Recent posts - GPS Tracklog

GPS, Galileo to Work Together For Airliner Navigation

December 27, 2016 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

If there’s one thing that never fails to make people sit up, pay attention, and finally work together, it has to be air travel and safety. In 1983, President Reagan opened up GPS for civilian use after the Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was shot down when it strayed into Soviet airspace. Then, in 2000, GPS accuracy was increased as President Clinton ended Selective Availability. Now, it looks like the aviation community may get yet another tech bump in the near future.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the United States and the European Union have agreed to work together to allow aircraft to access both GPS and the yet-unfinished Galileo signals, providing better and more accurate navigational information. With this initiative, each system would be working as a backup for the other, providing more protection against hacking, jamming, spoofing, and other similar threats.

Filed Under: Featured, GPS News, Satellites

Runkeeper Adds GPS Support to Apple Watch Series 2

December 26, 2016 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

When the Apple Watch was introduced in 2015, many people wondered if it was the beginning of the end for running watches. We predicted that it wouldn’t push out Garmin at all, mostly because it didn’t even come with GPS capabilities, meaning that anyone looking to use it for workouts would also have to bring along a phone for any kind of tracking. Well, it looks like more than a year later, Apple will finally be getting the GPS capabilities.

Earlier this month, Runkeeper announced new update for the Apple Watch Series 2 devices that will finally take advantage of the GPS chips inside the Apple Watches. With this new functionality, the app will not only track things like distance and heart rate, but also mark your tracks via GPS. I personally haven’t had much experience with it, but the reviews have been a little sketchy. Some users reported that the GPS signal was a little variable, but the app does feature GPS bars to help show where the signals are low. read more

Filed Under: Handheld/Sport, iPhone

Hudify Uses Your Phone and Apps For HUD

December 25, 2016 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

Heads-Up Displays (also called HUD) are, in my opinion, one of the cooler ways to get GPS navigation and instructions. For those unfamiliar, HUD projects the navigation information right on your windshield, sometimes with augmented reality so it looks like the directions are overlaid on the roads themselves. The benefit to this, of course, is that you won’t have to look away from the road, even for a second, to get directions. The downside is that HUDs are usually extremely expensive as it’s still a pretty new technology.

However, it looks like a fully-funded Kickstarter project has launched that will make HUD more readily available to your average consumer. Completely funded last week, and still available through the company website, Hudify is a HUD that is designed to work with your cell phone. This aftermarket HUD is not quite as cool as the ones that project on your windshield, but it’s still a cool idea.

Filed Under: GPS News, Mobile

Norad to Track Santa’s Trip

December 24, 2016 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

Christmas Eve is finally here again, which means that the countdown has begun for Santa and his elves to get all of the presents loaded up, the naughty and nice list checked again, and the travel plans made. But, have you ever wondered how Santa manages to visit all of the children in one night? While I’m don’t know what we’ll ever know exactly how he manages it all, one thing that we can be sure is that he definitely visits all the children of the world, giving out presents. And how do we know? Well, by tracking him via GPS, of course!

In fact, since 1955, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has been tracking Santa’s progress on Christmas Eve to make sure that the jolly man doesn’t run into any problems on his flight. While originally they used radar to hone in on Rudolph’s shining red nose, in the modern era, advanced GPS technology, specially-designed SantaCams, and input from the elves that make up Santa’s flight team allow NORAD to track exactly where the jolly man himself is delivering toys throughout the night.

Filed Under: Featured

This Week in GPS — December 23, 2016

December 23, 2016 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 an illustration of Santa in honor of the holiday! Be sure to check back tomorrow to find out how NORAD is using satellites to track Santa’s passage!

Here are some other things going on in the world of GPS this week: read more

Filed Under: More GPS News, This week in GPS

Exhibition at the British Library Delves Into Mapping History

December 22, 2016 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

From the first hand drawn maps used by explorers and sailors to the digital maps used by your average college student navigating a new city, maps are an important part of the history of not only humans, but travel and even GPS. After all, without accurate maps, GPS signals would be basically useless—as seen by the vast number of people who ended up lost because the GPS tried to direct them through streets that no longer existed.

Now through March 1, 2017, the PACCAR Gallery inside the British Library in London will be hosting an exhibition of paper maps. Called Maps and the 20th Century: Drawing the Line, the exhibition explores the power and evolution of maps across the last century and questions how maps effect our daily lives and what it means to be mapped. read more

Filed Under: GPS News, Maps

Groundspeak Announces 5 New Country Souvenirs

December 21, 2016 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

There are many different facets to geocaching, and whether you’re in it for the bragging rites, the glory, the travel bugs, or the exercise, it’s a great game. One of the most overlooked parts, and in my opinion one of the most fun, of geocaching is the souvenirs that you can earn to display. You can read a full explanation of souvenirs here, but basically they are digital badges that you can earn by finding a geocache in a specific location or attending an event.

Recently, Groundspeak, the minds behind Geocaching.com, recently announced that they were adding five new geocaching country souvenirs to its massive list of souvenir locations. All of these can be accessed immediately, and can be earned by logging a cache or attending an event in any of these countries. Without further ado, here’s the list:
read more

Filed Under: Geocaching

TomTom and Microsoft Announce Partnership

December 20, 2016 By Liz E. 2 Comments

The GPS industry has changed significantly over the last five or six years. While once a booming trade, the advert of smartphones with GPS chips hit the industry hard, putting DeLorme out of business entirely (to be purchased by Garmin), while the last few giants standing are left to find alternate ways to make their fortunes. While Garmin has chosen to delve into the fitness tracker and smartwatch territory with its line, TomTom has instead focused less on hardware and more on mapping and navigational technology.

In fact, the last couple of years TomTom has made more deals with companies than it has released new products, and the most recent is actually pretty huge for the Dutch company. Last week, TomTom announced that it has entered into a partnership with Microsoft to provide location-based services to Microsoft’s Azure platform. read more

Filed Under: GPS News, TomTom

Amazon’s First Customer Drone Delivery Completed

December 19, 2016 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

This is one of Amazon’s early drone prototypes, but not the kind which made the most recent delivery.

Drone delivery has been on the horizon for a couple years now, and it’s no secret that Amazon has been the front runner for this futuristic convenience. As officials here in the United States have not been overly willing to let drone deliveries go through, Amazon moved its operations and testing grounds abroad and it looks like we’re finally starting to see results.

This month marks Amazon’s first commercial drone delivery to a customer. According to ReCode, the delivery took place on December 7, and consisted of an Amazon Fire TV and a bag of popcorn. The customer, who lives near the testing facility in Cambridge, England, received his package about 13 minutes after the order was placed. read more

Filed Under: Featured, GPS News

Geocaching Souvenirs Explained

December 18, 2016 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

Geocaching is a surprisingly multi-faceted game. Designed as an adult treasure hunt, finding a geocache and logging it can be a thrill. Inside, you might find any kind of fun trinket to commemorate the event, but many times geocachers will neither take nor leave anything. The thrill is in the hunt and the prestige in being able to log a new geocache. For these intrepid geocachers, souvenirs and the bragging rights are almost better than swag.

What are souvenirs?

Souvenirs are a sort of digital badge that is displayed on your Geocaching.com profile to show off your accomplishments. There are some which are only available for a specific location, event, or only for accomplishing specific tasks or things. As a result, many people are proud of their souvenirs and work to try and collect as many rare souvenirs as possible. read more