10.7 Other Applications

Linux is a playground for geographic information, and there are a lot of other applications out there for you to play with. GPStrans (http:// sourceforge .net/projects/gpstrans) and GARNIX (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/anton.helm/ garnix .html) are free applications that exchange information (track, route, waypoint , etc.) with a Garmin GPS. If you want to enjoy the increased accuracy of Differential GPS without having to buy a DGPS radio, see the DGPS over the Internet project at http://www.wsrcc.com/ wolfgang /gps/dgps-ip.html.

If you're looking for a public map server with U.S. street maps, the U.S. Census Bureau makes street maps that date from 1998, available at the TIGER Map Server (http://tiger.census.gov/cgi-bin/mapbrowse-tbl). The maps on this site are public domain, and you can specify latitude, longitude, marker positions , and more in the URL. If you want to put a bunch of markers on the map (such as Wi-Fi hotspots), see the instructions at http://tiger.census.gov/instruct.html#MURL. The Tiger web server is loosely maintained by the Census Bureau and is not always in a working state.

One of the best resources for free/ open source geographic information is the FreeGIS project (http://www.freegis.org/). This site contains an overview of the massive world of free Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software and provides software on CD-ROM. FreeGIS also acts as a central point for communication and collaboration on free GIS projects. You can browse the software by category at http://www.freegis.org/browse.en.html and its list of geographic data (including maps and other geographic models) at http://freegis.org/geo-data.en.html.