Satnav on a tablet

[ericmark]

I have used a tablet with google maps and a 4G mini 2 and yes it works, and the screen is then big enough to actually see where you are, but which bit actually works out where you are? the tablet or the 4G mini 2, and if latter where is the best place to put the mini 2? I have assumed on dash close to front screen, my wife views tablet where needed although in the main just use announcements.  But considering a more fixed unit but not sure what it permitted or best location.

 

 

Edited April 22, 2019 by ericmark

[Joeblogs]

The gps in the tablet gives your position and the WiFi dongle updates the mapping software when/if needed.

You have a couple of options, plan your route on the tablet app when you have a WiFi signal beforehand so you don’t need the WiFi when travelling, get a bespoke sat nav app, download all the maps and update them regularly, so you will never need the WiFi dongle when travelling or get a tablet that will take a SIM card so you can have live mapping with your gps on the go.

[Guest]

You can download quite a large area from GoogleMaps onto your tablet's memory before you go and use it off-line as a Sat Nav.

 

You go into the menu, select off-line maps and then choose the area than you want to download

 

We did it last year and managed to get as much of Belgium, Holland and Germany as we needed to get us to our destination in Germany. Although we've got an inbuilt car satnav it was useful to check our route using GoogleMaps and make sure that we knew roughly where the car satnav was taking us.

 

I do it quite often to give me a large map area to check before we go anywhere.

 

I've got a complete set of the OS 1:50,000 Landranger maps in my tablet which give our location when driving if required.

 

We also carry a 1"to 3 miles  book of maps which is what my wife prefers as it give virtually instant access to anywhere in the country rather than trying to scroll around a screen. It doesn't suffer from electrical, wifi  or loss of GPS signal failures either

Edited April 22, 2019 by matelodave

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Joeblogs said:

The gps in the tablet gives your position and the WiFi dongle updates the mapping software when/if needed.

You have a couple of options, plan your route on the tablet app when you have a WiFi signal beforehand so you don’t need the WiFi when travelling, get a bespoke sat nav app, download all the maps and update them regularly, so you will never need the WiFi dongle when travelling or get a tablet that will take a SIM card so you can have live mapping with your gps on the go.

Be aware that not all Tablets have a GPS chip... iPads only have one if they have a sim card slot...

[Woodentop]

3 hours ago, Guzzilazz said:

Be aware that not all Tablets have a GPS chip... iPads only have one if they have a sim card slot...

 

Slight correction: ALL tablets have a GPS chip inside (and for that matter phones as well) but not all manufacturers allow the (Android) operating system to access it.

I have a Moto G5 which GSMArena will show you has GPS and Gorilla glass, but the UK one don't.