gps systems

KEITHHASLER said:

Im thinking of getting GPS system
....

Slightly OT, but ....

.... in this entire thread nobody mentions geocaching (www.geochaching.com)

I know there are hardened walkers out there who pooh pooh such frivolous
activity, but I find it is a great way to help to choose the odd
interesting route, and the children love it as a way of adding interest to
a day out. There are hundreds of caches all over the country - some in
hard terrain. (Logging one in North Wales next week that will need
climbing gear!)

And as somebody said: "I've finally found something to do with my GPS
that my wife doesn't laugh at" :-)

Back to Keith's question, I would echo many of the sentiments in this
thread. I mainly use my GPS as a track log so I can plot them on a map
later (or even better these days - on Google Earth, which I also use for
planning routes before I set out). And it is good to know it is in my bag
(usually in the top pocket of my rucksack where it gets good reception)
when the fog comes down.

For geocaching almost any GPS set will do - though the ability to upload
the coordinates makes things a bit easier.

For planning long routes I'd say that a program like GPSU is almost
essential, and it provides a link into Google Earth for showing your
friends where you went!

Jell

Gordon said:

To sum up all these pointless arguments, GPS v Compass, if you want to
enjoy a navigation exercise take a compass, if you want to enjoy the
walk, take a GPS.

I use the map more than the GPS, but the compass stays in the sack in
case I lose the GPS and the map.
--
Gordon Harris

Quality post.....If there was a post of the day/week/month that wins by
a country mile.

Thanks for your concise summary.......

David.

On Mon, 26 Sep 2005 13:50:14 +0100
in <news:[email hidden]>
Gordon <[email hidden]> wrote :

Quoted message said:

Peter Clinch <[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

I don't see why you're hung up on the RH corner though. From your
current known location (the first stile) you take a bearing on the
destination stile from the map. If you take that bearing you'll
probably miss by a margin of error, but you don't know which way, so
you adjust your bearing a few degrees off to the left. When you arrive
at the hedge you know you'll be slightly off to the left, so you move
right a few meters until you find it.

LOL! This demonstrates just how inaccurate magnetic compass
navigation is - in practice, and I used the exact system when crossing
the Kinder plateau for the first time.

To sum up all these pointless arguments, GPS v Compass, if you want to
enjoy a navigation exercise take a compass, if you want to enjoy the
walk, take a GPS.

Illogical. If you want a navigation challenge take neither GPS, compass
nor map ;-

--
From a Cocktail lounge, Norway:
LADIES ARE REQUESTED NOT TO HAVE CHILDREN IN THE BAR

Bitstring <[email hidden]>, from the wonderful person
Peter Clinch <[email hidden]> said

Quoted message said:

GSV Three Minds in a Can said:

'A few degrees' multiplied by 500m is an awful lot of hedge away
from where you want to be (as I said), assuming you can even calculate
the required heading 'to a few degrees' in the first place (and then
walk it accurately). I can calculate to about 5 degrees, on a good
day, but whether I can walk that accurately depends on the terrain.

It's not that much hedge, according to my calculator.

I make it somewhere between 40 and 50m, which I count as 'a lot of
hedge' (or gully or whatever) when I'm searching it for a a stile or
bridge which is 1m wide.

Actually I tried it today, and the hedges were not so bad, because most
places you can walk along them looking for the stile, with a faint
chance of finding it, although one I only found through the head high
brambles because my GPS said it was there last time I walked the path.

The gullies are the killers, because if you descend in the wrong place
for the bridge (by more than a few M) you often can't get along the
bottom, you have to head back up to the field margin and try again, and
the bridges (if present, and unless new) are invisible from more than
5-10m away. Many of the streams are fordable, but if you're trying to
map the position of the FB and report its condition, you do have to
actually find it, getting across some other way doesn't hack it.

--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Contact recommends the use of Firefox; SC recommends it at gunpoint.

Bootlaces <[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

On Mon, 26 Sep 2005 13:50:14 +0100
in <news:[email hidden]>
Gordon <[email hidden]> wrote :

Quoted message said:

Peter Clinch <[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

I don't see why you're hung up on the RH corner though. From your
current known location (the first stile) you take a bearing on the
destination stile from the map. If you take that bearing you'll
probably miss by a margin of error, but you don't know which way, so
you adjust your bearing a few degrees off to the left. When you arrive
at the hedge you know you'll be slightly off to the left, so you move
right a few meters until you find it.

LOL! This demonstrates just how inaccurate magnetic compass
navigation is - in practice, and I used the exact system when crossing
the Kinder plateau for the first time.

To sum up all these pointless arguments, GPS v Compass, if you want to
enjoy a navigation exercise take a compass, if you want to enjoy the
walk, take a GPS.

Illogical. If you want a navigation challenge take neither GPS, compass
nor map ;-

"Bootlaces", get "knotted".
;-)
--
Gordon Harris

On Wed, 28 Sep 2005 13:27:07 +0100
in <news:[email hidden]>
Gordon <[email hidden]> wrote :
<snip>

Quoted message said:

"Bootlaces", get "knotted".
;-)

Kno ;-)

--
There is no reason why we can't use spell checkers and take a little
pride in our work. I am something of a pedant where it comes to what
I can only describe as feral apostrophes.
[Amanda Jeanne le Bas de Plumetot, 1996/02/05, alt.tv.x-files.creative]