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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 shows the erroneous orbits of the two wayward Galileo satellites. This week, the board finally announced the cause behind the malfunction. Read on for this and more GPS news! read more
This illustration, released by the ESA, shows the erroneous satellite orbit in red, and the intended orbit in dashed green. The other two lines represent current Galileo satellite orbits
Nearly two months after the two Galileo satellites were deployed into an erroneous orbit nearly 2,000 miles off course, an independent inquiry board investigating the cause has finally determined the reasons for the mistake and outlined solutions to prevent further mishaps.
Last week, it was reported that a frozen pipe was to blame for the mishap, but official comments from the inquiry board had not been released. GPS World reported yesterday that the board had determined that the anomaly was not caused by an operator error or by satellite behavior, but by a design flaw in the rocket. read more
In honor of the Alabama Park System’s 75th Anniversary, a new app has been released that will give users comprehensive guides to all state parks in Alabama in one app. The Alabama State Parks Pocket Ranger app joins a suite of apps mapping out state parks, fishing guides, hunting guides and more for nearly 30 states. These apps provide not only a wonderful tool for exploring your state parks, but they are all free on iTunes and Google Play. Just search “Pocket Ranger” with your state name. read more
Waze, the popular social mapping program, got an update last week that introduced a set of features called “Places.” This feature allows users to add POIs to their Waze app to mark fun and interesting places that they find while traveling. In addition to information about POIs, users can add photos to help others know they are in the right place. Sounds an awful lot like the popular waymarking pastime, except instead of a scavenger hunt to try and find places, you can actually get directions there. read more
This illustration, released by the ESA, shows the erroneous satellite orbit in red, and the intended orbit in dashed green. The other two lines represent current Galileo satellite orbits
Preliminary reports from the Galileo inquiry seem to be trickling through, and a possible cause for the mislaunch of the two Galileo satellites has been determined. According to Phys.org and the French daily Le Monde, investigators suspect that the source of the glitch is a frozen pipe which contained hydrazine fuel.
According to the phys.org article, the hydrazine pipes are located near another pipe that circulates ultra-cold liquid helium which may have led to their freeze. The hydrazine fuel is used by the Fregat upper stage to drive the satellites into their correct orbital slots. Experts have already confirmed that the upper stage was not completed properly during the launch, stranding the satellites in an unusable elliptical orbit. read more
Down every road and through every terrain there are stories waiting to be told of the people who once lived there. It isn’t hard to imagine as you are walking through the countryside of Wyoming that the 17th century landscape wasn’t all that different. But who has time to go through all of the research about a stretch of road?
Introducing the Travel Storys GPS app, a multi-platform app that is designed to do just that. read more
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 newly released Garmin Forerunner 920XT released this week. Read on for more details and other news around the net this week! read more
Garmin has formally announced and released the most recent watch in the popular Forerunner line. The Forerunner 920XT comes with all of the activity tracking and fitness monitoring capabilities you could possibly want for running, cycling and swimming workouts along with waypoint check-in and optional heart rate monitoring.
This latest Garmin device is packed full of features. Here are some of the highlights: read more
When you are hunting, there are a lot of things that you have to be aware of to ensure your hunt is legal and now, with Garmin‘s new Hunt View Maps, you’ll have one less thing to worry about. This series of preloaded microSD cards contain essential map data showing public vs private land so you don’t ever have to question where you are. The maps also contain satellite imagery, 24K TOPO mapping and routable roads. The maps are currently only available for Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Utah.
The maps are $80 each and are available for purchase on Garmin’s website now. Each map comes with information for the entire state and provides borders and boundaries for public and private land as well as rural roads for better navigation. The card also supports turn-by-turn navigation for rural roads to help hunters navigate in unfamiliar country. read more
Well, it’s finally here. The TomTom Golfer, a GPS sports watch designed to help golfers measure their game and navigate the hazards of the green has been officially announced and is available for preorder in the UK. You might remember we talked a little bit about it a couple of weeks ago. Now, the watch has been officially announced and will be available soon for around $250. The TomTom Golfer comes preloaded with 34,000 popular golf courses around the globe. You can check golf course coverage here.
Other information that the watch can show includes precise yardage on the green, distance and previews of hazards on each hole, distances to lay-up points and score and distance tracking for your round. The watch is weather and waterproof, so if it starts drizzling, you haven’t got anything to fear. read more
