Archives for 2015

Garmin Adds Features to GPSMAP and echoMap Lines

January 17, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

This week, Garmin International has released a pretty massive update to several different chartplotter units in their marine sector including the full echoMAP line and several of the GPSMAP lines. The update is free and available for download now and includes some pretty nice features including Auto Guidance 2.0, the ability to import waypoints, advanced sailing and safety features, routes and tracks via GPX and more.

GPSMAP units that will qualify for the update include:

GPSMAP 8000
GPSMAP 7400
GPSMAP 7600
GPSMAP 8×0/10×0
GPSMAP 5×7/7×1

Filed Under: Featured, Marine

This Week in GPS — January 16, 2015

January 16, 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 a Garmin GPSMAP model that got a new update this week! Check back tomorrow for more details and links to the download.

Here are some other things that happened in the world of GPS this week: read more

Filed Under: More GPS News, This week in GPS

SPOT Satellite Devices Rescue 600 in 2014

January 15, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

You might recall that midway through last year the owner company of SPOT LLC, Globalstar, celebrated their 3,000th rescue since the company was founded in 2007. Globally, SPOT averages about one rescue per day, and they are probably one of the most well-known and trusted brands for satellite communication and tracking across the globe. If you are an active outdoors enthusiast or you frequently travel alone and you don’t have one, you probably should.

More recently, SPOT announced that they assisted in the rescue of around 600 people in 2014–500 of which were in North America. Currently, they are at around 3,400 rescues overall, and the company couldn’t be more proud. read more

Filed Under: Location based services

FAA Grants Two More Drone Exemptions

January 14, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

This drone, the eBee, is used to help with precision farming.

This drone, the eBee Sensefly, is used to help with precision farming

While the FAA doesn’t seem to be any closer to formalizing and announcing rules, regulations and conditions for the use of commercial Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) or drones, GPS World reported last week that they have issued yet more exemptions to the ban on the use of drones. At this rate, we won’t need regulations anymore—everyone who wants it can just get an exemption! You might recall in December how they granted five exemptions to various companies. read more

Filed Under: GPS News

Connected Pedal Tracks Your Bike

January 13, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

If you’re a cyclist, there are a plethora of different ways you can track your bike and your ride, from using your cell phone, a dedicated GPS unit designed for cycling, a sport GPS watch, a smartwatch and now, your bike pedals themselves.

At the 2015 International Consumer Electronics Show, a French start-up company called Connected Cycle debuted the first ever connected bike pedal for consumers. This snazzy and totally-not-obvious pedal (which they claim can only be removed using a special coded key to prevent theft) is designed to record speed, route, incline and calories burnt for every single bike ride. These statistics are stored in the cloud and can be accessed (and shared) through a smartphone app. read more

Filed Under: GPS News

GNSS is the Future of GPS

January 12, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

Those of you who frequent this blog probably know that I like to keep track of what is going on with the other satellite navigation systems in the world, such as Russia’s GLONASS, China’s BeiDou and Europe’s Galileo constellation. Recently, GPS World published a really great article on its blog that explained perfectly why you should care about the other systems. Their points are all things that I already knew, but I didn’t really have the words for myself. If you get the chance, you definitely ought to give at least the first half of the article a quick read. (The latter half is all about Galileo and their issues and successes.)

Filed Under: Satellites

Why You Need Traffic On Your GPS

January 11, 2015 By Liz E. 3 Comments

Being stuck in traffic is the worst. It’s the only time you’ll see me get excited to inch forward a couple of feet before slamming on my breaks again. The cacophony of horns and shouts is enough to make anyone grumpy and overall, it’s just a colossal waste of time and gas. I would be happy to wager it’s probably everyone’s least favorite part about driving. I know I hate it, and I don’t have to be psychic to guess you do too.

So what if I told you that last year alone you and everyone else combined sat in enough traffic that you could have traveled to the moon and back two and a half times. For those of you a little rusty on your astronomy, that’s roughly 1.4 million miles of traffic. That’s entirely too much traffic.

See where I’m going with this? read more

Filed Under: Featured, GPS News

Epson Steps from Printers to GPS

January 10, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

Epson America, long known for their inkjet printers has firmly stepped away from printing and into the world of GPS with the launch of several new trackers runners. And, as if intent to banish the thought of printers from the mind, Epson has created an entirely new brand dubbed “Epson Active” which is host to several new and existing Epson fitness and wearable devices including the Pulsense fitness tracker, which was released last year.

Most recently, at the 2015 International Consumer Electronics Show last week, Epson America debuted their newest Runsense GPS Sports monitors which are designed for runners, walkers and fitness enthusiasts. The device has been optimized primarily for runners and is designed to help serious enthusiasts measure their strides and pace. However, it also can measure a range of different measurements including continuous heart rate, time elapsed, distance, pace, laps, intervals, speed, calories burned and many more directly from the wrist without requiring an uncomfortable chest strap. read more

Filed Under: Handheld/Sport

This Week in GPS — January 9, 2015

January 9, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

The Garmin 2015 Nuvi Essential Series is the first budget-friendly line that supports a backup camera

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 one of Garmin’s 2015 Nuvi Essentials series, which was debuted at CES this week. Here are some other things happening in the GPS world this week: read more

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

Garmin Debuts Vívoactive GPS Watches

January 8, 2015 By Liz E. 1 Comment

As part of their activewear fitness wearables section, Garmin introduced the new vívoactive GPS smartwatch at CES. This sleek, slightly girly device is designed with built-in activity tracking apps and the ability to customize with additional apps, watch faces, widgets and more via Connect IQ, Garmin’s first-ever open app market.

“Designed to be worn all day, vívoactive can be personalized in many ways—from interchangeable bands to watch faces, apps and widgets—making it versatile, stylish and functional for your life,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin vice-president of worldwide sales in a press release. read more

Filed Under: GPS Tracking