Android GPS units for APRS

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K4NNW

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A while back in a truck stop somewhere, I noticed that Rand McNally had a new truck-oriented GPS (TND Tablet) that ran Android OS. Also, the Garmin Monterra (marketed as a hiking GPS) and the soon-to-be-released Magellan RoadMate RC9485T-LMB (another truck GPS) run Android.
This got me pondering about using these units (instead of an Android phone or tablet) to display APRS waypoints in a similar fashion to the way that some of us have been using old serial-port-equipped units like the Garmin x76 series for years. There are quite a few folks using Bluetooth to connect Android phones to APRS hardware like the TNC-X, so why not use these? To be fair, the Monterra doesn't do Bluetooth, but the others do.
Have any of y'all done this with these (or similar units)?
 

AK9R

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The trick will be getting the internal mapping software to understand "waypoints" being generated by the APRS software. Kenwood APRS radios and the Argent Data APRS trackers can generate waypoints in a format that some Garmin GPS receivers understand, but cracking the format for these Rand McNally GPS receivers may be a challenge.
 

K4NNW

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I've pondered that issue as well. The other issue I've pondered (which is more specific to generic tablets, or small computers running APRS programs like Xastir) is how to get turn-by-turn navigation, or at least the routes they generate, onto an APRS program. I reckon this idea of having one's cake and eating it too, eh?
 

AK9R

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The holy grail of APRS apps.

APRSpoint came closest as it was basically an add-on to Microsoft Streets & Trips. You could so some trip routing from within APRSpoint. Sadly, the author has apparently abandoned the project.
 
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