Recent posts - GPS Tracklog

Strava Heatmap Shows Popular Routes

March 17, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

If you are one of those people who enjoys a daily run or bike ride, then it can sometimes be easy to get caught in a rut and simply take the same path you always do. After all, it can be hard to find good trails and routes sometimes, and it can be tempting to just stick with what you already know.

Well, the popular fitness tracking company Strava recently introduced a new interactive map that is designed to help you explore new trails and areas and find popular routes you might not otherwise know about. Called the Strava Heatmap, this pretty nifty-looking interactive map uses GPS track data from around 160 million rides and runs to determine the most popular areas.

It looks pretty cool too. read more

Filed Under: Maps

Last Wayward Galileo Satellite Orbit Corrected

March 16, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

In August of last year, two Galileo satellites were launched and due to a malfunction of the rocket, missed the intended orbit by several thousand miles, leaving the two satellites stranded in incorrect elliptical orbits. This mistake caused quite an uproar and all other Galileo launches for 2014 were cancelled.

At the end of November, one of the two satellites executed a series of maneuvers to move to a more circular, usable orbit and was successful. The satellite is now transmitting usable signals, and the European Space Agency (ESA) has been working towards maneuvering the second wayward satellite to a better, more usable orbit since January 15, 2015. read more

Filed Under: Satellites

TomTom Crowdsourced Maps Raise Concerns

March 15, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

Late in January, TomTom announced innovation that would allow it to collect user location data and analyze it in order to provide maps that would be updated for accuracy daily. However, with all of the recent privacy issues around the world, many people have begun to express concern about exactly what TomTom is going to be doing with this sensitive information. read more

Filed Under: Maps, TomTom

World’s First Miniaturized Anti-Jamming Tech Demonstrated

March 14, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

We’ve talked some about GPS jamming and the problems that it can cause several times in this blog. While it doesn’t directly effect that kind of things that most of you use GPS for, it is still something to be aware of, as jamming is undoubtedly the biggest threat to the safe use of GPS. And, unfortunately, jamming a GPS signal is not only easy, but can be incredibly destructive and dangerous as more and more systems rely on correct GPS signals and information in order to function. read more

Filed Under: GPS News

This Week in GPS — March 13, 2015

March 13, 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 in celebration of Pi Day, which is tomorrow! Geocachers can earn two new souvenirs on Saturday by completing two simple tasks. Scroll down for more info and for some other things that happened this week in the world of GPS:

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

IRNSS Constellation Setbacks

March 12, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

The Indian Space Agency has had some minor setbacks in the deployment of the most recent navigational satellite in the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS) constellation. Originally set to launch on Monday, March 9, the satellite was discovered to have a malfunction on March 4 and the launch had to be delayed. As of the time of writing, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said that it was attempting to determine how to best correct the error “with minimum effort” so that launch could be commenced. read more

Filed Under: Satellites

GPS Leads Bus on 400 Mile Detour

March 11, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

GPS navigation is a pretty awesome thing, but sometimes it goes a little bit astray. When it does, it’s usually ridiculously funny and I just can’t help but share. So, in honor of today being Wednesday, or “hump day” I thought I’d share another funny navigational mishap that I read about on GPS Daily.

According to the article, a bus driver in Belgium was headed to a French ski resport with about 50 Belgian tourists in tow. However, the bus driver accidentally selected the wrong destination on his GPS and ended up driving the opposite direction. Instead of the snowy Alps, tourists found themselves in south France, near the border of Spain looking out at vineyards instead of snow. read more

Filed Under: Featured

Get Two Geocaching Souvenirs on Pi Day

March 10, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

Everyone loves pie–all that sweet, delicious fruity, gooey, sugary filling stuffed between two flaky golden crusts of amazing. Pie is pretty much the best. But, what about Pi? For years, this irrational number has spawned an surprisingly rational national celebration of pie, math and, of course, more pie.

Well, this year’s Pi day happens to this Saturday and it isn’t just ANY Pi day–it’s the first time in a century that the date (3/14/15) falls perfectly in line with the actual irrational number (3.1415…). So, to celebrate this most auspicious Pi day, the folks over at Geocaching HQ have declared that there are not one, but two souvenirs available to intrepid Pi-loving geocachers out there! read more

Filed Under: Geocaching

TomTom GPS Watches Compatible with Nike+

March 9, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

TomTom announced late last week that it has partnered with Nike again to bring compatibility with the Nike+ Running App to various TomTom GPS Sport Watches. The press release didn’t list out specific TomTom watches, so I would assume this update provides compatibility to pretty much all of TomTom’s newer GPS Sports Watch line including the TomTom Runner and the TomTom Runner Cardio.

“This is the next step in a partnership with Nike that began in 2011 with the launch of the Nike+ Sportwatch, which was powered by TomTom,” said Corinne Vigreux, Managing Director and Founder, TomTom Consumer in a statement. “We’re excited to add an industry-leader like Nike+ to the list of platforms available to TomTom users.” read more

Filed Under: GPS Tracking, Handheld/Sport

Kids GPS Watch Includes Geocaching Function

March 8, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

GPS Watches, be they for children or adults, are pretty much a dime a dozen. They’re all basically the same and provide pretty much the exact same functions usually at around the same price. And while AmbyGear does all the things you would expect from a kids GPS tracker/GPSwatch, it also has some other neat uses including games and some geocaching support. read more