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To GPS, or not to GPS


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  • #2037413
    Jerry Adams
    BPL Member

    @retiredjerry

    Locale: Oregon and Washington

    luddite!

    I'm pissed they quit teaching how to drive horse carriages

    (just kidding, sorry)

    #2037427
    Jeremy and Angela
    BPL Member

    @requiem

    Locale: Northern California

    There was a similar debate among sailors awhile back. Should one learn to use a sextant and keep it as a backup to a GPS, for all the same reason given here.

    For shame! How far these decadent people have fallen, to be debating between the wheelchair of a GPS and the crutch of a sextant. Real navigators have no need for such artificial aids, which can easily be lost overboard!

    Mau Piailug showed how Real Men navigate.

    #2037429
    Larry De La Briandais
    BPL Member

    @hitech

    Locale: SF Bay Area

    "Mau Piailug showed how Real Men navigate."

    Now THAT is awesome! Talk about real world skills. I humbly need at least a map… ;)

    #2037431
    hwc 1954
    Member

    @wcollings

    I hike with a Garmin GPS unit and can answer some of your questions:

    For bike touring, you would want to purchase the Garmin City Navigator North America map package. This is the detailed automotive navigating map and it has essentially every road in the United States on it. I think it would be an almost essential tool for bike touring, not just to figure out where you want to go, but just to see where you are.

    For hiking, you can purchase incredibly detailed 24K topo maps. These are not the typical JPG maps. They are fullly scalable vector maps. On my Garmin, I can display them on the computer at home or on the handheld while I'm hiking. I download an actual GPS track of the hike I'm doing and show that on the map along with my track, so I can instantly see if I've gotten off the trail. 40 foot contour intervals.

    Here's a screen cap of a hike displayed on the topo map on my computer:

    Garmin GPS topo map

    Of course, I still carry a detailed paper map and compass in my pack, but I never have to use them. Ironically, the AMC White Mountain maps I carry have all of the trails drawn based on GPS tracks. They are much more accurate than where the USGS topo maps think the trails are. In fact, I think the highly inaccurate placement of trails on the old-fashioned topo maps is probably the biggest single risk for getting lost. The only time I've gotten "lost" is when my old-fashioned map had the trail running along one side of a stream when the actual trail crossed over the stream to the other side. I followed the map, keeping the stream on my left and ended up bushwhacking. In that case, the map actually steered me wrong. A GPS unit with a GPS track would have highlighted the problem immediately.

    Being able to track along an existing GPS track (often one of my own if I've already done the hike) is fantastic. And, I have a library of GPS tracks for all of the hikes I've done that can be displayed in the Garmin software, in Google Earth, or on the handheld.

    I addition to the GPS track time and distance for my hikes, the Garmin also records temperature, heart rate, and elevation.

    #2037444
    hwc 1954
    Member

    @wcollings

    For batteries, the Garmin I use has a rated 16 hour run time on the lithium ion rechargeable, then it can be switched over to AA batteries for an additional 22 hours of rated run time. I carry the AA's as spares for my emergency flashlight, but have never had to use them. If I thought I were going to be lost for more than 38 hours on a day hike (a circumstance that would almost certainly involve not being able to move due to injury), I could simply turn off the GPS for periods of time. I don't think battery life is a huge problem, except for multi-day through hikes. where the same challenge would apply to powering headlamps, emergency cellphone, iPods, etc.

    #2037448
    Max Dilthey
    Spectator

    @mdilthey

    Locale: MaxTheCyclist.com

    My headlamp, bike headlight, tail light, and iPhone all recharge via USB. My laptop's 10-hour battery life lets me recharge them like an external battery. Now, a 10 hour battery life is for using the screen and the internet and keyboard; charging devices should take even less (haven't tested it). So, theoretically, my iPhone used just as a GPS will last me longer when I'm not near a power outlet. I have to agree with the sentiment that 18 hours x 2 sets of batteries is more than enough to use a GPS for an emergency. I'll die of starvation long before I run out of GPS battery.

    As for getting lost, I do get lost. I just lose track of where I am or where I've been, what road I'm on, etc. I've ridden about 4,000 miles outside my hometown on bike tours or just day-rides and I know I get lost, so I plan ahead and take steps to reduce it, but it still happens.

    All signs point to the GPS as a backcountry tool rather than a road tool.

    #2037453
    Dale Wambaugh
    BPL Member

    @dwambaugh

    Locale: Pacific Northwest

    Seeing that you own it, it's more of whether you want to haul it. You can mount it on your handlebars where a phone might not survive as well.

    Your iPhone needs cellular access for the maps program that comes with it to download the map images. You can buy something like the Gaia app and download maps ahead of time. I've been using that app on my iPhone 4 all summer and I like it. Battery life is a limitation. I would get an accessory battery pack for your phone on a long road trip anyway. Using it periodically for location vs constant tracking will give good battery life. If you are road-biking, I assume there will be few places that won't have cellular service, but it's not 100%— I imagine there are spots on California Highway 1 that are blank, etc. Then again, you only have three directions out there: north, south, or in the ocean :)

    Note that if you use the digital compass on your iPhone, it will give you latitude and longitude coordinates too. No extra cost and easy on the battery, but you need the paper maps to go with it.

    A GPS can be a very useful tool. I could see using it on a bike for mileage/speed and ETA data as well as route and location. Murphy (Murphy's Law) loves gadgets with batteries, so I wouldn't leave maps and compasses behind, but a GPS supplements them well. A GPS can be limited in deep canyons and heavy foliage; so can your phone, of course.

    Your Garmin may need more detailed maps loaded on it to be really useful in remote locations.

    #2037457
    Max Dilthey
    Spectator

    @mdilthey

    Locale: MaxTheCyclist.com

    The phone's in a burly case, I think it's probably better off than the Garmin. and with the computer as an external battery, I can push the phone for at least 3 days, likely a lot more.

    I'm definitely going for a non-cellular maps program. Thanks for the tip on Gaia.

    #2037491
    Dale Wambaugh
    BPL Member

    @dwambaugh

    Locale: Pacific Northwest

    Gaia is a bargain. It has more bells and whistles than I can use. Play with it first so you get used to starting/stopping/creating new tracks. It pours out all kinds of nifty data that has been helpful with exercise-oriented walks we have been doing. It should be very cool on a bike trip. Considering that the device is a *telephone* first and foremost, the Gaia app is amazing.

    Loading maps with a wi-fi connection is faster (and cheaper on my plan) and of course, you need to remember to do it before you get out in the boonies. If you want tracks, you do have to remember to turn it on– I've missed tracking the first 1/4 mile of a couple hikes due to that. If you are used to playing with computers and graphics stuff, it doesn't take much to get it up and running. I've had zero problems getting a fix.

    #2037492
    Max Dilthey
    Spectator

    @mdilthey

    Locale: MaxTheCyclist.com

    How's Gaia's road maps?

    #2037497
    Dale Wambaugh
    BPL Member

    @dwambaugh

    Locale: Pacific Northwest

    How's Gaia's road maps? I'm not the expert, but what I have sitting here at my desk is layered up with topo and street data.

    Here's a screen shot of NE Seattle streets:

    Gaia screen shot

    #2037515
    Jeremy and Angela
    BPL Member

    @requiem

    Locale: Northern California

    Dale, try switching the map layer to one of the Open Cycle Map or Open Street Map options; it may be closer to what you expect to see. I'm not too familiar with the source for them, but it's almost certainly more up to date than the roads on the USGS topos.

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