GPS for Dummies.pdf - Engineering Surveyor

146Part III: Digital Mapping on Your Computerfine with older computers. (I discuss GPS receiver manufacturer softwarein Chapter 10 and street and topographic map software in Chapters 12and 13.) Web-hosted map services: Web-hosted map services are accessed withyour Web browser. These map Web sites are easy to use but don’t offer asmany features as commercial or standalone mapping programs. ViewingWeb site maps isn’t a very resource-intensive activity. The speed of yourInternet connection is a bigger issue than the speed of your computer’sprocessor. (For more on using Web-hosted map services of various types,see Chapters 17, 18, and 19.) Standalone mapping programs: Standalone map programs are similarto commercial map software but don’t come bundled with maps; youneed to provide the map data yourself. If you’re using a standalone programto make maps from data that you download from the Internet —especially if you’ll be creating 3-D images — you want as much processorspeed, memory, and storage as your budget allows. It also doesn’t hurtto have a high-speed Internet connection to speed up downloads. (I talkabout some standalone map programs in Chapters 15 and 16.)Additionally, you need to factor in your processing power as well as whattypes of storage devices, display devices, printers, and communicationsequipment you’ll need and use.In most cases, if you’ve purchased a computer in the past couple of yearsthat runs Windows, it’s probably going to be more than adequate for computermapping. (Always check a mapping software vendor’s Web site first,though, to ensure that your computer is compatible with the program youplan to use.)Processing PowerWhen it comes to software, whether it’s an operating system or program, theprocessor and amount of memory your PC has can make a difference in performance.Some people think that just like money, you can never have enoughprocessor speed or memory; when it comes to mapping software, though,that’s not entirely true.You don’t absolutely need to have the latest cutting edge and fastest technologyfor computer mapping. You can easily get by using older computers andperipherals. I have an old 500 MHz Pentium with 256K of RAM runningWindows 2000 that works fine for mapping. Granted, it’s a bit slower performingsome tasks than faster, newer computers, but it still gets the job done.With this in mind, take a look at practical processing and memory requirementsfor mapping software.