Hi ! I'm Robin Lovelock of www.gpss.co.uk and this page says a little about GPS Warehouse, the new UK-based business offering low cost GPS products from a wide range of vendors. These will include hand-held GPS products from Garmin and Magellan, and the very latest total in-car navigation systems. Their web site www.GPSW.co.uk is now ready for you - and may have just the low cost GPS product you were looking for. e.g. the Magellan 300 hand-held GPS at only 79.99 GBP. The 300 does not have a computer interface, but for a few pounds more you can get the 310, with a free data cable, and use the GPS both on it's own when walking, or plugged into a Laptop PC running GPSS "on the road". Also checkout the Garmin Etrex with the optional data cable.

This GPSW page may soon be updated, but for now it provides a little advance information for customers - but more importantly - information for those who have GPS products which might be sold through GPS Warehouse. Customers should visit the GPSW.co.uk site above for information on products, prices and how to order.

Suppliers can find contact details of Adrian Silcox of GPS Warehouse on our PARTNERS page, linked from the "IF YOU ARE A BUSINESS" Page . This is for business enquiries only - not for the general public.

Why am I promoting GPS Warehouse from our web site ? The answer is simply that any business opening up low cost sales of GPS to the general public, in the same way as has already happened within the USA, is creating a future market for GPSS. In the USA it is possible to buy a "GPS-Mouse" type product (see right) for as little as 50 GBP - but these require a CDROM of GPS Software and mapping for the country in which it is used. Maybe GPS Warehouse will sell products like this in the near future. Right now they have purchased a GPSS demonstration licence, and so get some of the immediate benifits of being within the Network of GPSS Partners.

If you visit their showroom with your Laptop PC, and buy one of their GPS products with a data cable, maybe they will let you load a free copy of GPSS, from CDROM or floppy disk, originating from this web site, so you can check it out immediately.

Let GPSS Guide you to GPS Warehouse

If you already have a GPS working with a Laptop PC running GPSS, and want to be guided to the GPS Warehouse showroom, here is some useful information: The location is approximately UK grid TQ122722, or - to be more accurate in WGS84 lat/lon : 512627N0002322W - so you might ask GPSS to guide you there by entering:
`512627n0002322w
d

If you want more detailed mapping, such as in the picture at the top of this page, together with Turn-By-Turn instructions down to the last few yards, then you can download the extra mapping sample here.

This street level mapping sample is provided with the kind permission of the copyright owner - Bartholomew. You will see other examples of Bartholomew mapping within the GPSS Baseline (the 1:200,000 road atlas sample called "Bracknell") and the UK DOWNLOAD Page . Contact details for Duncan Pickering at Bartholomew are within the GPSS Baseline GPSS.TXT online help file. This street level sample is from the "London Streets" 1:5,000 scale data, which was used by GPSS Police customers back in 1997. The "one-off" cost of this data is currently 1200 GBP, but maybe operations like GPS Warehouse will enable it to become available at consumer prices on a CDROM such as that on the right.

GPSS "Free" CDROM

The first GPSS CDROM intended as a low cost "Starter", or even "Free CD" , went out to GPSS Business partners in 17 countries, and GPS suppliers, earlier in August. More details about it are on the CDROM Page .

Maybe later this year, information such as that below may appear on the GPS Warehouse web site. Simply a question of them finding the right, low cost source of GPS hardware - perhaps from an overseas GPS Business Partner, who bundles the GPSS CDROM in with his low cost "GPS-Mouse" product.

Cost below is "purely for illustration" but the words reflect what has been available for some time. It is possible, of course, that GPS Warehouse decide that GPSS is not suitable for their needs, or that a suitable deal is not closed between the three parties concerned - only time will tell if GPS Warehouse are the first to offer GPSS CDROM(s) to consumers in the UK, from within the UK. We hope the answer is "yes", of course.

Later This Year ? ......

This bundle of GPS - ready to plug into your Laptop PC, with CDROM of GPS Software and mapping for 133 countries, at 59 GBP, may be the lowest cost available anywhere in the World - including the USA. The GPS looks a bit like a mouse, and plugs into the COM1 port of your Laptop (to give it the GPS data) and the external keyboard connector (to get power). You simply install the software off the CDROM - and you are up and running, ready to test it "on the road".

The UK mapping displayed is not detailed, but shows all the major towns, motorways and roads. Similar detail is available for 132 other countries, which you can download off the CDROM. In some areas, like major cities, the mapping is more detailed. For much more detailed displayed maps, you will need to also buy one of the other CDROMs.

But the GPS Software on this CDROM does not only display maps - it also speaks ! So, in addition to displaying your position on the map, it might tell you :
"we are 45 miles south east of Bristol, and 7 miles west of Andover". It also holds the positions of lots of places you might wish to visit.

• Interesting Places, like National Trust and English Heritage sites.
• Eating Places, like Happy Eater and Little Chef restaurants.
• Places to sleep, like Hotels.
• Petrol Filling Stations.

You can search for these - such as asking which is the nearest, or finding it by name (e.g. Stonehenge) then the software will guide you by voice to this place - often to within less than 100 yards - by which time you should see it !

"destination Esso Filling Station, 210 yards ahead of us, at your 11 o'clock. Expected time of arrival is 15:35 in 15 seconds"

This information is spoken, so the driver can "keep his eyes on the road".

But the passenger can see it on the display, including the map, and an instrument panel, showing direction and distance to the destination, expected time of arrival, compass heading, and speed.

Lots more capability is in the software, and can be demonstrated by "playing back" demonstration files - before you "hit the road", but these facilities will probably require you to buy extra CDROMs.

But if you are simply going outside the UK, you can add mapping for the countries and cities you will be travelling through. This mapping may not be detailed - but it should stop you getting lost ! This includes describing where you are by voice, relative to major towns (e.g. Paris) or landmarks (e.g. Eifel Tower).

After you are up and running "on the road" with your GPS Warehouse GPS and GPS Software CDROM, you will probably want more detailed mapping. No Problem - but you will need to buy an extra CDROM. Suppose you will be using the GPS within the London area - simply load the street level mapping from the London Street Atlas - available at only 29 GBP - and this is the detail you will see displayed. Or perhaps you want more detail for the whole country ? - the Bartholomew Road Atlas CDROM gives you 1:200,000 detail over the whole of the UK mainland.

The draft CD.HTM Page of Help is on the CDROM Help Page