For GPS Junkies

["Steve Makohin" <wateredg@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello all,

For you GPS junkies, you may or may not be aware of NEXRAD, the "NEXt 
generation weather RADar" that is used in many aircraft. It works by having 
hundreds of weather stations across North America submit their data, in near 
real-time, to a central repository which then sends it out via repeaters 
(and now XM satellite) to receivers that can present this near-real-time 
data as a weather radar image superimposed over a moving-map display.

What this means to aircraft, is that a plane without a weather radar can 
have a visual display that is, well, like a weather radar. The advantage of 
this is that you can safely operate it while on the ground, unlike a real 
weather radar. It's also cheaper, and has a longer range.

So what does this mean to you, a motorcyclist? Imagine a scenario in which 
you are taking a long trip, and you can look at an LCD display and see 
weather information superimposed over terrain and street data. Picture 
seeing an image that depicts a heavy storm front approaching with lots of 
lightning and heavy winds, or worse still, tornados. As a rider, unlike an 
aircraft, you likely cannot outrun a storm or ride around it, but you can 
make decisions that are more "in tune" with the weather, such as deciding to 
put on the rain gear because there is a fair bit of rain on the other side 
of the mountain pass, or deciding to head for shelter at a hotel because a 
serious storm is only a few miles away.

I just saw that Garmin has a GPS that includes NEXRAD technology. It's in 
the "Aviation" section, but it is multi-mode, to accommodate a "car" mode 
(that would include us riders), and a "marine" mode. I have not looked into 
this in any detail, but I thought some list members may find it interesting. 
It also has voice annunciation for turn-by-turn instructions, and XM Radio 
for entertainment.

Visit http://www.garmin.com/products/gpsmap396/. The unit lists for around 
US$2200, so deep pockets are a must (we all make 6+ figure incomes, being 
BMW riders, right?) Now, if we combined this technology with real-time 
traffic data that could influence auto-routing (and assuming that we 
traveled areas that provided traffic data), then we'd have one serious 
killer GPS.

- -Steve Makohin
 '01 R1100S/ABS
 Oakville, Ontario, Canada 

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