PDA, WiFi, GPS

[iGranny]

I'm retired and fairly(?) computer literate, but need help selecting a handheld device that will do the following:
I'm a volunteer for an organization that monitors Indian ruins for vandalism, thus need topographical maps and UTM capability.

I'd like to combine PDA with WiFi and GPS.

I'm not interested in talking maps.

I'd appreciate any help or advice.

Many thanks in advance.

[Sven Johannsen]

Doesn't look like anyone jumping on this with help/options/opinions.

There is some PDA based Topographic software out there. Two that come to mind are Delorme's and National Geographic's. Delorme's handheld client comes with Street Atlas, but can be used with TopoUSA. You cut maps from the desktop and import for use on the handheld. http://shop.delorme.com/OA_HTML/DELibeCCtdItemDetail.jsp?item=27525&section=10050

National Geographic's is similar but makes use of their TOPO! series of maps. http://shop.nationalgeographic.com/product/247/3917/120.html

Not sure if they support UTM. There are others out there. A web search should bring some up.

As far as a PDA, I am assuming that you are interested in one that has the WiFi and GPS built in. If you don't also want phone capabilities, your options are extremely limited, as the manufactureres seem to think everyone wants a phone in their, PDA, music player, watch, flashlight, and anything else they can cram one in to sell the service. HP does make the iPAQ 211 http://www.shopping.hp.com/product/handhelds/handhelds/1/storefronts/FB041AA%2523ABA which doesn't have GPS, but has a nice big high res screen and WiFi. You can add the GPS with a sub $100 Bluetooth GPS receiver, which you can velcro to your hat or backpack shoulder strap.

Other than that you are looking at getting one of the PDAphones that the various carriers are hawking. The ATT Tilt for instance has built in GPS and WiFi, and comes with a contract. I think it is going to be up to the software to handle the UTM part. GPSs generally output NMEA lat/long in Deg/min/sec, and the software should be able to convert that.

You didn't mention your budget. If it were me, I would investigate UMPCs (Ultra Mobile PCs). A bit bigger than PDAs but very portable andf have the advantage of running full OSs, XP, Vista, (Linux), and any software that supports. Plus they have USB ports and USB GPS receivers are cheap.
What are they? http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/umpc/default.mspx
What is available?
http://www.umpcportal.com/products/

I'd look at the Samsung Q1 and the Asus R2 for your needs.

[dave_p_1]

As Sven said, you didn't mention your budget so I'll go high end. If you want a very capable, portable solution, you might look at the OQO UMPC. It doesn't offer integrated GPS but it does have Bluetooth to connect to a receiver as well as WiFi and EVDO. The OQO President's blog had a recent article about how it's being used in Denmark for detailed stream mapping:

http://dbmoore.blogspot.com/2008/04/save-earth-with-oqo.html

The advantage of a UPMC solution is that you can build off the GPS coordinates and do real GIS processing since you can run any Windows XP/Vista program on them. The advantage of the OQO over the Asus or Samsung is that it is smaller, lighter, and has a better keyboard. It also accepts pen input and does better at handwriting recognition. The disadvantage is that it doesn't have a touch screen and it's more expensive.