Can anyone let me know if its possible to have stand alone maps on your 8800 and have GPS work with it without paying data to your provider. thx in advance

Not at this time. Someone said that Garmin might be working on something like that, but I can't confirm that one.

hopfully soon ...providers like to nickle and dime everybody

You can pay Telenav or Mapquest instead of your carrier... ;)

Seriously, though, there are currently no GPS solutions that pull map data from the microSD card. Do you really think that streaming updated maps is something that should be offered for free? Servers and bandwith do cost money. Additionally, none of these apps are produced by the carriers so it's not the carriers "nickel and diming" you.

Actually, it is. Telenav costs $10/month or $120/year. I've used several PPC based GPS apps, and most will charge you that much for updated maps. Telenav's pricing is not out of line considering you always have access to up to date maps. It's the carrier's data charges on top of that that kill you. OTOH, you don't have to use the cool looking 3D display. If you use the turn only display, it only pulls data at the turns.

I got the 10 trips per month package and it is only $5. VERY resonable in my opinion and I never use it more than 10 times a month anyway. I see no extra data minutes with the BB unlimited plan I am on as well.

You misunderstood me, I am more than glad to purchase map information and load it to my 8800, eliminating data usage everytime I use maps. I can't see why they can't make just like the tom tom and garmin units for cars. I also heard that Blackbery wanted to make it such that gps would work on its own with maps loaded directly but carriers put a stop to it because they saw it as a profit centre for them ....thus I say they want to nickel and dime everyone

An issue I could see is that once you have the gps card in the 'Berry, you wouldn't be able to use your micro card for music or pictures.

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No reason it has to be a card. Could be files

I'd like to start a petition to have bb make available maps that we can purchase that can be loaded right on our bb to have our bb act as a stand alone gps unit like tom tom and garmin eliminating data usage.

I invite everyone who agrees with this respond to this thread...thx

Having up to date maps is a nice feature and worth the money. I have a garmin quest I purchased around 2002. Since then major road construction has taken place around my area. My 8800/telnav has all the new roads and POI while with Garmin I have to hear "off route, recalculating".

not yet. currently something along the lines of the Garmin 26xx units are the best out there. I have a 2620 and it's the best outside the built in unit in my car.

the maps are 99% current and every month it will prompt you if you want to update them for free.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8800/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102)

Why not just use Google Maps? It's free and reasonably up to date. Uses the gps of the 8800 well. Directions aren't bad...

I think google maps would be a decent free substitute if they would hook the driving directions up to GPS. I can see them doing that, but I do not see them doing voice prompts.

*Does* Google Maps actually hook into the GPS information? I bought an 8800 the week it became available from Cingular, as AFAIK that link was not yet available. I've been hoping that Google would rev the maps program to enable that link (or that I just overlooked it!).

rhenriksen, yes you need to download the latest version 1.5.1 mobile.google.com/gmm

Regards-Michael G

I'm using an 8800 on T-Mobile and bought a year of Telenav, they had a $99 promotion for it and I felt that was reasonable.

Really nice implementation, but my single gripe is that I would also like to store the maps on my MicroSD. The GPS becomes nearly useless when out of coverage range which really is frustrating and leaves me enjoying it but not relying on it when I go somewhere I've never been.

When I am in full coverage range it seems to work flawlessly and given that I always carry the BB, I am less concerned that at traffic jam is going to screw up my day.

I also think that this would work well. Commercial GPS units like garmin, magellan, and tomtom all store to internal memory or to expandable SD cards, I do not see why a blackberry would be unable to do this. Granted, it would have to be in sections, for instance by county, metro area, state, or perhaps region. For the entire US, and the detail with the audio and rerouting, you would probably need the 4gb microSD card support the 8300 has.

I didn't misunderstand at all -- RIM doesn't get any money from Telenav's subscription fees. The GPS app developers (aside from BB maps) have nothing to do with RIM or your carrier unless, for example, your carrier is offering Telenav. In any case, you don't have to use Telenav.

I have TomTom for my Treo 750 and all the maps are a bit over 1 GB. With a 2GB microSD/transflash card for the BlackBerry 8800, you can load the entire North American map (USA, Canada) and still have a bit extra storage to spare for music.

I am also adding to this thread because while I do appreciate the Bloackberry's sleek industrial design and built-in GPS, I do travel to out of network areas where I wouldn't get reception. This sucks because now I have to carry around my Treo and a BT receiver on top of the BlackBerry.

Have you tried to load these maps to your bb. if so were you able to view it and work with themI

I have a 8800 and I have a plain bill ( sorry for my english ), so i have no extra charge...
Vodafone Spain --> Company bill...
all bb traffic and internet traffic no extra charge.

I tried google maps on the new 8820 ( not released yet) and it failed. However the new SPOT with OS 4.2 is working fine

Has anyone tried this program on the 8800... I use it on my 8703e and it works fabulous. Voice command directions, intuitive interface, doesnt cost a penny (well no addition to your data plan), has a cool night mode and will also rer-oute you if you go off route... Something to look into, let me know if anyone else has used this program?

I said that I had loaded it to my Treo 750. In reference to the Blackberry, the maximum microSD card is 2GB so anything (map data) under 2 GB should fit. If maps were created for the BB8800 in that realm and properly implemented, it should work.

Chase 7290, try not to extrapolate too much

I've got Google Maps on my 8800.. Can someone tell me how to get it to work with the GPS in my 8800? Or link me the document that explains how to get it to work?

Thanks

Edit: I had a very old version... Updating now.. Me = n00b