FREE GPS PROGRAM - Roadnav .15 review

blk02si · 09-07-2006, 12:33 AM

Well the reason to move to linux in the car is even stronger now with the latest release of roadNAV. A free GPS program similar to the commerical ones available. The program itself is very small, took about 1 second to download. Seriously. You then download maps from the internet but once they are downloaded they are static on the hardrive. I just chose all of michigan and played after the 10 minutes of map configuring. First impressions is 'HOLY CRAP!' this has come a long way in the past months. Very useable on my desktop. Would be useable on a TS with a keyboard to type destinations, but no OSK. Zoom is a bit slow, maybe 2 sec update times (im used to instant IG3 zooms) The driving directions are kind of hard to follow if you ask me, but im not that sure as I have not tried it yet with the GPS receiver. Maps also show all drains, rivers, water, etc. I am going to try it in the car with the GPS hooked up to really test it more. For now just wanted to share that there is a good, free, multiplatform GPS program available. Not the best out there but, insanely good for a free app. Highly configurable via the 'preferences' from the file menu. Multiple map schemes, ability to zoom the text and road stroke and many others. 3d views are present. Those familiar with open source apps will appricate all the configuration options. Oh yeah, also got this to embed into RR perfect. Those on a budget I would def try it out! Im going to copy the downloaded maps to the carPC and report back on in car use. Then maybe redo my car with linux. . .

oh yeah white map is downtown Detriot, last pic is roadnav embedded in the MMI skin with RR running the show

http://roadnav.sourceforge.net/

Quattro · 09-07-2006, 12:49 AM

Looks pretty impressive, you got a link so we can dl as well?

blk02si · 09-07-2006, 12:58 AM

adding link to first post

All4Sky · 09-07-2006, 01:28 PM

Very interesting, and looks pretty good too. I don't know much about linux, but would it be possible to make a very light weight distro with just this gps software? Boot times and reliability would probably be better than some windows options?

blk02si · 09-07-2006, 08:54 PM

I dont see why you could not just have a kernel and this program as long as you have the libaries for it which are also free. I downloaded fedora core 5 and im planning on burning it to DVD and installing it. Ill post on how it is in linux. Most likley it will run way better on its native open source platform.

PURDooM · 09-08-2006, 12:19 AM

Wow @ 3d view! Subscribed.

home-boi · 09-09-2006, 01:52 AM

I'm slowly moving into car pcs. I downloaded this app a while ago while I waited for the BU-353 receiver that I ordered. I received it today and hooked it up to my laptop and it seems to work pretty well. I think its a little slow and clunky. I have a Pentium 4M, 2 GHZ with 1GB RAM. I plan to take it out in my truck tomorrow and see how it works.

Prior to the receiver, I played with the mapping and it wasn't accurate. According to the programmer/author, he uses maps published by the US Cenus Bureau (Tiger). It doesn't have exit numbers and he admits that these maps may not be accurate.

I haven't played around with any GPS apps, but I might be willing to live with it for its price - $OPEN SOURCE!!!

blk02si · 09-10-2006, 11:13 PM

Well runs about the same on linux. No noticable speed up. I agree its kinda clunky but again it is free and version .15

Im just saying that a few months ago I could not even get this to run. Now it runs stable and has hella options. I would not be surprised if this is improved and more versions released in the upcoming months. Keeping my eye out. Heres my Fedora core 5 linux screencap.

redls1bird · 09-26-2006, 07:23 PM

what about adding voice? i downloaded the program just to see what all the hubub is about and i am very impressed for a free prog. i see that it spits out a little text window with directions. could something be set up to read this to you?

also, where are the map files being downloaded to? i would really like to see what kind of file size they are. it might be a little time consuming, but what if you downloaded them, and then burned them to a cd and had the program access them that way? you could download the whole us and break it up into sections like some of the factory nav units do. like south east, southwest... etc. etc.

sxott · 09-26-2006, 08:45 PM

Look at this picture. It surely implies it has an OSK to me.

BTW it looks awesome and I love the fact that it uses regular files that the government provides for free. I have been hoping for a long time someone would offer a decent front end to view such files as a GPS mapping program instead of repacking stuff that our tax dollars already paid for and then charging for it again.

walstib · 09-26-2006, 09:43 PM

Check out this thread.
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/linux/85499-linux-gps-roadster.html
Roadster uses govt files and I find it is way more responsive than Roadnav, at least on my Nano.

walstib · 09-26-2006, 09:59 PM

Quote: 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.

Quote: 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, 10:54 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, 12:36 PM

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, 06:02 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.

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