[pct-l] smartphone as GPS

[Halfmile]

John,
For the iphone I think the two best apps are Topomaps and Basic GPS.

http://topomapsapp.com/
http://www.basicgps.net/Basic_GPS/Main.html

Both work well in areas without cell service and are accurate to
better than 50 feet in my testing. You need to preload maps into
Topomaps (best to use wifi) and it can download waypoints directly
from my site at www.pctmap.net. Basic GPS only displays your location
in UTM coordinates, so you would use this app with maps that have UTM
grids printed on them. This is simple and works well and you can
easily plot your location on a map with 25 meter or better accuracy.
Basic GPS saves your phone battery too since you turn the phone on,
wait a minute or two for the GPS fix, plot location, then turn the
phone off. An iPhone will only run a few hours with the GPS on before
it drains the battery.

Last time I tried to use Motion X, I didn't find it very useful
because it didn't work well preloading maps for areas without cell
service and had limited waypoint storage capability. Maybe that's
changed.

-Halfmile
www.pctmap.net



On Mon, Oct 25, 2010 at 10:37 AM, John Abela
<pacificcresttrail2011 at gmail.com> wrote:
> @Jim K,
>
> Did you just use the pdf formats, or did you use the gpx waypoints and load
> them up into MotionX, or some other method?
>
> Thanks,
> John
>
>
> On Mon, Oct 25, 2010 at 10:27 AM, Jim Keener ( J J ) <
> pct2010 at ridgetrailhiker.com> wrote:
>
>> 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
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Pct-L mailing list
>> > Pct-L at backcountry.net
>> > To unsubcribe, or change options visit:
>> > http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>> >
>> > List Archives:
>> > http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
>> >
>> _______________________________________________
>> Pct-L mailing list
>> Pct-L at backcountry.net
>> To unsubcribe, or change options visit:
>> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>>
>> List Archives:
>> http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
>>
> _______________________________________________
> Pct-L mailing list
> Pct-L at backcountry.net
> To unsubcribe, or change options visit:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>
> List Archives:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
>