GPS reviews, news, tips, tricks and deals
Photo by European Pressphoto Agency
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 Russian Soyuz rocket that launched the two Galileo satellites last Friday into what turned out to be the wrong orbit. Oops… read more
Most geocachers will be familiar with the concept of pocket queries. This feature on the Geocaching website allows premium members of the site to download a large number of caches based on certain criteria (location, type, difficulty, etc.). If you have been geocaching for some time and have premium membership it’s likely you will be well-versed in creating them. However, they are more flexible than you might initially imagine.
When you create a pocket query you will, most likely, do a search radiating out from a particular cache or location. That’s usually good enough to ensure that it captures all the caches you intend to do for the day. But what happens if you‘re intending to travel from A to B grabbing all the caches along the way? What if the distance between those two points means that creating a radius big enough for the pocket query to contain all those caches gives more results than a pocket query allows or your GPS will hold? 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 a cheerful kitty modeling Pawtrack, a GPS tracker designed specifically for cats. Check out our article below for more information: read more
Introducing the Danish-made Leikr GPS Sport Watch, a multi-sport GPS watch designed for running, cycling and endurance sports. The watch has features that you would expect in any normal GPS sport watch including measuring speed, distance, heart rate (with the appropriate heart monitor), calories burned and pace to name a few. What makes this watch stand out for me, however, is their integration with color maps from OpenStreetMaps and the large 2 inch screen which features several levels of zoom and shows you an actual map view of the streets around you. read more
This is the international geocaching symbol recognized around the world
International Geocaching Day is today—the third Saturday of every August—and this year I wanted to celebrate the event with a look at the history of Geocaching. It isn’t as old as you might think and was created here in the U.S. But first, we’ll have to take a moment to look at why this modern-day treasure hunt is even possible.
When GPS was developed by the U.S. Department of Defense and deployed in 1995, it was originally intended for military use. Because of this, the civilian sector only could receive scrambled signals, known as Selective Availability. What this meant was the signals that non military personnel could pick up were only accurate to within 100 meters–not enough to accurately use for, well, anything.
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 a lineup of geocaching containers in honor of International Geocaching Day, which is tomorrow. Be sure to check back for our article on the History of Geocaching! read more
Deep breath. Take the shot. You see a flash of fur and excitedly rush away from your stand to see if you got a hit. You find it (or don’t) and then you turn back and… wait… which way was the stand again? The use of a Hunting GPS unit isn’t necessary but it definitely adds a sense of security and safety to any wilderness activity.
Amazon doesn’t have a list specifically for hunting GPS units, so I did a search on my own to find the ones that seemed most suited. They aren’t listed in any particular order, so read through and see which one would work for you!
Magellan eXplorist 350H
Magellan eXplorist 350H Handheld GPS – This GPS unit is designed specifically for hunters. Retailing at $249.99 on Amazon, the device has 3.4 stars, but only a handful of reviews.
Features:
This miniature atomic clock is one of many improvements the military is making to protect GPS signals as they research new options for PNT devices.
The US Army is working on finding ways around the military’s increased reliance on GPS technology, specifically for warfighters. According to this article, the US Army Engineers are developing prototypes such as the Warfighter Integrated Navigation System (WINS) to serve as a backup for GPS. They are also looking into miniaturized atomic clocks to help GPS devices provide more accurate location and protect GPS units from spoofing. Of course, they haven’t released any specifics on what devices they have developed to replace GPS yet—if any—but it’s definitely something the government is looking into. 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 a teaser for tomorrow’s article on a new GPS watch that was just released this week from Timex. Check back tomorrow for the full story! read more
If you are an avid geocacher, it can sometimes be hard to explain to others exactly what it is about the activity that is so appealing. It’s easy to lose a muggle’s interest in the hobby somewhere between trinkets and Tupperware. So if you have someone that you’re trying to convert to geocaching, then I have a few tips for you! read more
