GPS and SQL Server on a Pocket PC?

[bennyE]

Hi,

I'm considering buying a PDA to solve a few problems that I have with my work. Essentially, I'm a gas service engineer, and I think that if I can get it to work for me, a PDA could prove very useful for a number of things.

Firstly, I travel a lot, from job to job, and finding places can be a bit of a nightmare at times, so when I saw various GPS systems available, I thought wayhey - that's the answer. But are they really that good? I've been looking through the systems available, and I like the look of TomTom II, can anyone give an unbiased view as to what's the most suitable GPS setup for an urban area? I've tried various route planning software in the past, an I can't help but think that at times the software has made routes over-complicated e.g. take this road turn left, pass the old spotted cow, down the little lane, turn right then right again etc...when really, it would've been easier to stick to more major roads - perhaps geographically a little longer, but far simpler to follow and perhaps taking around the same amount of time).

Secondly, I've done a reasonable amount of work with SQL Server in the past, and I'm planning to implement a SQL Server database to keep all my customer records up-together. I know there's a version of SQL Server specifically for the mobile market, and the literature I've read on the microsoft site suggests that it has a small footprint etc and that everything's wonderful with it. But is it? Has anyone here tried using/implementing it? Ideally, I'd like to implement a system whereby I could pull up a daily itinerary of calls to be made (and if this meant updating from a desktop database, I could live with that), view each customer record (and maybe link to a .pdf of any associated appliance technical manuals/building regs etc? - I see Adobe have produced an Acrobat reader for mobile devices) and then maybe even have the GPS tell me how to get there - is it possible to pass addresses from a database to GPS software without having to type it all in? If after making a call, I could could then update the customer records from the PDA (perhaps for later syncronisation with a desktop DB), I think I'd be the happiest PDA user around. Has anyone got ANY idea as to how feasible such an arrangement is? If so, would something like the H5550 be gutsy enough to run it? Or could I get away with a cheaper PDA?

Any thoughts or advice you might be able offer on this matter really would be very much appreciated,

cheers,

Ben

[kidearth]

Hi Ben,
Can only answer your query on the SQLServer CE. Did some work on the SQL Server CE on pocket pc. If you are just using SQLServer CE as a local database, its definitely possible. It is relatively fast, however, if you were to use remote RDA pull function to download data from a remote sqlserver, it would be quite slow. I believe that a decent Pocket PC running Pocket PC 2002 OS should do fine.

Wi Li

Originally Posted by bennyE

Hi,

I'm considering buying a PDA to solve a few problems that I have with my work. Essentially, I'm a gas service engineer, and I think that if I can get it to work for me, a PDA could prove very useful for a number of things.

Firstly, I travel a lot, from job to job, and finding places can be a bit of a nightmare at times, so when I saw various GPS systems available, I thought wayhey - that's the answer. But are they really that good? I've been looking through the systems available, and I like the look of TomTom II, can anyone give an unbiased view as to what's the most suitable GPS setup for an urban area? I've tried various route planning software in the past, an I can't help but think that at times the software has made routes over-complicated e.g. take this road turn left, p*** the old spotted cow, down the little lane, turn right then right again etc...when really, it would've been easier to stick to more major roads - perhaps geographically a little longer, but far simpler to follow and perhaps taking around the same amount of time).

Secondly, I've done a reasonable amount of work with SQL Server in the past, and I'm planning to implement a SQL Server database to keep all my customer records up-together. I know there's a version of SQL Server specifically for the mobile market, and the literature I've read on the microsoft site suggests that it has a small footprint etc and that everything's wonderful with it. But is it? Has anyone here tried using/implementing it? Ideally, I'd like to implement a system whereby I could pull up a daily itinerary of calls to be made (and if this meant updating from a desktop database, I could live with that), view each customer record (and maybe link to a .pdf of any ***ociated appliance technical manuals/building regs etc? - I see Adobe have produced an Acrobat reader for mobile devices) and then maybe even have the GPS tell me how to get there - is it possible to p*** addresses from a database to GPS software without having to type it all in? If after making a call, I could could then update the customer records from the PDA (perhaps for later syncronisation with a desktop DB), I think I'd be the happiest PDA user around. Has anyone got ANY idea as to how feasible such an arrangement is? If so, would something like the H5550 be gutsy enough to run it? Or could I get away with a cheaper PDA?

Any thoughts or advice you might be able offer on this matter really would be very much appreciated,

cheers,

Ben