HP Touchpad as a GPS

[spideyrdr]

Back when HP had their 'fire sale' of the Touchpad, I was lucky to pick up a 32GB version. I eventually added Andriod and it became 100x more usable - WebOS may be a decent OS, but there just aren't the apps to support it. One thing the unit lacks, however, is a GPS. This is just a quick summary of what I did to turn the Touchpad into a big GPS with offline terrain maps - excellent for hitting the trails!

Note: I have zero affiliation with ANY software or hardware mentioned here. I am posting this as a pseudo review. It is not a complete HOW-TO nor is it intended to endorse or condone any product or use of a product.

First, as mentioned, I put Android on the Touchpad. I am sporting CyanogenMod 7.1 which is a bit older but has been working well enough for me. There are lots of tutorials out there on how to do the CyanogenMod setup.

Next, I picked up a TomTom MKii Bluetooth GPS receiver since the Touchpad doesn't have a GPS radio. The MKii is a little box that can get a GPS signal and can share that data over Bluetooth. I bought mine on ebay for about $15. It supposedly has a 10 hour run time on a single charge. Note that the ebay ones sometimes don't come with a charger or they only come with a car charger, as was the case with the one I bought. I don't like having to charge my goodies in my Jeep the night before, so I picked up a $2.50 120V-to-12V converter on Amazon and it worked perfectly, allowing me to charge the unit in the house using the 12V car charger (link to the adapter below - don't let the bad reviews fool you since some idiots thought this was capable of powering 12V electronics with a big draw, this adapter is perfect for small chargers).

Next came the software. I really only needed two software packages. The first was called Bluetooth GPS from Googoo Android. This software allows you to connect to an external GPS receiver, like the TomTom MKii, and use the data from it. This is a free app and worked great for me. Note that I have had success using "Enable Mock GPS Provider" option with this app.

The other app I use is OruxMaps. This too is a free app, and it's pretty sweet. It allows you to get map data over wifi (the Touchpad doesn't have 3G) and cache it locally. Due to some legal concerns, the app author has disabled offline caching of Google Map data, including the Terrain maps, but there is a very simple hack to enable this (you edit an XML file to allow downloading of the map data). After enabling caching, while at home I just select Google Terrain as the 'live' map source, go to the Map Creator, and tell it what part of the map I want to cache. Selecting all the layers (15 seems to be the norm) and downloading them (up to 500mb at a time) builds up a nice library of maps to use. It plays nice with the external GPS, you just have to enable that option in the settings once you have paired the TomTom via Bluetooth in the Bluetooth GPS app.

Since there was a track for the trail we rode yesterday available on traildamage.com, I was also able to import that into OruxMaps effortlessly, and I knew exactly where we were on the trail at all times.

One final piece of hardware I got was a heavy duty windshield mount for the tablet. The one I got is awesome. About $22 and very very sturdy. The arm is very rigid, making it perfect for bouncy trails. I have a link to the one I got below.

Once everything is working and you have the Bluetooth connection to the TomTom GPS receiver via "Bluetooth GPS", you are set! I field tested the configuration yesterday and it was pretty sweet on the trail. Battery life was decent at about 5 hours+ constantly on, the TomTom could have gone longer. I could have plugged the Touchpad into a 12V USB adapter to obtain much longer if not infinite run time, but I strictly ran off battery all day yesterday.

In summary, I am very pleased with the setup. The tablet worked great as a GPS on the road and on the trail. I also stored some PDF docs with trail info on the Touchpad, so I could look up more info if I needed to. Since the tablet can also play video and games, it could double as a portable entertainment unit for passengers while you're en route!

Finally, pretty much any Android tablet should be able to work like this as long as it has at least a wifi connection and a Bluetooth radio. If you have a tablet that also has a GPS radio, then you would only need OruxMaps!

Links:
TomTom Mkii on Amazon:
Amazon.com: Tomtom Mkii Bluetooth GPS Receiver for USA Canada Worldwide: Electronics

Rugged windshield mount for tablets:
Amazon.com: ME-UTM+MPH+ME-04: Heavy Duty Windshield Mount for iPad 1/2, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Motorola Xoom, HP Touchpad, Blackberry Playbook, Acer Iconia, Asus EEEPad, Viewsonic gTablet, Superpad, Android 3.0, Amazon Kindle Tablets with 7" ~ 10.1" scr

Simple 120V-to-12V adapter for the TomTom car charger (if you don't have the home charger):
Amazon.com: Car Power DC to AC Inverter AC/DC Adapter Converter Charger 110-240V AC to 12V DC / Universal AC-DC Power Socket Adapter Converter - Use Car Chargers in 110V AC Wall Outlets: Electronics

Software: Bluetooth GPS:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=googoo.android.btgps

Software: OruxMaps:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.orux.oruxmaps

 

[isomswim]

Long and nformative post. I also use a tablet for GPS, but mine has GPS built in. I use the Lenovo Ideapad A1. 7" tab with plenty of memory for its use and only cost about $200. Downloaded Copilot Pro and works great, cant remember how much but it does cost money. Havent tried offroad yet but I may try the apps you are using. Having a 7" tab I can mountit on the windshield and it stays but I have another mount for my larger tablet that mounts to the seat bolt, Bolt not belt. lol. Ill also do a write up soon. Add some pics if possible.

EDIT
I saw after rereading about your mount. Also you can hardwire devices to the fuse box via add-a-fuse connections. I'll try to get a write up when I get my new speakers soon.

 

[Ry' N Jen]

Cool setup you've got going there.

 

[badkittystt]

I'd love to see a pic of this setup, sounds pretty sweet.


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[spideyrdr]

Thanks, it was pretty nice to have on the trail - admittedly the Touchpad is almost TOO big, but the mount holds it well and it was never in the way. The Levono size might be a nice compromise.

I will try to attach a pic. I am new to this forum so bear with me if I hose it up the first few tries. This was taken sitting in my neighborhood. The mount is attached to the windshield with a suction cup and the arm is just barely resting on the curved portion of the dash, effectively keeping the whole unit from bouncing.

 

[Kriszilla]

I'm a huge fan of a tablet used in that way and I do the same.

If you've got a bluetooth Android tab there's no reason not to pick up a cheap BT OBD-II dongle. It's great with the Torque Android app for reading all of the engine management data.

 

[spideyrdr]

If you've got a bluetooth Android tab there's no reason not to pick up a cheap BT OBD-II dongle. It's great with the Torque Android app for reading all of the engine management data.

Great tip! I just ordered one and will see how it works out. My wife's car is throwing a code that indicates her O2 sensors are out of whack, but it's a known problem with her year car. I can reset the CEL with my handheld scanner but can't read any data. The BT dongle might help me sort out the issue and get some good info. Thanks!

 

[Kriszilla]

Glad to help! You'll get addicted to constantly checking all the various things going on with your engine from one moment to the next.