Handheld GPS and satellite/aerial imagery

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LukeAR
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Handheld GPS and satellite/aerial imagery

Post by LukeAR » 19 Jan 2011, 02:26

Hi all..

I wanted to ask the forum if anyone had dealings and knows a bit about handheld GPSs?

I'm looking into buying a handheld GPS unit which can also show aerial photos or high res satellite images.

Also the question is - where can i get decent to good resolution satellite or aerial images to use on a corresponding GPS receiver? I was looking today into the Garmin BirdsEye service in conjunction with the Oregon 450 or GPSmap 62s and it looks sort of promising although they cannot promise decent satellite images at all desired points....

Mind you - i am looking for a worldwide images service and not US only images.

any ideas?
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Post by L4gi » 19 Jan 2011, 10:37

HTC Desire + Google maps/earth. :P
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Post by LukeAR » 19 Jan 2011, 11:34

If I could slap you over the net - I would..... :P

No - I'm talking about proper hiking GPS's and not toys that take forever to acquire GPS lock and battery holds for only 4 hours working nonstop.... for that price (400$ and north) on eBay I can purchase a proper Garmin Oregon 450.

My question is if people had dealing with these kind of mapping GPS's and can share their experience with X and Y services/systems.
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Post by Buffel » 19 Jan 2011, 12:23

L4gi wrote:HTC Desire + Google maps/earth. :P
And a Swedish cellphone subscription unless you want to go broke on roaming costs...

... Or is there a way to make the Desire download a map and keep that in storage? If anyone knows a solution there I'd be very interested!
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Post by Waldo » 19 Jan 2011, 14:55

my nokia 5800 has an integrated GPS and the free ovi maps app.You can also download the maps and sattelite images for the desired countries (huge files though)
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Post by LukeAR » 19 Jan 2011, 16:51

... and I have a nokia N95 with a built-in "GPS" which takes 15 minutes to acquire a fix and has a whooping 12m resolution...

I said PROPER GPS receivers not toy phone-GPS's....
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Post by Buffel » 19 Jan 2011, 17:08

LukeAR wrote:... and I have a nokia N95 with a built-in "GPS" which takes 15 minutes to acquire a fix and has a whooping 12m resolution...

I said PROPER GPS receivers not toy phone-GPS's....
Dude, congratulations. Your accuracy is comparable, but you need 15 minutes to acquire a fix? Wow. Thanks but I will stick with my "toy phone".

By the way, why the attitude?
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Post by Panzergraf » 19 Jan 2011, 20:01

Buffel wrote:Your accuracy is comparable, but you need 15 minutes to acquire a fix? Wow.
I think that was his point; phone-GPS's aren't as good as propper GPS-receivers like Garmins and such.


Also, being able to actively use your GPS without draining the battery of your phone is a bonus. just bring some extra AAA-batteries and change when needed.

Dedicated GPS receivers are usually also more rugged than mobile phones.
If I had one of them fancy new expensive phones with GPS and camera and whatnot I wouldn't risk bringing it out in the field.
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Post by LukeAR » 19 Jan 2011, 21:09

sorry about the "attitude" but I believe I've said in my second post that I'm looking for a proper GPS device that is dedicated to navigation and not another feature in a smartphone.

Smarthphone GPS's are for fun or for use with road maps and not for use for long navs where you'd want 2m accuracy and 16 hours of nonstop use like a garmin GPS can give.

also I don't believe the OVI maps tool gives you aerial imagery at good resolution - which will allow you to identify special features or landmarks during a nav session or to plan a route because here lies a swamp and to the left a high cliff not passable.
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Post by Waldo » 20 Jan 2011, 00:31

Sorry if my post sounded a bit...lets say "naive"... I totally forgot about the fact that there are different areas in the world (sounds dumb, but thats the way i am sometimes :P ) in the area where i play (north-western germany) there is not so much areal difference ( the highest points are +3m above sea level and the lowest are like -5 below sea level) so my nokia works totally fine for navigation in a small forrest or a small former army base in that area.
I hope you will find the GPS device wou like :wink:
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Post by EagleDriver » 20 Jan 2011, 16:39

The Garmin Oregon:

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID ... IES_OREGON

Is a handheld trail GPS. You can download topographical maps, and you can also upload custom maps that are geo referenced for the GPS use. I do not know if it is the size you are looking for, but the features seem to match.

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Post by Redmenace_tv » 20 Jan 2011, 18:10

I've no experience with GPS at berget, but while hiking in my own country i have tried them out.

My conclusion?

Use a map, the batteries never run out, they are user friendly, they are cheaper and they are lighter.

Nuff said...

but if you are set on using one don't forget to take a map as well (for when it breaks, runs out of battery, won't get a fix ect.)
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Post by LukeAR » 21 Jan 2011, 02:31

Eagledriver, I was in fact looking mainly at the Garmin BirdsEye system and it's complementing GPS's and wanted to see if someone knows of a better option. I myself own a Garmin GPS, however it's the lower end - coordinates only type.

Redmenace_tv, I am trailing using maps but I wanted some more options to use navaids.

Eventually I have ordered right now the Garmin GPSmap 62s which seems to suit my needs best.

My points of interest were (not necessarily in the order):

* Aerial/ Satellite imagery support
* Large memory capacity/ expansion slot
* Large color screen
* Robustness
* High accuracy
* Long battery life
* Computer interface for Backtracking
* Computer interface for actual GPS data (NMEA)
* High speed computer communication

Obviously I have made a compromise on the large screen (3" on the Oregon 450 vs 2.6" on the GPSmap 62s) for robustness and a larger memory cap (1.7Gb vs 850Mb). Also the 62s sports a longer battery life with 20 hours.
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Post by Losolos » 21 Jan 2011, 08:22

hi,

i used a gpsmap 62 on B6 and it was very useful for me, borrowed from a friend.

For B8 i bought a Oregon 550.

pro on Oregon :
-better access to option menue
-intergrated camera.. and automatic stored gps position.. very usefull!

con..
-battery life 8-10 hrs
- very sensitiv in direct sunlight .. to operate use it in darker places
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Post by Tor » 21 Jan 2011, 08:37

Redmenace_tv wrote: My conclusion?

Use a map, the batteries never run out, they are user friendly, they are cheaper and they are lighter.
I can't agree more. Here in Sweden it's not unusual that the local
bookstore sells local maps for orienteering. These maps are very accurate.
Even small paths and large stones are marked on them.

Satellite and Aerial photo maps are not recommended, since what you really need is a map that gives good terrain information. Like height curves to see how steep mountains are, where there are swamps (need to go around them) etc.

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