Btw, Kim, how do you feel about the (newish) small GPS units which are connected through USB (power is also delivered through USB, no extra power cables).

I just spent a few bucks on one specific product, the Rojone Genius USB.. It actually sounded the most professional and also surpsingly, the cheapest option.

A couple of other USB receivers I gave a few glances at were the Earthmate GPS receiver, Pharos iGPS-180 receiver, GlobalSat BU-301 GPS receiver and Hyperdata GPS receiver..

On the PCMCIA-side, I checked Teletype PCMCIA GPS receiver and Premier Electronics PCMCIA GPS receiver.. Then I remembered that the Empeg (Rio Car) has an USB interface .

Sorry, got a bit drifted there but I just spent about six hours searching the Web for these devices, hopefully I will be sparing someone else here from the same work!

Anyway, these USB gadgets have the Serial port emulation so that Most of the modern day GPS applications (I haven't even concentrated on those yet) do have support for them.

Also, have you checked the Finnish map seller for the Genimap maps, they have CDs of road maps (GT Finland) but also maritime maps. They claim to be GPS compatible. I am planning on buying some of their CDs very soon now.

I am going to connect the GPS to our boat (w/ a laptop) but am also open for ideas about having Empeg process the maps.. At what stage is your software? Could the map-data for Finland I've been mentioning here be converted to be of use with the software you are developing?

Amarth