point (That was my first time in Chennai). Uncle were surprised to see a shortcut

Today I loaded the 12.2 version of it. I will check how it behaves this Sunday. Thinking of covering Yelagiri and Golden Temple.

 

[sethumurugan]

Hey Guys. Ok I might be odd to ask this.

Tell me this Data/network/battery/cost/offline line/online/a-gps stuff completely on GPS. Pls. I am really confused.

If i get will i get charged for GPS usage.
if offline how the device know where we are

totally confused.

 

[Indian]

...
Battery is eaten by 'GPS' more than 'DATA/Network'.
...
.

Agreed with you except the above.
IMO, the data connection is the biggest battery drain culprit on any phone. On my phone GPS is always on. This does not mean that all the time I am hooked to satellites. By keeping GPS on you are just enabling the hardware. So whenever any application needs the location support(such as weather, navigation etc) it tries to receive the GPS signal(here a slight battery use happens) and then once updated GPS unlocks. Just by enabling GPS will not cause any battery drain. But in the case of data I can clearly see the extra battery drain almost immediately. To get a data your phone has to continuously hunt for networks. Any bad network it needs to switch from tower to tower 3G/2G etc. Highest battery drain happens when no network connection is found. So its very important to switch off the mobile(Phone) connection in poor reception area or while traveling in such area(eg. by train)

...
Eventhough sygic is better, they cant beat Google maps anytime. They also update very late.
...

Totally agree with you, google is live! Always up-to-date. That's why I said that google maps is a 'life saver'. Its a MUST have app on any smart phone. But ease of navigation, and UI better on dedicated offline navigators. Many times I search for location on google and once found locate the intersection and navigate using Sygic!

 

[Superbad]

Hey Guys. Ok I might be odd to ask this.

Tell me this Data/network/battery/cost/offline line/online/a-gps stuff completely on GPS. Pls. I am really confused.

data dependent (A-GPS)- Assisted GPS.
it tracks your location from the nearby mobile tower and sends data packet to ascertain the location.
helpful in getting a quick lock among areas where sky is not clear due to taller buildings in surroundings.

battery: dependent on the usage :online GPS will consume more battery than the offline alternatives. it is advisable to carry a mobile charger along when travelling long distances.

Cost : data cost for google maps and navigation .else free

free without data for nokia maps (bundled with newer phones)would need to download offline maps though from nokia suite.

navigation specific apps which would have an initial cost (Sygic aura(map myindia)) but is cost effective for not consuming data on the go.offline maps are available

If i get will i get charged for GPS usage.

no

if offline how the device know where we are

totally confused.

all newer smartphones are embedded with GPS receiver so once enabled they try to fix up your geographic position with the help of GPS satellites. the lock in time would depend on the availability of free path between the phone and the sky.

hope i was able to reduce your confusion.

 

[Gurrala74]

Tell me this Data/network/battery/cost/offline line/online/a-gps stuff completely on GPS. Pls. I am really confused.

If i get will i get charged for GPS usage.
if offline how the device know where we are

Sethu, I will try and answer this with the limited knowledge with my usage of smart phone for a while

Data : internet connection on your phone, you can on/off as per your need
network : this is automatic in any mobile will search and connect to your home operator(airtel,vodafone,idea etc.,)
battery : power support for any mobile, in smart phones its draining is bit fast as every application including screen takes the battery. No worry, you can switch off the unwanted applications like wifi,bluetooth,location
cost : cost is only for your call or internet usage(it is free if you pay a fixed amount like in my monthly post paid plan I pay 449 rental with 600 minutes free and get 3GB internet usage free)
online: when data connection is on
offline : when data connection is off
GPS : global positioning system, non chargeable and active for a while whenever data connection is on
Offline maps : for example on my nokia, I have downloaded all india maps thru' wifi connection and installed in my device, so maps of any place in India works without any online connection like wifi, data
GPS locates you when you are online.