Do any of you FF/EMS guys use GPS-mapping systems in your emergency vehicles?

If so, do you find that the satellite acquisition time coming out of the station is pain? Does it need to be faster?

No experience with that here. Falls under "icky teckno-stuff" to most of our brass.

I can't comment on the Fire/EMS guys but my departments cruisers have Delorme Street atlas on the MDC's and it seems to pick up relatively quickly when pulling out from undersomething.

Do your vehicles have enough battery power to leave the GPS on continuously?  There will still be some acquisition time unless it keeps a lock on satellites from inside, but it should be reduced.

My dept doesn't have the vehicle locater systems.  We have computer map systems in our trucks and we have to type in the address and it'll pull it up.  We can zoom in or out and have a bunch of options of what shows up on the map...  aerial photography, hydrants...  almost anything.  We have hand held GPS for getting LZ coordinates for landing Lifestar.  But we can get GPS coordinates off of our map systems too so their never used by the people who know how to use the computers.  My officer for example had no idea that the computer could even do that until I told and showed him.

The neighboring dept does have the vehicle locater systems but I've been told that it's great when it works...  Then when it doesn't it's a bit of a pain in the ass.  

I don't know if that's what you were asking but there's my answer anyway.

Quoted: Put your truck on a shoreline and keep the GPS on the inverter.

This is kind of where I was going, but of course this only works if the truck has a view of the sky. How quick does the map get moving if the truck is parked inside?

The GPS still knows where it was before it lost the signal.  So it doesn't take long at all for the unit to figure out where it is.  If it does get bad enough you can get a GPS repeater for the station.