GPS FOR DUMmIES‰ GPS FOR DUMmIES‰ by Joel McNamara GPS For Dummies® Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 111 River Street Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 Copyright © 2004 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permis- sion of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. 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Library of Congress Control Number: 2004102594 ISBN: 0-7645-6933-3 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1B/SQ/QV/QU/IN About the Author Joel McNamara first got involved with digital maps in the early 1980’s. At the time he was studying archeology and instead of going out and playing Indiana Jones, he found himself in front of a computer monitor trying to predict where archeological sites were located based on LANDSAT satellite data. The lure of computers ultimately led to his defection from academia to the software industry, where he worked as a programmer, technical writer, and manager; eventually ending up at a rather large software company based in Redmond, Washington. Joel now writes and consults on technology he finds interesting, such as GPS and digital maps. Over the years he’s had practical experience using GPS and maps for wild- land firefighting, search and rescue, and disaster response and planning. He’s also an avid user of the great outdoors (which means there’s way too much gear in his garage), competes in adventure races and other endurance sports, and so far has always found his way back home. In his spare time he volun- teers for a federal Disaster Medical Assistance Team. This is his second book. The first was Secrets of Computer Espionage: Tactics & Countermeasures (also published by Wiley), a reference guide for computer security practitioners and anyone interested in stopping sneaky spies. Author’s Acknowledgments First off, thanks to my wife, Darcy, for her support during my work on this book, especially for putting up with all of the maps, CD-ROMs, cables, manu- als, and GPS receivers scattered all over the house during the duration. Next on the list are the folks at Wiley, including Katie Feltman, my acquisi- tions editor and Pat O’Brien, my project editor. And a special note of appreci- ation to GPS and map guru Gavin Hoban, who diligently served as my technical editor. I’d also like to thank the following manufacturers for supplying review copies of their products to write about: DeLorme (Caleb Mason), Endless Pursuit (Jack Robson), Lowrance (Steve Wegrzyn and Luke Morris), Magellan (Angela Linsey-Jackson), Maptech (Martin Fox), Microsoft, National Geographic, and TopoFusion (Scott Morris). I especially appreciate the help from the folks named in the parentheses who went above and beyond the call of duty in answering questions and providing assistance. Finally, I’d like to express thanks to the following people for giving me feed- back on various parts of the book: Bob Daley, Jan Daley, Cynthia Engel, Jeff Madden, Doug McNamara, and Judy McNamara. Publisher’s Acknowledgments We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/. Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following: Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Composition Development Project Coordinator: Adrienne Martinez Project Editor: Pat O’Brien Layout and Graphics: Amanda Carter, Acquisitions Editor: Melody Layne Andrea Dahl, Lauren Goddard, Copy Editor: Teresa Artman Lynsey Osborn, Heather Ryan Technical Editor: Gavin Hoban Proofreaders: Laura Albert, Brian H. Walls, TECHBOOKS Production Services Editorial Manager: Kevin Kirschner Indexer: TECHBOOKS Production Services Media Development Manager: Laura VanWinkle Media Development Supervisor: Richard Graves Editorial Assistant: Amanda Foxworth Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com) Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director Publishing for Consumer Dummies Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director Composition Services Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services Contents at a Glance Introduction .................................................................1 Part I: All About Digital Maps ......................................9 Chapter 1: Getting Started with Digital Maps ..............................................................11 Chapter 2: Dissecting Maps ............................................................................................21 Part II: All About GPS ................................................47 Chapter 3: GPS Fundamentals ........................................................................................49 Chapter 4: Grasping Important GPS Concepts ............................................................69 Chapter 5: Selecting and Getting Started with a GPS Receiver .................................83 Chapter 6: Using GPS with a PDA ................................................................................105 Chapter 7: Geocaching ..................................................................................................117 Part III: Digital Mapping on Your Computer ...............143 Chapter 8: Digital Mapping Hardware Considerations .............................................145 Chapter 9: Interfacing a GPS Receiver to a Computer ..............................................153 Chapter 10: Using GPS Manufacturer Mapping Software .........................................169 Chapter 11: Finding Places and Coordinates .............................................................181 Chapter 12: On the Road with DeLorme Street Atlas USA .......................................193 Chapter 13: On the Ground with Maptech Terrain Navigator .................................209 Chapter 14: From the Air with USAPhotoMaps .........................................................227 Chapter 15: Creating and Using Digital Maps with OziExplorer ..............................245 Chapter 16: Going Three Dimensional with 3DEM ....................................................259 Part IV: Using Web-hosted Mapping Services .............275 Chapter 17: Saving and Editing Street Maps ..............................................................277 Chapter 18: Navigating Web Road Maps ....................................................................289 Chapter 19: Exploring Web Topographic Maps .........................................................301 Chapter 20: Overhead Image Web Sites ......................................................................315