RoadNav FREE Open Source GPS Mapping!

JohnWPB · 09-26-2006, 09:56 PM

I just ran across this in a post by esachs and felt this deserved it's own thread for sure, and not to be buried somewhere in the forums.

RoadNav is a 100% Free GPS open source program! I just downloaded it to check it out, and found it to be quite stable, and rivaling many of the commercial programs available! It has some features that make it QUITE at home for the CarPC market, and embeddng into a front end, such as:
Resizable, Skinnable, every aspect of the maps (road size, color, Font sizes ect ect can be changed). It has auto switching between day and night skins. Uses TTS to annouce upcoming turns & directions.

The program has an "auto downloader" built in to download the maps. Roadnav uses the free TIGER/Line files from the US Census Bureau to build the maps, along with the GNIS state and topical gazetteer data from the USGS to identify locations. The real advantage to this is these maps are always being updated, and you can just download new maps for free as they become available.

I can't speak for other area's, but the maps for my area are VERY up to date and accurate!

As mentioned, this is an open source project, and they are looking for people to help, and take care of some of the items on their "to-do list".

You can find more out about the program AT THEIR WEBSITE

Here is a quick screen capture I did just a couple minutes after downloading the program:

walstib · 09-26-2006, 10:34 PM

Also check out Roadster. Some screenshots here. Also free, uses cairo for rendering, very nice graphics, better than Roadnav IMHO. Seems to use less resources and be more responsive too.

JohnWPB · 09-27-2006, 12:03 AM

That does look pretty good, but not too helpful for the non programer types!

liquid_smoke · 09-27-2006, 12:53 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by walstib

Also check out Roadster. Some screenshots here. Also free, uses cairo for rendering, very nice graphics, better than Roadnav IMHO. Seems to use less resources and be more responsive too.

it looks like they copied ms streets and trips and just made it look slightly prettier, maybe even a frontend for it, the maps looks exactly the same from what i remember.
Not sure why they would want to use S&T as a reference model

, it has some pretty unfriendly ui elements and sucks monkey nuts for car navigation, but it seems they copied those too.

JohnWPB · 09-27-2006, 08:09 AM

Hey LS, no, it's not streets and trips.

The maps are actually a collection of information from the freely available US Cencus Bureau. The GUI is totally customizable through the program. such as street widths, colors, font sizes, ect ect. It has built in support for TerraServer (which I havent tried yet) to do a satellite hybrid map.

It is not quite a completely polished product, but it's getting close. It will definately be something to keep an eye on, and in it's current state, a great program for someone that dosen't want to shell out $100 on a commercial application.

wizz · 09-27-2006, 10:18 AM

Any FREE open source GPS Mapping software for UK/Europe ?
All the above mentioned are for the USA only

LagunaICE · 09-27-2006, 10:22 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by wizz

Any FREE open source GPS Mapping software for UK/Europe ?
All the above mentioned are for the USA only

no, afaik. but do not worry, these two can not do any kind on routing/route planning (yet) anyway.

liquid_smoke · 09-27-2006, 11:07 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by JohnWPB

Hey LS, no, it's not streets and trips.

The maps are actually a collection of information from the freely available US Cencus Bureau. The GUI is totally customizable through the program. such as street widths, colors, font sizes, ect ect. It has built in support for TerraServer (which I havent tried yet) to do a satellite hybrid map.

It is not quite a completely polished product, but it's getting close. It will definately be something to keep an eye on, and in it's current state, a great program for someone that dosen't want to shell out $100 on a commercial application.

but it does look like they used S&T as a reference.
I wouldnt mind trying it out but looks like they dont have a download avail only the source and you have to build it your self. Is this true or can it be downloaded somewhere else?

liquid_smoke · 09-27-2006, 11:08 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by LagunaICE

no, afaik. but do not worry, these two can not do any kind on routing/route planning (yet) anyway.

oh, never mind, no point if it cant route yet.

blk02si · 09-27-2006, 11:24 AM

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/gps/85348-free-gps-program-roadnav-15-review.html

It can route and is very usable. My thread has tests on windows XP beast and fedora core 5 linux

thunderdepot · 09-27-2006, 08:42 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by JohnWPB

I just ran across this in a post by esachs and felt this deserved it's own thread for sure, and not to be buried somewhere in the forums.

RoadNav is a 100% Free GPS open source program! I just downloaded it to check it out, and found it to be quite stable, and rivaling many of the commercial programs available! It has some features that make it QUITE at home for the CarPC market, and embeddng into a front end, such as:
Resizable, Skinnable, every aspect of the maps (road size, color, Font sizes ect ect can be changed). It has auto switching between day and night skins. Uses TTS to annouce upcoming turns & directions.

The program has an "auto downloader" built in to download the maps. Roadnav uses the free TIGER/Line files from the US Census Bureau to build the maps, along with the GNIS state and topical gazetteer data from the USGS to identify locations. The real advantage to this is these maps are always being updated, and you can just download new maps for free as they become available.

I can't speak for other area's, but the maps for my area are VERY up to date and accurate!

As mentioned, this is an open source project, and they are looking for people to help, and take care of some of the items on their "to-do list".

You can find more out about the program AT THEIR WEBSITE

Here is a quick screen capture I did just a couple minutes after downloading the program:

Can you change those left buttons so they look better? Maybe just a simple image change or resource hack?

blk02si · 09-28-2006, 07:11 AM

The buttons are easy to change. Just image files in the program directory named 'images' like any good open source project.