[ovrtaxt]

You can check out a gps system here: http://www.garmin.com

I have a street pilot. It rocks! Saves a lot of time if you regularly drive different routes, or if you have to find new addresses all the time.

Now, nobody has brought up Onstar yet. GM owns Hughes, which owns all the GPS satellites, so it's relatively cheap for them to offer. They will probably start offering map screens in their newer cars, much like the Garmin units.

[RS]

"I have a street pilot. It rocks! Saves a lot of time if you regularly drive different routes, or if you have to find new addresses all the time."

Used GPS on a sailboat for years - saves a whole bunch of time when you can't see land or if you're trying to find, like the Coronado Islands !

[RS]

"Now, nobody has brought up Onstar yet. GM owns Hughes, which owns all the GPS satellites, so it's relatively cheap for them to offer. They will probably start offering map screens in their newer cars, much like the Garmin units."

1. Hughes built the satellites, US Gov. owns them - No charge to receive signals for anyone

2. Onstar is owned by GM

3. Onstar uses the older analog cellular for it's connections - the only use of satellites is the GPS signals.

4. GPS mapping is available without Onstar in many high end vehicles already.

[El Gato]

Hughes, which owns all the GPS satellites

The US Department of Defense owns the GPS satellites. The Russians own a constellation of similar GLONASS satellites. I don't think that Hughes even built the GPS satellites. I think that was a branch of Rockwell International, which is now part of Boeing