A normal GPS device on a Windows machine sends a continuous stream of position reports via a COM port. All you need to do is read the port and parse the strings (the format is called NMEA). I've written a DLL in C# that we use for laptop/tablet apps to read position information.

>I don't have a good answer to your question because I work with rugged tablets that don't come cheap either. But, I am wondering if you use any third-party components to interact with your GPS and if so what do you use, or what do you recommend? ( I have reservations about the components I am currently using.)
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>Thanks!
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>Del
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>>We are looking for options to get GPS data from a Windows notebook based solution.
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>>We've worked with Panasonic Toughbooks, which work great, are rugged, and have built-in GPS and everything we need.
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>>Now we are looking for a platform we can deploy cheaply that will run our .NET app, have internet connectivity, and GPS capability.
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>>We can purchase a cheap notebook/netbook and use an Aircard or other Cellular card for connectivity, but can we programmatically access GPS from a cellular card (I'm assuming most have built-in GPS)? We need to pull reasonably accurate lat/lon information on location (doing site surveys).
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>>I've never used a cellular card, so I'm operating in the dark on this.
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>>We don't want to have to resort to a USB or other external GPS unit if at all possible.