Recent posts - GPS Tracklog

Advocates Push For Small UAV Approval

January 26, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

Late last week, a Congressional committee heard arguments for allowing small drones under 5 pounds to be used commercially. A representative from the Small UAV Coalition and the head of the FAA Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Integration Office spoke with lawmakers about the issue of drones and their commercial use.

This topic has been under debate for about a year. Advocates argue that the use of small drones will not only help keep America competitive with other nations but also help boost industry if we take the lead in drone production and use. The FAA, however, is fighting for control of the UAV market and the lower airspace that these drones operate in. read more

Filed Under: GPS News

GPSCity Refurbished Deals

January 25, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

GPS City is running a sale on several of their refurbished Garmin products for a limited amount of time. Refurbished units are factory restored by Garmin and come with a one year manufacturer’s warranty. If you’re looking for a solid unit but don’t have the big bucks to spend, then refurbished is an excellent way to go.

Here are a few of the better deals: read more

Filed Under: Current GPS Deals, GPS Deals

ESA to Launch 6 Satellites in 2015

January 24, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

The Soyuz rocket launched two Galileo satellites into space on Friday. European Pressphoto Agency

Galileo Launch 2014 Photo by European Pressphoto Agency

In an effort to offset the launch setbacks in 2014, the European Space Agency (ESA) has announced that they will be launching three pairs of satellites into orbit in 2015, essentially doubling the current constellation. Official dates and timelines for the launches are expected to be announced sometime next week. read more

Filed Under: Satellites

This Week in GPS — January 23, 2015

January 23, 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 Rider that was announced this week. This motorcycle GPS sports some pretty sweet features for all you motorcyclists out there! Read on for more information.

Here’s some other things that happened this week in the world if GPS: read more

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

Galileo Interruption Expected Next Week

January 22, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

According to an article published by GPS World, the ESA is telling consumers to expect interruption to Galileo’s navigation signals during the last week of January and all of February while the Galileo Ground Mission makes some improvements. The interruption is expected to last about five weeks, and during that time the accuracy of the navigation information received from the satellites will slowly degrade and may even be replaced by dummy message during some stages of the upgrade. Consumers can check the status of the satellites here. read more

Filed Under: Satellites

Garmin Releases Approach S5 GPS Golf Watch

January 21, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

Garmin International Inc. has announced the upcoming release of their lightweight Approach S5 GPS Golf Watch, expected to be available in Q1 2015. This watch has a beautiful color touchscreen and all of the standard GPS Golf features that you would expect from Garmin. The watch will retail for around $350 at specialty golf retailers and golf pro shops.

This handy little device has pretty much all the basic features that one would expect from a GPS powerhouse like Garmin including Course View mapping with more than 38,000 international courses pre-loaded on the device and free lifetime updates. Golfers can preview hole details and see the layout of the green with the creatively named GreenView, and Touch Targeting provides accurate measurements with a drag and drop feature to measure any distance on the course. read more

Filed Under: Garmin handheld GPS, Handheld/Sport

Garmin Introduces Large Format Marine GPS

January 20, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

Garmin International has been working to expand its marine segment during the last few months, with several updates to existing products and new capabilities for various marine instrument displays. Last week, Garmin announced the upcoming release of two new large format marine displays, measured at 7 and 10 inches.

The GNX 120 and the GNX 130 are designed to be easy to set up, calibrate and use. Both devices feature a GNX Keyboard for remote use and are NMEA 2000 certified to seamlessly share sailing data with other NMEA 2000 certified devices, including other Garmin GPS devices. read more

Filed Under: Marine

TomTom Creates GPS for Motorcycles

January 19, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

Riding a motorcycle isn’t the same as driving a car, so why would you want the same kind of GPS and routes? TomTom, the Dutch-based navigation company has announced the upcoming release of a new GPS unit designed specifically with motorcyclists in mind. Called the TomTom RIDER, this GPS unit will help bikers find the perfect route.

The glove-friendly, interactive screen features TomTom’s expansive mapping software with exciting new routing features that allow bikers to choose the level of twists and turns they want to create their own adrenaline-filled road adventure. And, once the perfect route is found, you can even upload and share share it with other bikers. read more

Filed Under: Auto, GPS News

Visualizing GPS with Light

January 18, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

A group of researchers and artists have created what they are calling “satellite lamps” in order to visualize technologies that are normally not visible to the naked eye. They have a pretty indepth website explaining the process in flowery and vaguely abstract terms. If you want to read it, you can check it out here, but personally I wouldn’t bother sifting through all of that. I’ll break their huge website and project down for you in a paragraph. read more

Filed Under: Featured, GPS News

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