Google Maps with GPS Tracker

CNET Editors' review

by: CNET staff on August 18, 2011

Golenfound's Google Maps with GPS Tracker is a small, free application that uploads your GPS position regularly via GPRS or 3G and then automatically updates your position on a Google Map display. You need a GPS device to use it, but you can download and try the GpsGate simulator software free for 14 days. Once you're familiar with Google Maps with GPS Tracker, you can buy a GPS device that suits your needs and configure the program to accept it.

A small, square, tabbed interface opened on the GPS tab, which showed blank fields. The program's Web-based documentation and assistance made the setup a snap. We clicked the Settings button and selected the GPS tab, which let us configure GPS Type, the COM Port on our PC we use to connect our GPS device, the baud rate, and kilometers or miles for distance, as well as choose to log our input. The Garmin Protocol tab lets Garmin GPS users enter their product ID, software version, and other data as well as set the protocol. The Share tab contained a single button that let us share our current location via a Web site. Activating this feature called up a slider that let us configure the time out in minutes. The first time we ran the program, we had to permit access through the Windows firewall and our other security tools, but it opened normally after that, displaying our current location with the usual indicator on a Google Map. Since our movements were within the default GPS radius, we couldn't track them, but Google Maps with GPS Tracker will get a workout on our next trip.

We could also configure Google Maps with GPS Tracker to send GPS data to a wide range of outputs, including system ports, com protocols, and even Google Earth. We tried this last option, which included a setup dialog for configuring Google Earth's settings.