Archives for September 2015

8 Things Only Geocachers Will Understand

September 12, 2015 By Liz E. 1 Comment

Geocachers are a pretty fun and crazy bunch. I’ve not been geocaching for very long, but the more people I meet and the more caches I find, the more I love the hobby. It’s not only rewarding, but the community behind it is pretty much awesome. I also get to pretend to be a pirate, so there’s that. There’s a lot that goes into searching for a cache, but all of the joy, sorrow, bruises and scrapes is worth it when you finally find the cache.

It really is amazing to see what cachers will do to write their name on a piece of paper, isn’t it? So, for all of you geocachers out there who have struggled with a DNF for the thousandth time or climbed up a tree for a piece of tupperware, I have a short list a list of things just for you: read more

Filed Under: Geocaching

This Week in GPS — September 11, 2015

September 11, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

This week in GPS is a weekly link roundup of (mostly) GPS related odds and ends, from GPS Tracklog and other places around the Web. This week’s featured image is the new TomTom Spark, which will be the first GPS watch with the ability to store music. TomTom announced the watch this last week. read more

Filed Under: Featured, More GPS News, This week in GPS

Yepzon GPS Locator Launches in US

September 10, 2015 By Liz E. 2 Comments

The GPS tracking technology market is on the verge of being saturated with more products than you can shake a stick at. However, that doesn’t seem to prevent the launches of additional products with slightly upgraded features. This week Finnish technology company Yepzon announced that its GPS locator is now available in the United States. read more

Filed Under: Featured, GPS News

IP Ratings Explained

September 9, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

It doesn’t take a genius to know that technology, water and dust are not good bedfellows. But a lot of times, handheld GPS devices are designed to be ‘rugged’ so that you can take it with you on a hike or trail and not worry about it. Many cycling GPS units are also waterproof or water resistant so that a surprise rainfall doesn’t turn your navigational device into an expensive paperweight.

Chances are, some of your handhelds are rated for rugged conditions which involve dust and rain. This rating is known as an IP or IPX rating and you’ve probably seen it listed in the specs on some devices, but unless you look into it, it probably didn’t mean much. As it turns out, IP ratings are basically a universal classification system that allows users and manufacturers know exactly how much water or dust the unit can take without worry. read more

Filed Under: FAQs, Featured

TomTom Spark Adds Music to your Workout

September 8, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

There is some hefty competition going on in the watch world between smart watches and GPS running watches. Both can do similar things with varying degrees of efficiency, but for many having two watches simply wasn’t worth the money. However, in the wake of GPS tracking and heart rate monitoring being added to various smart watches, TomTom has responded by adding music and activity tracking to its own watch.

This week the Dutch company introduced several models of the TomTom Spark GPS Fitness Watch, some of which will include the ability to store, stream and play music directly from the watch without the need to tether to a smartphone. The watch comes with Bluetooth and can be paired with most Bluetooth headphones for wireless music while on runs or other exercising routines. read more

Filed Under: GPS News, Handheld/Sport, TomTom

Strava Doodler Creates Images With GPS

September 7, 2015 By Liz E. 3 Comments

There are a lot of things that you can do with GPS, but as you have probably guessed, I find the more unusual and creative uses of GPS extremely fun and interesting. Not only does it test the limits of this pervasive technology but also forces people to look at things a little differently.

So, while it’s not really all that important news-wise since today is Labor Day I decided to take some time and share some of the coolest doodles from the self-proclaimed GPS Doodler, Stephen Lund. read more

Filed Under: Featured, GPS News

GPS Shows Denali 10 Feet Shorter Than We Thought

September 6, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

Blaine Horner of CompassData probing the snow pack at the highest point in North America along with setting up Global Position System equipment for precise summit elevation data. (Photo: Blaine Horner, CompassData)

It’s easy to forget that GPS technology is still fairly new, all things considered. Before this technology became as accurate and simple as it is now, surveyors had various other methods for measuring things like distances and heights. While it’s tempting to tout our newfangled tech and say that it’s the best, it turns out that the 1950s era technology that originally measured the highest mountain peak in North America was actually only off by 10 feet.

Mount Denali (formerly known as Mount. McKinley) was measured by surveyors late last month and the results are officially in. The official height is measured at 20,310 feet which is still pretty big and definitively the highest point in all of North America. read more

Filed Under: Featured

FAA Grants Approval for Fleet of 300 Commercial Drones

September 5, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

GPS drone (UAS) with GoPro camera; Creative Commons image courtesy Don McCullough

The use of drones both commercially and privately has been a pretty hot topic in the last year or so, with plenty of corporations and government entities standing on either side of the line. While the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has been granting permission for a few companies to use drones in a commercial manner, this week marks the first time that the FAA has granted a mass exemption which allows a fleet of drones to operate commercially. read more

Filed Under: Featured

This Week in GPS – September 4, 2015

September 4, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

This week in GPS is a weekly link roundup of (mostly) GPS related odds and ends, from GPS Tracklog and other places around the Web. This week’s featured image is the new 2015 Garmin Montana devices, which feature GLONASS support and a handful of upgrades. Read all about it below! read more

Filed Under: Featured, More GPS News, This week in GPS

Garmin Adds Driver Alerts to New Dash Cams

September 3, 2015 By Liz E. 3 Comments

This week, Garmin has released information on its next generation of dash cams, which will provide not only an impartial eyewitness but also some new safety features. Garmin’s dash cams aren’t a huge segment of the GPS company’s business, but it has been working in the market some this year with the release of several new updates earlier this year. While these new units, the Dash Cam 30 and 35 will not include GPS routing, they will come with new features including driver alerts.

The new driver alerts will only be available on the Dash Cam 35 and include: read more

Filed Under: Auto, Garmin