I have used GPS since it first became available for aircraft and am a great believer in it. However I am a complete computer technophobe and ignoramus (ancient man) and have no idea what the content of this thread is about when it talks about Blue tooth, tablet computers, PDAs, Iphones, memory maps, etc etc.
I have been bought a netbook computer for my birthday. What exactly would I need to do to get CAA moving maps with if possible flight planning to run on it? I understand that one can get GPS dongles and buy software mapping but doesn't this have to be loaded by disc (my netbook [eepc] has no CD aperture) and would I need to use my home computer to set it up? what leads connections etc would I need? I know what a USB connector is but I read things about blue teeth ( mine are like that anyway) ethernet connections and goodness knows what all . I am quite happy indeed delighted with my present GPS ( garmin aera) but I thought a large scale moving map if cheap and easy to set up may be a worthwhile second option, (using a second GPS receiver just as a redundancy back up rather than my existing one) .
There are two principal moving map applications under Windoze which will deliver a
moving map over an electronic version of the real "printed" VFR chart:
Oziexplorer
This runs any map as a GPS moving map. You need to get it in one of the common graphical image formats e.g. TIFF, JPEG etc. You also need a separate .map file which contains georeferencing data - this enables the computer to position the map correctly, with your present location in the middle.
There is a huge range of maps available, especially ones distributed by underground networks, and these include current aviation charts for all of Europe and beyond. You get topo maps, city maps, road maps, the lot, and most of it is free. The old U.S. ONC charts (which can be bought online) run straight off under Ozi.
This program is the "standard" for GPS moving maps. The maps are "open", not copy protected etc.
Memory Map
This is a UK product which has made its name reselling Ordnance Survey 1:25k and 1:50k land maps, and later branched out into the UK CAA VFR maps. They do very little outside the UK. I have seen French IGN (non-aviation) maps from them.
MM uses a closed map format - QCT. However they are now moving to a "digital rights managed" format - QC3 - which locks each map to the computer it is on and it cannot be moved elsewhere. I hope everybody boycotts MM from now on. Unfortunately, those who want an electronic version of the latest southern UK chart may not have an option...
When running the UK CAA VFR charts, MM provides a moving map product which is very similar to Ozi.
As regards
connecting a GPS to a laptop/netbook (netbook is just a name for a cheap laptop), you need a laptop with bluetooth. This is a low power radio link for connecting various devices to it. If your laptop doesn't have BT then forget it. If it has BT then any BT GPS should work e.g.
this one.
However, connecting a BT device to a laptop does require a bit of computer knowledge so getting help from a friend may be a good idea. The BT connection is easy to set up (normally) but then you need to go into Control Panel and find out which COM port number the GPS appears under, and configure that COM port number in the moving map application (Ozi/MM etc).
As regards
flight planning software, there are two reasonably tested applications which cover Europe:
Navbox and
PocketFMS. I have used Navbox Pro around Europe and it is pretty good.
Both of these needs to be used in conjunction with the printed VFR charts (terrain clearance, etc).
Both will also provide a moving map function (with a BT GPS) but you don't get the "proper" VFR chart.
There is also Jeppesen Flitestar VFR but I can't recommend this to a technophobe. It is full of features but is a clunky bit of software. I use it for IFR/airways and for that it is the only game in town, but it has so many quirks...
There are other more esoteric options for a GPS moving map e.g. a Flitestar sister product called Flitemap. It is identical to Flitestar but has a moving map function. The moving map can be the basic Jeppesen map (no good for flying with) or it can be an electronic version of their "1:500k VFR/GPS" charts; this is sold as their Raster Charts product for about £200 for most of Europe. IMHO, for the UK, the CAA charts are clearer than the Jepp Raster Charts, but if MM tighten up their "digital rights management"
UK pilots won't have an option there. I have flown as far as Crete, VFR, running Flitemap. Jepp have discontinued Flitemap but one can still get hold of it.
The "holy grail" which is a decent flight planning program that uses proper "printed" VFR charts, and support a GPS moving map over the same charts, exists only as Jeppesen Flitemap (which no longer officially exists). This is thanks to VFR maps being profit centres
Safety doesn't come into any of this of course. Someone like Navbox could do it but instead of costing under £100 it would cost about £300 - due to the cost of licensing the Jepp raster charts.