Funny you should mention Bad Elf. I had to give a speech at a mate's 50th
yesterday. He lives in a bit of a rabbit warren in Reservoir (Melbourne) so I
stuck the Bad Elf into the iPod and had the sat nav get me there. Problem was,
I forgot to turn it off when I arrived. The Bad Elf is a ripper little thing
but it does chew the battery a bit.
After a couple of hours it was time to do the speech. Problem was I'd put my
notes (you can probably see where this is going...) on my iPod.
A bit of a panic followed but I was saved by mate's daughter who had a charger.
Good lesson though. Letting the GPSr run out of battery in the city is
inconvenient. Letting it run out in the outback could be fatal. Always keep a
backup.
Bill
On 07/10/2013, at 4:23 PM, <> wrote:
> Gidday Peter,
>
> In all my years of GPSing I've never had a straight GPS crash. This has
> included severe cooking incidents in cars on Cape York in summer sun, long
> drops onto sandstone, proper drenching, and sweat .... so much sweat! I
> haven't relied on memory cards ever. It means the GPS can store less, but
> it's useful enough for me with inbuilt maps, which I generally turn off
> anyway.
>
> I have had two occasions when the GPS signal has clearly been scrambled when
> my direction of travel changed suddenly on the GPS but not in actual fact,
> and sudden loss of accuracy (up to 200m error). I suspect the time stamps
> received by the GPS must have been diluted (not sure of correct terminology),
> but these inaccuracies are otherwise inexplicable to me.
>
> The GPS function on my smartphone, including with Bad Elf (which I think
> someone mentioned earlier) is not yet in my "trusted equipment" list because
> of battery drain, aforementioned crash, and general failure of some
> associated applications to work with sufficient reliability.
>
> Hooroo,
>
> E
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Peter Shute
> Sent: Monday, 7 October 2013 2:40 PM
> To: Vanderduys, Eric (CES, TownsvilleATSIP)
> Cc: ;
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] GPS on Smartphones - caution
>
> Good point. Do dedicated GPSs ever crash and become inaccessible? I would
> have thought they'd be less likely too, being simpler, but memory cards can
> become corrupt in any device.
>
> Apart from a data loss like yours, one has to consider what happens if you're
> relying on it to navigate at the time.
>
> Peter Shute
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
>> On 7 Oct 2013, at 3:40 pm, ""
>> <> wrote:
>>
>> Hi All,
>>
>> Peter, I second your comments regarding the usefulness of GPS functions and
>> various apps on smart phones.
>>
>> One caution: if your phone is an iPhone and crashes, it is a complete black
>> box. Last year I commenced collecting certain types of field data on an
>> iPhone 4s. After turning the phone off at end of field trip, and then
>> turning it back on it asked to be reset. This, allegedly, wipes all data.
>> The good news is I sent it to a forensic data recovery expert in Sydney who
>> cracked it (his first successful 4s crack) and recovered all data for $250.
>> Much cheaper than redoing the data collection (estimate $4-6k).
>>
>> Lesson: even if you get back to camp at midnight, back up immediately to a
>> computer, or cloud if in range.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Eric
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From:
>> On Behalf Of Peter
>> and Toni
>> Sent: Tuesday, 1 October 2013 2:40 PM
>> To:
>> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] GPS for vocalisation recording
>>
>> I use several different Android smartphones and tablets for detailed GPS
>> mapping. The modern smart phones are brilliant in heavy forest. Mine is
>> capable of tracking more than 20 satellites, including the russian ones.
>> Older GPS could only track 8 so quickly lost signal under cover.
>> In heavy rainforest the phone kept a fix at all times when previous surveys
>> had seen older GPS lose all signal. Every year the phones get more
>> sensitive. For instance they will easily get a fix from inside a house, as
>> long as there is a window in the room. Accuracy and repeatability are far
>> improved from older dedicated GPS I have owned, although I am sure newer
>> dedicated GPSs have also improved. I use Oziexplorer to manage maps and
>> waypoints. It can download the waypoints to excel for easy manipulation.
>> There are similar programs available for Apple. Battery life can be a bit
>> short, but I also carry a small battery pack that can recharge the phone if
>> out all day. Having your birding app, GPS and phone in one instrument makes
>> juggling hardware a lot less of a problem. As long as you don't lose it or
>> drop it.
>>
>> cheers
>> Peter
>>> On 01-Oct-13 12:41 PM, Merrilyn Serong wrote:
>>> Garmin handheld GPS units are very good.
>>> Here is a link so you can compare the different models.
>>> https://buy.garmin.com/en-AU/AU/cOnTheTrail-cHandheld-p1.html
>>> They are not cheap, but if you want a good one...
>>> Cheers,
>>> Merrilyn
>>>
>>>> On 1/10/2013 11:59 AM, David Richardson wrote:
>>>> One of the points mentioned in the original post was that the GPS be
>>>> capable of deep forest satellite acquisition.I don't know much about
>>>> iphone or camera GPS functions but I doubt they would operate
>>>> accurately in situations other than clear sky satellite
>>>> acquisition.That is why a dedicated GPS unit,and a very good one at
>>>> that,would be of more use.
>>>> perhaps someone on list who has knowledge of this could post a relpy
>>>> addressing that point?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> On Tue, Oct 1, 2013 at 10:27 AM, Peter Shute <> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> I suspect that the main difference between a phone GPS and a
>>>>> dedicated one, apart from not using up the battery of your precious
>>>>> communication device, is accuracy. I'm told I shouldn't expect
>>>>> better than 30m accuracy from an iphone.
>>>>>
>>>>> I suspect Google Earth coordinates can be off by that much too, if
>>>>> the difference between the images of roads and the corresponding
>>>>> linework is anything to go by.
>>>>>
>>>>> Peter Shute
>>>>>
>>>>> Sent from my iPad
>>>>>
>>>>> On 1 Oct 2013, at 9:06 am, "Martin Butterfield"
>>>>> < <>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> If you don't have a mobile phone, my camera (Panasonic TZ40) has a
>>>>> GPS function which - if activated - includes geocoordinates with
>>>>> images. I suspect many other mid-range cameras now have this
>>>>> functionality.
>>>>>
>>>>> It seems that the need for a dedicated GPS for simply recording
>>>>> point locations is well gone.
>>>>>
>>>>> Martin
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On 1 October 2013 08:30, Peter Shute <<mailto:
>>>>> >> wrote:
>>>>> If you mean you want to save and name a way point so that you can
>>>>> just read out the way point name into the microphone, then I would
>>>>> have thought most would allow that. Some probably just
>>>>> automatically number the way points, but you could read out that number.
>>>>>
>>>>> I just use my phone's GPS (have never tried a dedicated GPS), and I
>>>>> read out the coordinates directly at each new location. I could
>>>>> mark a way point and then later copy its coordinates into the
>>>>> metadata, but it seems just as quick to type it out while I listen
>>>>> to the coordinates I read out.
>>>>> It gives
>>>>> me two chances to get it wrong, but it also means the coordinates
>>>>> aren't as likely to get separated from the recording.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm hoping I can find a way to get the phone to read out the
>>>>> current coordinates so I can just hold it up to the mic. That
>>>>> should eliminate the first kind of error, but it's inspired more by
>>>>> laziness.
>>>>>
>>>>> Peter Shute
>>>>>
>>>>> ________________________________
>>>>> From: <mailto:
>>>>> > [
>>>>> <mailto:
>>>>> >] On Behalf Of Roger
>>>>> McNeill [
>>>>> <>]
>>>>> Sent: Tuesday, 1 October 2013 7:52 AM
>>>>> To:
>>>>> <
>>>>> au
>>>>> Subject: [Birding-Aus] GPS for vocalisation recording
>>>>>
>>>>> All,
>>>>>
>>>>> I know this has been raised a few times over the years, so
>>>>> apologies for that, but the technology and brands keep changing and
>>>>> it is difficult to keep up.
>>>>>
>>>>> I need a Handheld GPS to support my vocalisation recordings. The
>>>>> main requirements other than the obligatory battery life,
>>>>> ruggedness, light, international maps, deep forest satilite
>>>>> acquistion, etc, is the ability to input multiple way points and
>>>>> link them to a specific recording.
>>>>>
>>>>> Most of the units I see on line seem to have a detailed drill down
>>>>> menu but what I am looking for is a compact unit whereby I can
>>>>> quickly enter a location, note the 'location reference' in my
>>>>> recording and then weeks later when I am back home, download that
>>>>> way point into my computer when I am doing my Meta data?
>>>>>
>>>>> Up until now I have been doing it after the fact off Google Earth
>>>>> and this is getting very old.
>>>>>
>>>>> Also, the ability to pre-load waypoints is probably standard, but
>>>>> also required. I am a hand held GPS novice, if that is not already
>>>>> evident by the questions, so any and all help is appreciated.
>>>>>
>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Roger
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Roger McNeill
>>>>> Samford Valley, SEQ
>>>>> ===============================
>>>
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>>>
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