I was just thinking how great it would be to be able to use the built in GPS from the NAV with some software to be able to keep tabs on your car when your kid takes it or it's stolen. Is it possible? Is the Nav/GPS always running when the car is? Or is the GPS only a reciever?
GPS only recieves. There are GPS transmitters you can get. This saves money on insurance, but only about $30/year in my case.
just a receiver. you have to combine this data with some sort of transmitter, EG your cell phone. there are apps for some handheld devices that have built-in modems, wireless, or just sms messaging which interface with and read GPS data in a standardized format that provide this functionality. You could use these if you figured out a way to tap into the prius' GPS signal and send it to your mobile device. I don't know of anyone that has figured out a way to do this yet.
To top it off, NAV isn't 'awake' until you have pressed the 'I Agree' button on its initial screen. You have to do this every time you power up from OFF. This also needs to be done in order to recieve events from the Maintenance and Calendar screens.
Don't get caught transmitting on GPS frequencies. It's a federal crime. Systems that use GPS to track, use some other transmission mechanism to send the location data to the user, e.g., cell phone, satellite transceiver, etc.
