{"id":348,"date":"2006-06-06T16:30:00","date_gmt":"2006-06-06T21:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ywwg.com\/wordpress\/?p=348"},"modified":"2007-05-04T23:46:57","modified_gmt":"2007-05-05T04:46:57","slug":"bicycle-gps-navigation-on-the-cheap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ywwg.com\/wordpress\/archives\/348","title":{"rendered":"Bicycle GPS navigation on the cheap"},"content":{"rendered":"

Necessity may be the mother of invention, but being cheap is the mother of glorious hacks.<\/p>\n

My friend Mike<\/a> and I went bike riding two weeks ago using a route from a book. This was awkward because each of us could only retain three or four instructions at a time (“right? left? Mountain? Peach Orchard?”). We had to check the map so often that progress was slow and uncontinuous. Ah, but for a handlebar-mounted gps with mapping!<\/p>\n

\"Vista<\/p>\n

Ouch! Ok, nevermind.<\/p>\n

So I did some googling, and discovered that someone had made some Garmin-specific files of Boston area bike rides<\/a>. Char and I own the cheapest Garmin, the eTrex<\/a>. No mapping, no magnetic compass, no altitude, just location data and route information. I got it at target thinking we might do some Geocaching<\/a>, but we haven’t done any yet. The problem was, how to get the maps into the GPS?<\/p>\n

\"serial<\/p>\n

Cheap-ass serial cable!<\/a> I learned that the data port on the Garmin is simply a serial port: Rx, Tx, Ground. Wire those terminals to a 9 pin serial connector (everyone has a 9 pin serial cable lying around in a drawer somewhere of course!), and you’ve saved yourself $38.00<\/a>. My cable isn’t very well made and could use a little solder to improve the connections, but right now it works well enough.<\/p>\n

While it’s nice to use other people’s maps, I really wanted to create my own. As you can see by my previous post<\/a>, the solution was handed to me on a silver platter, as was the problem of format conversion and linux-based uploading. This weekend I created a short map on the website, uploaded it to the GPS, and Char and I followed the path around the neighborhood. The problems I noted after that walk led to the development of the python script I wrote.<\/p>\n

The last problem was the one I had been avoiding thinking about: mounting the GPS on my thick handlebars. The sanctioned mounting kit<\/a> fits handlebars of one-inch, but mine are larger. After some fiddling, it appeared that I might be able to attach the device to the stem of the bike. Maybe zip-ties could do it?<\/p>\n

\"GPS<\/p>\n

Yes! And in the event of catastrophic zip-tie failure, the lanyard is secured to the stem so the GPS doesn’t go careening to the ground. <\/p>\n

Had I gone the “legit” route, I would have paid:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Garmin Etrex GPS<\/td>\n100$<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Data Cable<\/td>\n38$<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bicycle Mount<\/td>\n18$<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Software<\/td>\n30$<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total<\/td>\n186$<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

And that’s not counting the price of windows! (:P)<\/p>\n

If I had gotten the Vista, it would have been 250$ for the device plus the same 18$ and 38$ for the mount and cable, plus an optional 117$ for a national map (which, by the way, I can’t get for any price with my eTrex) for a total of $423<\/b>. That’s a lot to pay for directions. <\/p>\n

Instead I paid:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Garmin Etrex GPS<\/td>\n100$<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Serial Cable<\/td>\nfree (from drawer or old mouse)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Out of Date Credit Card<\/td>\nfree<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Zip Ties<\/td>\nfree (from work)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total<\/td>\n100$<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Which I think is a better deal, even if I have an ugly cable and worry-inducing mount. I bet the map-creation interface is better, though :). You could go even cheaper by getting a used eTrex on ebay or craigslist. I hope to take the whole contraption on the road this weekend. The one big feature I might miss is the “beep on upcoming waypoint,” but the screen is large and clear so that shouldn’t be an issue.<\/p>\n

Happy Hacking!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Necessity may be the mother of invention, but being cheap is the mother of glorious hacks. My friend Mike and I went bike riding two weeks ago using a route from a book. This was awkward because each of us could only retain three or four instructions at a time (“right? left? Mountain? Peach Orchard?”). … Continue reading “Bicycle GPS navigation on the cheap”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,4,23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ywwg.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ywwg.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ywwg.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ywwg.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ywwg.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ywwg.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ywwg.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ywwg.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ywwg.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}