[pct-l] smartphone as GPS

[Jim Keener ( J J )]

Greetings,

If a device is marketed as having "GPS", it will have satellite location capability. Smartphone GPS is typically not as accurate as dedicated GPS devices. 

Many, many hikers have completed  the PCT without any GPS capability. I carried an iPhone 3Gs this year and, using Halfmile's waypoints, located myself any time I wanted. There is some really good GPS software available for almost all smartphones. 

Walk well,
Jim Keener ( J J )

On Oct 25, 2010, at 10:11 AM, "greg mushial" <gmushial at gmdr.com> wrote:

>> Message: 2
>> Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2010 08:44:13 -0700
>> From: Austin Williams <austinwilliams123 at gmail.com>
>> Subject: Re: [pct-l] smartphone as GPS
>> To: pct-l at backcountry.net
>> Message-ID:
>> <AANLkTinOvNfuQPZHGGwxJk2BCWN9RR=DTjKCx7wJ9yr6 at mail.gmail.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>> 
>> Be careful.  Most of the time the 'GPS' in smart phones is based on
>> cell-tower triangulation, NOT gps-satellite triangulation.  That means 
>> when
>> there are now cell towers around, the "GPS" on the phone won't work.  Make
>> sure you buy one that uses *real* gps, not the kind that uses cell tower
>> triangulation.
>> 
>> Just a heads up.
>> 
>> -- 
>> Austin Williams
>> 
> 
> Is there any (published) indication of accuracy difference? Seems that since 
> generally towers don't jump around, they should be as good as satellites... 
> no?
> TheDuck 
> 
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