I've been interested in some remedial GPS advice also. If it's a difference of $50, I will just buy an indepedant unit like tom-tom or garmin. Is there any benefit to tethering to a N800 (either a lot cheaper or more features) than a 'consumer' product?

My parents let me use thier $500 garmin and I was impressed. What do you loose by buying a $200 tom-tom or a $100(?) 'puck'?

Yes, there's a benefit. The N800 can use GPS location for other purposes, so if you want to hack things, that's great! The only useful purpose I know of is (that's ready to go) to store location info in EXIF tags in photos taken with the N800's built-in camera, which is obviously of questionable utility.

If you want to hack things, this should work with pictures taken with a camera-phone, or even some digicams.

For future reference, downloads.maemo.org is a great official source for finding Maemo software (whether for OS2006, OS2007, or OS2008). Maemo Mapper is listed on that site, and it includes install files for each version of ITOS.

The official development site for Maemo Mapper is in the garage (https://garage.maemo.org/projects/maemo-mapper), and the .deb files can all be found there. The best way to install it, however, is via the .install files that you find at downloads.maemo.org.

A standalone device like a Garmin includes everything - a GPS receiver, mapping software, and the entire device. If you have an N800, you don't need the device, just software and a GPS receiver. If you have an N810, you don't need the separate GPS receiver. Prices for the bundle decline accordingly, more or less. I've been using a bluetooth GPS receiver for some time, cost about $35. I previously had some other receivers, wired, and they cost more. If you want a complete, finished device, on which you don't have to anything but turn it on, get one of the standalone devices. They're getting pretty cheap. Higher-end models will connect to your cell phone and dial the restaurant or other point you're going to, play mp3s, and other stuff. If you have a device, and just want mapping software on it, there are other choices. For the N8*0, there aren't many, because the major players haven't bothered with the Linux market. For free, Maemo Mapper is the main player here, and with Flite can give limited voice directions. Roadmap, if it ever gets out of alpha (it just started development in December) will give on the fly routing and voice directions. Both programs use flite, which is Festival Lite, a Linux text-to-speech program. My main mapping program is Mapopolis on Palm, which uses pspeak, another text-to-voice program. It's no longer available, unfortunately.

Lots of good info here. Specifically, my question is "can you use full GPS functions (turn by turn instructions, with or without voice prompts) with the N800 WITHOUT internet access, just with the proper software and a bluetooth receiver?" I seem to recall reading that without a data plan, it would be too costly. I think it related to route recalculations...

Yes. You don't need Internet access to get turn-by turn guidance. The gps function senses your position and tells you where to go even without Internet access.

Scotty:

Here is a page with Maemo Mapper and the much-coveted green install button:

http://maemo.org/downloads/OS2008/travel/

I'm assuming you have OS2008 installed.

There are many different levels of "GPS". ranging from simply downloading the NMEA data stream to unmanned vehicles.
Turn by turn instructions, or routing is a GIS (geographic information service) function, not a GPS function. Just as playing MP3's is not a "GPS function". Routing requires vector processing, displaying maps only requires rasters.
One of the many problems with the fully packaged GPS units (Garmin, Tom-Tom, etc.) is that they are a bit like razors, once they are used it can cost a lot to maintain. It's typically $50 to $150 to update the maps.

From here
"There are over 410,000 miles of new roads, six million new addresses, new POIs for shopping centers and golf courses, better details of road limitations such as one way streets, signposts, and restricted turns, and over 500,000 new POIs" on a new dataset.

With the NXXX and Maemo Mapper your update cost is somewhere between nada and zilch. You need to spend time to download maps AND imagery. But you still do not get routing. You can get simple routing via Google, but not interactive "Nokia-nokia that road is closed which way do I go to get to Grandmas?".

However I think if you were smart enough to find this forum then with the N8XX and GPS receiver you will have more functionality without the upgrade price.

So I believe the answer to your question is no. - but ----

You get turn-by turn instructions; I've used them. There are of course some functions that Maemo Mapper doesn't have.

You are confusing users with techno-speak.

The question was, do you get turn-by turn guidance? I have used Maemo Mapper, have you? Didn't you get turn-by turn guidance? You don't get "that route is closed" -- where did the questioner ask about that?

My understanding was that
"I think it related to route recalculations." was of concern
I have not used the Maemo Mapper that provided turn by turn guidance standalone. My understanding (based on reading the Help file in Maemo Mapper) was that one would have to download a route from some other source, such as google, and that route would be static.

So I was not aware this function was possible without a predetermined route downloaded from the internet.

Again - routing is not a function of GPS. Neither is playing MP3's or displaying pictures, even though many commercial "GPS" units do both (and the N810 does them better).