Huh.. Interesting.
I work with teams from Shanghai, and a few years
ago they would buy GPS units here in the states
to take back (I had to guarantee that the
coverage was indeed world wide, and promise that
there were no subscription fees).
I carry my GPS with me everywhere with me when
traveling. Spending a week in the Chinese country
side, having a GPS is the only way I could assure
finding my hotel! Asking for directions is
entertaining, but pretty pointless, especially if
I forgot to bring a business card with the name of the hotel.
On my last trip to, I visited an electronics
store in Shanghai ( 31°13'51.13"N,
121°30'58.15"E), and they had a wide array of GPS
units for sale. It's a cool store, the prices
get cheaper the as you go to the upper levels.
Anyway, I will have three GPS units, my bluetooth
unit that talks to my palm pilot, my Nuvi 750,
and a Chinese unit that has Chines maps (which I
can't read built into it) with me on my next trip
in July, and do not expect any trouble. I suppose
the smart thing to do is to back up any way points over the Internet.
I also have the Micro SD media
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicroSD). Smaller
than a penny. 2 Gig of data in a very tiny
footprint. It would be sooo easy to hide such a chip.
Google now offers a service that will locate your
position based on cell tower
signals http://www.google.com/mobile/gmm/mylocation/index.html
On select phones. I don't know if it will work in China.
I have failed to buy any street level maps of
China with English, but it's only a matter of time.
I overlay my GPS Using Google Earth. I use the
paid version, and can download the images to my
laptop. It's great for the big cities, but
resolution is lousy out in the country.
Anyway, I suspect that any electronics is subject
to confiscation if the government suspect you are
up to no good. No good could be taking pictures
of Mao's tomb, or making a geological
survey. Paranoia runs rampant. By the same
token, foreign nationals here in the US have been
detained and equipment confiscated for taking
pictures of the Mackinaw bridge, the Soo Locks,
and other points that used to be interesting, and
now must be protected at all costs.
It's so fun to rant..
Cheers!
Rob.. Now in upstate NY
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