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Walking in London assisted by satellites

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01 / Original postWalking in London assisted by satellitesChris Malcolm · 16 Apr 2004 02 / This pagePosts 1–20Page 1 of 3 · chronological order 03 / Latest replyPost #50Phil Cook · 25 May 2004

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General fitness, health and nutrition
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16 April 2004
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Chris Malcolm
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  1. Original post
    Chris Malcolm
    Archived post
    #1

    I'm off to do a few days walking round London. An ex-London
    resident, I'm in the habit of using the Tube as a
    navigational device, because I know lots of patches of
    streets round Tube stations, but not how it all knits
    together above ground. When going somewhere new I'd use the
    A-Z to find the nearest Tube station, and oof I went.

    I knew that in some cases I probably could have walked, but
    I usually couldn't be bothered to make the navigational
    effort of turning the pages of the A-Z, estimating the
    distance, comparing it with likely Tube times and to-and-
    from station distances, and finally doing a walk while
    keeping an eye on passing street names and the A-Z. Easier
    just to hop in the tube.

    H'ever, this time I have a GPS, which will simplify both the
    comparison process and the overground navigation, so I'll do
    a lot more walking. Not a mapping GPS, so it'll operate in
    situ as an A-Z accessory, and I'll pick up most of the
    waypoints I want from Streetmap before I go.

    Last time I travelled a long distance by train I found the
    GPS was a lot better than the train staff at telling me how
    late the train was going to be, which matters more than it
    used to in the good old days when BR would hold connections
    for late trains and you could plan cross-country train-
    hopping journeys with confidence.

    The GPS also freaked out a provincial stationmaster. I had
    fallen asleep, woken up at my station, and dashed off
    leaving the GPS on the train, on the window ledge. The
    stationmaster phoned the train, and the next station, and
    within an hour handed it back to me. He didn't know what a
    GPS was, other than it was something like a mobile phone.
    I looked at it and said "My goodness, you guys actually
    drove this back from the station by car! That's very
    impressive service!"

    He looked at me with amazement, and some fear. I think he
    suspected I must be some kind of secret agent to be carrying
    such magical technology.

    I'm going to London to have an argument with someone Gillian
    Anderson of the X-files has described as "Britain's leading
    prophet of the robot age". A tough assignment.

    iee.orgcyborgs.cfm

    If you're within walking distance, it's free.

    --
    Chris Malcolm [email hidden] +44 (0)131 651 3445 DoD #205
    IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
    ["]http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

    Report
  2. Dean
    Archived post
    #2
    Chris Malcolm said:

    I'm off to do a few days walking round London. An ex-London
    resident, I'm in the habit of using the Tube as a
    navigational device, because I know lots of patches of
    streets round Tube stations, but not how it all knits
    together above ground. When going somewhere new I'd use the
    A-Z to find the nearest Tube station, and oof I went.

    I knew that in some cases I probably could have walked, but
    I usually couldn't be bothered to make the navigational
    effort of turning the pages of the A-Z, estimating the
    distance, comparing it with likely Tube times and to-and-
    from station distances, and finally doing a walk while
    keeping an eye on passing street names and the A-Z. Easier
    just to hop in the tube.

    H'ever, this time I have a GPS, which will simplify both
    the comparison process and the overground navigation, so
    I'll do a lot more walking. Not a mapping GPS, so it'll
    operate in situ as an A-Z accessory, and I'll pick up most
    of the waypoints I want from Streetmap before I go.

    GPS doesn't work too well in areas with narrow streets
    and/or high rise buildings due to the narrow field of view
    of the sky.

    Report
  3. Chris Morriss
    Archived post
    #3

    In message <[email hidden]>, Chris Malcolm
    <[email hidden]> writes

    Quoted message said:

    I'm off to do a few days walking round London. An ex-London
    resident, I'm in the habit of using the Tube as a
    navigational device, because I know lots of patches of
    streets round Tube stations, but not how it all knits
    together above ground. When going somewhere new I'd use the
    A-Z to find the nearest Tube station, and oof I went.

    I knew that in some cases I probably could have walked, but
    I usually couldn't be bothered to make the navigational
    effort of turning the pages of the A-Z, estimating the
    distance, comparing it with likely Tube times and to-and-
    from station distances, and finally doing a walk while
    keeping an eye on passing street names and the A-Z. Easier
    just to hop in the tube.

    H'ever, this time I have a GPS, which will simplify both
    the comparison process and the overground navigation, so
    I'll do a lot more walking. Not a mapping GPS, so it'll
    operate in situ as an A-Z accessory, and I'll pick up most
    of the waypoints I want from Streetmap before I go.

    Last time I travelled a long distance by train I found the
    GPS was a lot better than the train staff at telling me how
    late the train was going to be, which matters more than it
    used to in the good old days when BR would hold connections
    for late trains and you could plan cross-country train-
    hopping journeys with confidence.

    The GPS also freaked out a provincial stationmaster. I had
    fallen asleep, woken up at my station, and dashed off
    leaving the GPS on the train, on the window ledge. The
    stationmaster phoned the train, and the next station, and
    within an hour handed it back to me. He didn't know what a
    GPS was, other than it was something like a mobile phone. I
    looked at it and said "My goodness, you guys actually drove
    this back from the station by car! That's very impressive
    service!"

    He looked at me with amazement, and some fear. I think he
    suspected I must be some kind of secret agent to be
    carrying such magical technology.

    I'm going to London to have an argument with someone
    Gillian Anderson of the X-files has described as "Britain's
    leading prophet of the robot age". A tough assignment.

    iee.orgcyborgs.cfm

    If you're within walking distance, it's free.

    --
    Chris Malcolm [email hidden] +44 (0)131 651 3445
    DoD #205 IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings,
    Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK ["]http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

    It's a bit of a new-age write up you get on that web page.
    Makes you sound somewhat of a Rupert Sheldrake!

    --
    Chris Morriss

    Report
  4. Chris Malcolm
    Archived post
    #4
    Dean said:

    On Fri, 16 Apr 2004 09:06:07 +0000 (UTC), Chris
    Malcolm wrote:

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    I'm off to do a few days walking round London.

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    H'ever, this time I have a GPS, which will simplify both
    the comparison process and the overground navigation, so
    I'll do a lot more walking. Not a mapping GPS, so it'll
    operate in situ as an A-Z accessory, and I'll pick up most
    of the waypoints I want from Streetmap before I go.

    Quoted message said:

    GPS doesn't work too well in areas with narrow streets
    and/or high rise buildings due to the narrow field of view
    of the sky.

    I hesitate to suggest that mine, an eTrex Summit, has
    wonderfully superior performance in cities, and in London in
    particular, since lots of folk moan about the rotten
    reception of their eTrexes, and a whole mythology has grown
    up about the alleged inferiority of their patch aerials. But
    having used mine before in London, as well as in many other
    cities, I know it works fine, no problems. As it happens, it
    also works fine under tree cover.

    That may be because I've bothered to learn how to use it :-)
    There are ways of improving reception in difficult areas,
    ways of improving tracking continuity and accuracy, ways of
    making sure it will lock in as quickly as possible if you're
    going to walk around with it mostly switched off, switching
    on when you want a location fix, and so on.

    --
    Chris Malcolm [email hidden] +44 (0)131 651 3445 DoD #205
    IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
    ["]http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

    Report
  5. Chris Malcolm
    Archived post
    #5
    Chris Morriss said:

    In message <[email hidden]>, Chris Malcolm
    <[email hidden]> writes

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    I'm going to London to have an argument with someone
    Gillian Anderson of the X-files has described as
    "Britain's leading prophet of the robot age". A tough
    assignment.

    iee.orgcyborgs.cfm

    If you're within walking distance, it's free.

    Quoted message said:

    It's a bit of a new-age write up you get on that web page.
    Makes you sound somewhat of a Rupert Sheldrake!

    ?

    You must be spotting some new-age buzz words I'm not
    familiar with. I wrote most of the words at one time or
    another, although they were stitched together and boiled
    down into that summary by a secretary.

    --
    Chris Malcolm [email hidden] +44 (0)131 651 3445 DoD #205
    IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
    ["]http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

    Report
  6. Dean
    Archived post
    #6
    Chris Malcolm said:
    Dean said:

    On Fri, 16 Apr 2004 09:06:07 +0000 (UTC), Chris
    Malcolm wrote:

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    I'm off to do a few days walking round London.

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    H'ever, this time I have a GPS, which will simplify both
    the comparison process and the overground navigation, so
    I'll do a lot more walking. Not a mapping GPS, so it'll
    operate in situ as an A-Z accessory, and I'll pick up
    most of the waypoints I want from Streetmap before I go.

    Quoted message said:

    GPS doesn't work too well in areas with narrow streets
    and/or high rise buildings due to the narrow field of view
    of the sky.

    I hesitate to suggest that mine, an eTrex Summit, has
    wonderfully superior performance in cities, and in London
    in particular, since lots of folk moan about the rotten
    reception of their eTrexes, and a whole mythology has grown
    up about the alleged inferiority of their patch aerials.
    But having used mine before in London, as well as in many
    other cities, I know it works fine, no problems. As it
    happens, it also works fine under tree cover.

    That may be because I've bothered to learn how to use it
    :-) There are ways of improving reception in difficult
    areas, ways of improving tracking continuity and accuracy,
    ways of making sure it will lock in as quickly as possible
    if you're going to walk around with it mostly switched off,
    switching on when you want a location fix, and so on.

    I was under the impression you needed a simultaneous line of
    sight to at least 4 satellites. How do you improve time to
    lock on in a situation where the view of the sky is so
    limited? IME, in the time it takes to get a lock-on from a
    cold start, it's quicker to look for the nearest street sign
    or landmark and orient yourself to the street map.

    Report
  7. Phil Cook
    Archived post
    #7
    Chris Malcolm said:

    I'm going to London to have an argument with someone
    Gillian Anderson of the X-files has described as "Britain's
    leading prophet of the robot age". A tough assignment.

    iee.orgcyborgs.cfm

    If you're within walking distance, it's free.

    I am within walking distance but I can't make that due to
    another commitment, a showing of the silent classic King of
    Kings with live organ accompaniment.

    How about a London urw meet Mr Reid?
    --
    Phil Cook looking north over the park to the
    "Westminster Gasworks"

    Report
  8. Chris Morriss
    Archived post
    #8

    In message <[email hidden]>, Chris Malcolm
    <[email hidden]> writes

    Quoted message said:

    You must be spotting some new-age buzz words I'm not
    familiar with. I wrote most of the words at one time or
    another, although they were stitched together and boiled
    down into that summary by a secretary.

    Calling the brain "the psychopoetic organ" comes to mind!
    --
    Chris Morriss

    Report
  9. Chris Eilbeck
    Archived post
    #9
    (Chris Malcolm) said:

    I'm going to London to have an argument with someone
    Gillian Anderson of the X-files has described as
    "Britain's leading prophet of the robot age". A tough
    assignment.

    iee.orgcyborgs.cfm

    I think this may be the first time I've seen someone mention
    Kevin Warwick without laughing.

    Chris
    --
    Chris Eilbeck "][email hidden]

    Report
  10. Chris Malcolm
    Archived post
    #10
    Chris Eilbeck said:

    [email hidden] (Chris Malcolm) writes:

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    I'm going to London to have an argument with someone
    Gillian Anderson of the X-files has described as
    "Britain's leading prophet of the robot age". A tough
    assignment.

    iee.orgcyborgs.cfm

    Quoted message said:

    I think this may be the first time I've seen someone
    mention Kevin Warwick without laughing.

    --
    Chris Malcolm [email hidden] +44 (0)131 651 3445 DoD #205
    IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
    ["]http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

    Report
  11. David Skinner
    Archived post
    #11

    In article <[email hidden]>,
    [email hidden] says...

    Quoted message said:

    I think this may be the first time I've seen someone
    mention Kevin Warwick without laughing.

    Good old Captain Cyborg, eh?

    Report
  12. Chris Malcolm
    Archived post
    #12
    Dean said:

    On Fri, 16 Apr 2004 10:35:11 +0000 (UTC), Chris
    Malcolm wrote:

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    Dean <[email hidden]> writes:

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    On Fri, 16 Apr 2004 09:06:07 +0000 (UTC), Chris
    Malcolm wrote:

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    >I'm off to do a few days walking round London.

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    >H'ever, this time I have a GPS, which will simplify both
    >the comparison process and the overground navigation, so
    >I'll do a lot more walking. Not a mapping GPS, so it'll
    >operate in situ as an A-Z accessory, and I'll pick up
    >most of the waypoints I want from Streetmap before I go.

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    GPS doesn't work too well in areas with narrow streets
    and/or high rise buildings due to the narrow field of
    view of the sky.

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    I hesitate to suggest that mine, an eTrex Summit, has
    wonderfully superior performance in cities, and in London
    in particular, since lots of folk moan about the rotten
    reception of their eTrexes, and a whole mythology has
    grown up about the alleged inferiority of their patch
    aerials. But having used mine before in London, as well as
    in many other cities, I know it works fine, no problems.
    As it happens, it also works fine under tree cover.

    That may be because I've bothered to learn how to use it
    :-) There are ways of improving reception in difficult
    areas, ways of improving tracking continuity and accuracy,
    ways of making sure it will lock in as quickly as possible
    if you're going to walk around with it mostly switched
    off, switching on when you want a location fix, and so on.

    Quoted message said:

    I was under the impression you needed a simultaneous line
    of sight to at least 4 satellites.

    3 will do for a 2D fix, which if you've fixed at close to
    the same altitude is fine.

    Quoted message said:

    How do you improve time to lock on in a situation where the
    view of the sky is so limited?

    The time is improved if you've recently locked on to all (or
    enough) of the viewable satellites, e.g., you took a recent
    opportunity to lock everything viewable from a place with a
    good sky view.

    Then of course there is place selection. You get a much
    better view from a cross roads than the middle of a street.

    Quoted message said:

    IME, in the time it takes to get a lock-on from a cold
    start, it's quicker to look for the nearest street sign or
    landmark and orient yourself to the street map.

    Exactly. So you avoid cold starts.

    --
    Chris Malcolm [email hidden] +44 (0)131 651 3445 DoD #205
    IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
    ["]http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

    Report
  13. Paul Saunders
    Archived post
    #13
    Phil Cook said:

    How about a London urw meet Mr Reid?

    Wild camp in Richmond Park?

    Paul
    --
    wilderness-wales.co.ukwilderness-wales.co.uk
    wildwales.fsnet.co.ukwildwales.fsnet.co.uk
    photosig.comuserphotos

    Report
  14. The Reids
    Archived post
    #14

    Following up to Dean

    Quoted message said:

    GPS doesn't work too well in areas with narrow streets
    and/or high rise buildings due to the narrow field of view
    of the sky.

    I have GPS in the car and after blaming several things I
    come to the conclusion that Central London is one of its
    problems in getting a fix. The Tube map (diagram) is
    notoriously bad in giving you a sense of direction. I
    suggest locate your start and end points on an OS map and
    use a compass bearing or just dead reckoning, after a while
    you will know London well enough to not need it.
    --
    Mike Reid "Art is the lie that reveals the truth" P.Picasso
    Wasdale-Lake district-Thames path-London
    "fellwalk.co.ukfellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site
    Eat-walk-Spain "fell-walker.co.ukfell-walker.co.uk" <-- dontuse@
    all, it's a spamtrap

    Report
  15. The Reids
    Archived post
    #15

    Following up to Paul Saunders

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    How about a London urw meet Mr Reid?

    Wild camp in Richmond Park?

    pubs are usually preferable, although don't make it at the
    moment (Carols bad back) i have still to organise the
    christmas "AGM" of the ex GLC athletics club!
    --
    Mike Reid "Art is the lie that reveals the truth" P.Picasso
    Wasdale-Lake district-Thames path-London
    "fellwalk.co.ukfellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site
    Eat-walk-Spain "fell-walker.co.ukfell-walker.co.uk" <-- dontuse@
    all, it's a spamtrap

    Report
  16. Chris Malcolm
    Archived post
    #16
    (Chris Malcolm) said:

    I'm off to do a few days walking round London.

    Quoted message said:

    H'ever, this time I have a GPS, which will simplify both
    the comparison process and the overground navigation, so
    I'll do a lot more walking. Not a mapping GPS, so it'll
    operate in situ as an A-Z accessory, and I'll pick up most
    of the waypoints I want from Streetmap before I go.

    I got seriously misled by Streetmap. I used it to look up
    the post codes of places I wanted to visit, and then by
    clicking on the place, to get the waypoint OS grid co-
    ordinates. All worked well except for one rather difficult
    to find place -- maze of twisty little streets. Streetmap
    gave me a seriously wrong OS grid reference, some half a
    mile out. It took me some half hour of map navigation to
    find the place once the GPS said I was "arriving at
    destination" and I was clearly nowhere near it, in fact had
    already passed within a few dozen yards of it.

    I checked it afterwards, and Streetmap returned exactly the
    same wrong grid reference. I then checked the OS getamap
    service, and this gave exactly the right grid reference. So
    there's at least one bug in Streetmaps grid referencing,
    which is worrying.

    I also discovered that the approximate referencing of post
    codes isn't good enough in places with lots of complicated
    fine detail, such as the Camden Lock area, although its fine
    in big streets with big buildings.

    The most interesting thing, however (to GPS aficionados) was
    the Zero Longitude Bug. I visited Greenwich Observatory, and
    observed as many have before me that the Greenwich Prime
    Meridian is not quite on the modern zero longitude line. I
    then set off, with the trusty Summit tracking away and
    "go"ing to a waypoint stashed away in my pocket. (Yes,
    walking round London streets it mostly kept track of
    location fine while stuffed in a breast pocket.) As it
    happened I was walking towards the zero longitude line (as
    the Summit located
    it). And having happened to have passed over it I pulled the
    Summit from my pocket to check my bearings. All buttons
    locked solid, including the switch off button.

    After fiddling about with removing batteries, etc., I
    eventually recovered use of the Summit. Without any
    waypoints, track log, etc.. Complete reset to as new
    conditions. Si I've lost all evidence of the Zero Longitude
    Bug. But I think it too much of a co-incidence that the
    first time my Sumit has given a problem in hundred of hours
    of use, was somewhere within a few dozen yards and a minute
    (of time) of zero longitude.

    That brough to my attention that I had become so habituated
    to my GPS that I had dropped some of my previous
    navigational skills. For example, on leaving a place I
    wanted to return to I used to look around for prominent
    landmarks, church spires, etc, and take an approximate
    mental fix of where it was in relation to them. And as I
    wandered off I'd make a point of memorising useful
    navigational details, so that I could backtrack by memory.

    But these days I just drop a waypoint into the GPS and
    wander off carefree and clueless.

    So when it suffered total amnesia I was not only
    unexpectedly but unusually lost. A very useful lesson. I
    must remember not to use my GPS more! If I'd been paying
    attention to tall landmarks I wouldn't have been lost.

    Just as well I had a map with me :-)

    London also brough home a useful feature of the Summit I'd
    never noticed before. When doing local place finding,
    holding the GPS in hand, I felt nervous looking like a
    tourist and carrying an expensive GPS in my hand. But the
    Summit looks to a casual glance just like a rather old,
    clunky, and unfashionable mobile phone. A nice camouflage.

    This was also the first time I used the electronic built-in
    compass much, and found it very useful. I kept stopping at
    street junctions and pulling out the Summit to find out
    which way to go. (It would typically be navigating to a
    waypoint, and I'd be making up the route as I went along.)
    But I was stationary, and couldn't easily stride off several
    yards, so it had no sense of direction. A single button
    click activated the compass and pointed me down the right
    road. And I had no worries about the compass eating my
    batteries, because I have the compass set to switch off as
    soon as my speed exceeds zero mph. It also only comes on by
    itself when I've been stationary for three minutes, which
    stops it switching on when I'm window shopping. That's why I
    needed tbe button click to activate it.
    --
    Chris Malcolm [email hidden] +44 (0)131 651 3445 DoD #205
    IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
    ["]http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

    Report
  17. Gordon
    Archived post
    #17

    Chris Malcolm <[email hidden]> wrote

    Quoted message said:


    The most interesting thing, however (to GPS aficionados)
    was the Zero Longitude Bug. I visited Greenwich
    Observatory, and observed as many have before me that the
    Greenwich Prime Meridian is not quite on the modern zero
    longitude line. I then set off, with the trusty Summit
    tracking away and "go"ing to a waypoint stashed away in my
    pocket. (Yes, walking round London streets it mostly kept
    track of location fine while stuffed in a breast pocket.)

    After a recent short walk I threw my waterproof coat in the
    boot of my Mondeo, and must have left the Vista in the
    pocket without switching it off. It recorded the car journey
    home (with one or two wild deviations, which surprised me.
    The car is a hatch back with a shallow sloped rear window,
    so that may have assisted.

    Quoted message said:

    As it happened I was walking towards the zero longitude
    line (as the Summit located
    it). And having happened to have passed over it I pulled
    the Summit from my pocket to check my bearings. All
    buttons locked solid, including the switch off button.

    After fiddling about with removing batteries, etc., I
    eventually recovered use of the Summit. Without any
    waypoints, track log, etc.. Complete reset to as new
    conditions. Si I've lost all evidence of the Zero Longitude
    Bug. But I think it too much of a co-incidence that the
    first time my Sumit has given a problem in hundred of hours
    of use, was somewhere within a few dozen yards and a minute
    (of time) of zero longitude.


    I had several incidences of the Vista buttons becoming
    inoperative whilst using it to record walks around the
    estate where my daughter lives in California. I also had to
    remove the batteries to restore operation, but I don't
    recollect losing any tracks or waypoints. I pondered whether
    to return it to the shop, but the problem has not recurred
    since I came home.

    Maybe it was something to do with being close to the
    earthquake fault line? ;-)
    --
    Gordon

    Report
  18. Roger
    Archived post
    #18

    The message <[email hidden]>
    from [email hidden] (Chris Malcolm) contains these words:

    snip

    Quoted message said:

    The most interesting thing, however (to GPS aficionados)
    was the Zero Longitude Bug. I visited Greenwich
    Observatory, and observed as many have before me that the
    Greenwich Prime Meridian is not quite on the modern zero
    longitude line.

    The National Grid has a false origin (00) W of the Scilly
    Isles so is the real longitude datum now nailed to
    somewhere in the US of A? And drifting ever so slowly away
    to the West.

    Quoted message said:

    I then set off, with the trusty Summit tracking away and
    "go"ing to a waypoint stashed away in my pocket. (Yes,
    walking round London streets it mostly kept track of
    location fine while stuffed in a breast pocket.) As it
    happened I was walking towards the zero longitude line (as
    the Summit located
    it). And having happened to have passed over it I pulled
    the Summit from my pocket to check my bearings. All
    buttons locked solid, including the switch off button.

    Quoted message said:

    After fiddling about with removing batteries, etc., I
    eventually recovered use of the Summit. Without any
    waypoints, track log, etc.. Complete reset to as new
    conditions. Si I've lost all evidence of the Zero
    Longitude Bug. But I think it too much of a co-incidence
    that the first time my Sumit has given a problem in
    hundred of hours of use, was somewhere within a few dozen
    yards and a minute (of time) of zero longitude.

    It has happened to me twice in recent months. On both
    occasions saving the track with the memory full. Only way
    out was to remove a battery to switch off. However on
    replacement the Summit powered up normally without loss of
    track. ISTR that on both occasions I was saving back to an
    intermediate time rather than the whole log.

    Incidentally zero longitude is not just a London thing. It
    runs (mostly) overland in England from just West of Beachy
    Head to Flamborough Head. I don't cross it very often but
    when I do I usually have the GPS going (speed readout) and
    have yet to have a problem crossing it.

    snip

    --
    Roger Chapman so far this year 27 summits New - 16 (Marilyns
    4, Sweats 1, Outlying Fells 11) Repeats - 11( Marilyns 2,
    Sweats 6, Wainwrights 11) Knackered knee - 3 times

    Report
  19. Chris Malcolm
    Archived post
    #19
    The Reids said:

    Following up to Dean

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    GPS doesn't work too well in areas with narrow streets
    and/or high rise buildings due to the narrow field of view
    of the sky.

    Quoted message said:

    I have GPS in the car and after blaming several things I
    come to the conclusion that Central London is one of its
    problems in getting a fix.

    Do cars still work in Central London? The last few times
    I've been there if you wanted to be on time you had to
    get out of the taxi and walk. And GPS's in cities work
    much better out of the car than in (unless you fit an
    external aerial).
    --
    Chris Malcolm [email hidden] +44 (0)131 651 3445 DoD #205
    IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
    ["]http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

    Report
  20. Dean
    Archived post
    #20
    The Reids said:

    Following up to Dean

    Quoted message said:

    GPS doesn't work too well in areas with narrow streets
    and/or high rise buildings due to the narrow field of view
    of the sky.

    I have GPS in the car and after blaming several things I
    come to the conclusion that Central London is one of its
    problems in getting a fix. The Tube map (diagram) is
    notoriously bad in giving you a sense of direction. I
    suggest locate your start and end points on an OS map and
    use a compass bearing or just dead reckoning, after a while
    you will know London well enough to not need it.

    The tube map is a cartogram. The fact it isn't panimetricly
    to scale is why it's such a good 'map' :-)

    Report

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