I have a Garmin GPS unit in my car. I also (after many years of holding out) have an Android-based smartphone that has GPS capabilities that work via either wifi or data, and the wifi is generally not available when driving, so hello, data consumption. The Garmin, of course, uses a combination of passive satellite reception and locally stored maps.
What I’m wondering is, is it possible for the phone to use the Garmin for its GPS tracking instead of having to use the data plan? It’s an older unit, but it does have Bluetooth. So far all I’ve found is a Garmin app that lets the phone update the GPS, which is the opposite of what I want to do.
I don’t think GPS tracking uses significant amounts of data that counts against your plan. The actual GPS tracking is done directly against data from the satellites, not through cellular or WiFi. I think there might be some secondary data used to speed up syncing against the satellites when you turn your phone on in an unexpected place, but I doubt its significant.
I’m sure the online maps data is the significant data user here, although even that is probably not going to be huge. I think Google Maps has an “offline” maps feature, where you can download map data ahead of time for a large enough region to keep from using your cellular plan in real time.
It might be, with an appropriate app, and if the Garmin unit allows you export its data stream live.
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I bought this - GlobalSat ND-105C Micro USB GPS Receiver.
I can connect it to my smartphone and with a special app, override the phone’s internal GPS capabilities. I can use it with an Android tablet that has no built-in GPS, too.
Just as an aside, Nokia Maps - which started out on Windows Phone, but is now available on all platforms - allows you to download the maps to the device itself and therefore work offline (thus not consuming any data at all). It’s not the best satnav app, but it’s free so worth having if you can spare the storage for the maps.
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Are you sure the device doesn’t have GPS? I know my phone prompts me to enable WiFi for accuracy but it can still find my location with WiFi turned off. Google Maps loves using data at the rate of about 1gb per hour for no apparent reason but if I download the area I’m traveling in beforehand and turn off mobile data it still navigates just fine.
Try turning off WiFi and data and see if it’ll still find you. I would be surprised if it doesn’t.
Thanks for that link, I had never heard of the term A-GPS (assisted GPS) but figured it was a combination of cell towers & satellite. My first GPS unit from about ten years ago (linked to an old iPAQ PDA for true moving-map display) would sometimes take over ten minutes to lock on. Very, very annoying. Also the mapped moved very jerkingly, unlike the perfectly smooth ones today.
The icon to activate the GPS in Android phones looks like an inverted teardrop with a dot in the middle. And there are quite a few good offline maps applications; they may take some time until you get used to how they give directions (the one I use tends to say “turn right” where it should say “go on straight”) but that’s all.
OP if you use Google Maps’s navigation feature on Android, it only requires data at the beginning of the route planning (e.g. when you’re at home on WiFi). After that you can turn the data off and continue to use it like a Garmin for the entirety of the journey. The only thing it lacks in that mode is a) real-time traffic information and b) the ability to resume if you accidentally quit the navigator.
I think a few different concepts are being conflated here, because we usually see them together:
Location tracking: the phone determines where it is on the planet. This is done through an actual GPS satellite receiver (even my old HTC Magic had one in 2008) possibly with help from Wi-Fi hotspot triangulation and cell tower triangulation. These last two would probably require a data plan (to ask the (Google?) server where each tower or hotspot is located) but would not consume much.
Moving map display: The phone shows a (diagrammed) street plan and where you are on it, and knows about addresses and businesses in the area. By default, Google Maps downloads the plan from a Google server, so it does use up data. But Google Maps allows you to download plans in advance (I did this when I went to NYC without a US data plan, a few months ago). There are also non-Google applications, such as MAPS.ME, that are specifically designed for data-less tourists.
Turn-by-turn navigation: This is typically handled by the Google Maps app itself, AFAIK, so if you’ve got the map already downloaded it should not require a data connection. MAPS.ME can also do this.
Satellite view (photographic imagery from above – like Google Earth): I don’t think this can be downloaded in advance, so it would need a data connection.
Traffic display and dynamic navigation: The phone obviously needs to exchange data with a Google or Waze server for this.
From that, it sounds like what I’m looking for is a combination of moving maps and dynamic navigation. I’ve downloaded Googles offline maps (I think, better recheck that).
So now what I want to do is use the Garmin’s satellite GPS information with the phone’s Waze or Google offline map apps by syncing through the Bluetooth capabilities. I think.
ETA: The phone does have GPS. Am I overthinking this?
Yes, you totally are. Once it has the maps inside, the phone is a Garmin with additional features (camera, phone, calculator…). Load the maps from wifi, switch wifi and data off, leave GPS on, go.
I don’t know how old your Garmin GPS unit is, but its probably obsolete. I mean it’ll still do what it does, but except for specialized ones for hiking, boats and aircraft standalone GPS units for cars have been completely replaced with smartphones (even non-commercial boat & plane captains very often just use a smartphone for it). Consider getting a good car dash-mount for your phone, that’s what I did.
Unless they have recently changed it, when you download Google maps to use offline the maps are automatically deleted after 30 days.
I use (and very highly recommend) HERE WeGo … you can download maps that don’t delete themselves … map updates are free, unlike Garmin … is very easy to use – designed from the ground up to be used on phones … works well … available on all phone platforms … and it is totally free, no ads, nags, or in-app purchases.
