Phones with GPS and Laptops

[nissan]

Are there any software which allows the use of Phones with GPS to give location information to netbooks/laptops perhaps via Bluetooth or if necessary cable? That way one doesn't have to buy two pieces of hardware although a cheap GPS dongle is now less then $50 on ebay (not sure of the quality though).

[Richary]

I have a GPS dongle for the laptop though haven't used it for quite a while. The problem I found is that with the laptop sitting on the car passenger seat that satellite reception wasn't very good. An external antenna was also required.

[The Swaggies]

I also bought a blue tooth rechargeable GPS from eBay. Three years ago it was $125 but now they are the third of that price. I found with my setup it works really well and I have just velcrowed it to the dashboard. After 3 years it still works well for me.

I also bought a Garmin GPS18 usb GPS which has a magnetic base. The cord is about 2 metres long and it is plenty long enough to reach the netbook.

This is what I use most of the time now with the netbook, and it does not need recharging.

[bshwckr]

There is a free Nokia program for sending its internal gps info via blue-tooth and I remember using it with success a couple years ago. Cant remember the name but if pushed, I could probably find the old Nokia, fire it up and have a look.
I would however, recommend a gps mouse for use with a laptop. They just work and no dropping of signal or fighting with the bluetooth stack etc. The cable is generally long enough to velcro to the dash and sit the laptop on the front seat.

[Papa Bear_Left]

There's an Android app for tethering the GPSr output to a PC, presumably using the standard NMEA format. I haven't had any occasion to try it, though...

I must see if it'll work at the same time as the 3G sharing; it could make using Google Maps on the laptop a mobile experience without needing multiple widgets plugged into the USB ports. Plus charging the Nexus at the same time!