PDA/GPS Gurus
Looking into a couple nifty technologies for work. I'm thinking about switching from traditional notepad and paper to a PDA at work (police department, city of some 2 million people). I'm thinking of doing it for many reasons but I need some advice and some questions answered from the gurus here.
First off, what kind of address book (people databases) are there? I frequently run into the same groups of crackheads and I'm looking into ways of remembering which ones deserve extra attention (they're a PITA, have the hiv or hep c, etc). I'm also looking at the HP line because some of them have built in cameras and a pic to go with the little profile might be nice. Especially since the vast majority of people I deal with try to lie about who they are, even when I've already contacted them in the past.
I'm also interested in some sort of portable GPS. I know the district of the city I'm assigned to pretty well, however at times when TSHTF we go into other districts of the city to back up other districts on dangerous calls. Likewise if a neighboring district is swamped with calls we sometimes get sent into their district to handle their calls if they're working a shooting or something like that. As I said, I know my district very well, however its a big city and I certainly don't know the most efficient ways of getting around other districts. So I'm looking into the GPS option for navigation in unfamiliar areas. Ideally a PDA with gps capability would be great as I could keep the entire package together.
Cost is an issue, I'm a civil servant so I'm not rich. I don't need the greatest whiz bang device with 3d maps and voice prompts. If I can get a pda that just plots a route on a map that would be great. Size is also an issue, for the PDA I'd like it to fit in the chest pocket of a uniform shirt, so it can't be huge. I don't necessarily need you guys to find it for me, just educate me a bit and point me in the right direction. I'm also available on IM if further discussion is needed, or ya just wanna yak with me =)
Anyways, thanks in advance.
First off, what kind of address book (people databases) are there? I frequently run into the same groups of crackheads and I'm looking into ways of remembering which ones deserve extra attention (they're a PITA, have the hiv or hep c, etc). I'm also looking at the HP line because some of them have built in cameras and a pic to go with the little profile might be nice. Especially since the vast majority of people I deal with try to lie about who they are, even when I've already contacted them in the past.
I'm also interested in some sort of portable GPS. I know the district of the city I'm assigned to pretty well, however at times when TSHTF we go into other districts of the city to back up other districts on dangerous calls. Likewise if a neighboring district is swamped with calls we sometimes get sent into their district to handle their calls if they're working a shooting or something like that. As I said, I know my district very well, however its a big city and I certainly don't know the most efficient ways of getting around other districts. So I'm looking into the GPS option for navigation in unfamiliar areas. Ideally a PDA with gps capability would be great as I could keep the entire package together.
Cost is an issue, I'm a civil servant so I'm not rich. I don't need the greatest whiz bang device with 3d maps and voice prompts. If I can get a pda that just plots a route on a map that would be great. Size is also an issue, for the PDA I'd like it to fit in the chest pocket of a uniform shirt, so it can't be huge. I don't necessarily need you guys to find it for me, just educate me a bit and point me in the right direction. I'm also available on IM if further discussion is needed, or ya just wanna yak with me =)
Anyways, thanks in advance.
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