FREE GPS PROGRAM - Roadnav .15 review

**walstib** · 09-26-2006, 08:43 PM

Check out this thread.
Linux GPS - Roadster
Roadster uses govt files and I find it is way more responsive than Roadnav, at least on my Nano.

**walstib** · 09-26-2006, 08:59 PM

Originally Posted by redls1bird

what about adding voice?

also, where are the map files being downloaded to?

Maybe you could use festival for speech? Roadmap already has that as an option. I have not run RoadNav in a while, don't remember if it had that feature or not. Maps for RoadNav are stored in the ~/.roadnavdata directory.

Originally Posted by All4Sky

would it be possible to make a very light weight distro with just this gps software?

I think DSL with gpsd and Roadnav or Roadster would be fast and lean.

**sxott** · 09-26-2006, 09:54 PM

It has text to speech under preferences general tab check Verbalize Directions
Walstib, thanks, the other program I like the look of, but I have windows not linux.

Hmm this makes me wonder how directions work now that the other mentions things about one way roads etc... not being included in TIGER data.

**blk02si** · 09-27-2006, 11:36 AM

In case anyone is curious I got it to embed into RR without the file menu and status bar buy sending a fullscreen keyboard shortcut after its embedded. It "fullscreened" but only into is embed window.

**redls1bird** · 10-08-2006, 05:02 PM

Ok, i have been toying with this program for a couple of weeks now, and im more impressed than before. If anyone cares, the files for maps (for windows xp users atleast) are under c:\docsandsettings\"yournamehere"\applicationdata\ roadnav . files obviously range in size for each county, but the entire continental united states (since i dont plan on driving to hawaii, or alaska) is about 9.7 gigs. yes, i downloaded every county. Im going to split the nation up into 3 sections, east coast, midwest, and west coast, onto three dvds with lots of overlapping states. Im still playing with the source code to tell it to reference my disc drive instead of its current location. Also, it does have a "clunky" feel to it, and it does take alot of time for some screens to load. to fix that, get rid of all that uneeded data like "invisible water boundaries" and "land boundaries" under the preferences menu, found at the themes. It will zoom much quicker when its not trying to add alot of non navigation relevant info. Also, if you download alot of counties, be sure to delete the http_cache file (this option is also found under the preferences menu) since this contains the zipped files for every county you have downloaded and most are over 1 mb each. they are literally wasted space.