GPS Passion

How much detail do we really need?

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Or should the question be: how much detail would we want to have?

The navigation devices on the market now are real CAR navigation devices. These are build and programmed for that purpose. Most of them do however have the possibility to switch to cycling or even walking mode.
I have two questions on that:

Q1: Are the maps detailed enough to be used for REAL cycling or walking navigation?
Q2: Can the gps device be precise enough to show you the way at this low speed?

A1: I think for the most urban situations the maps are detailed enough to show you even the smallest street and alleys. But in rural areas I still have my questions, based on my experience while using TomTom Navigation 5/6 and Magellan MapSend DirectRoute 2.0 Europe in cities and in rural areas.

A2: I am not a technical specialist, but when walking or cycling with an gps I have the feeling that the devices are to fast for our own speed.
I had several discussions with my family while walking in different cities, because the devices were not always pointing the right direction and turning like a compass needle.
I understand that it is difficult to keep enough signal at this speed, between houses and buildings, while cars are getting from one block to another and pick up new signal fast.

Do you have an idea about this?! Tell Me!

gps

New satellite images in Google Earth

Google has been buying new satellite images for its hit application Google Earth. New images mean better quality and more fun!

Thanx for spreading the word, Frank!

A new overview has been published on the Google keyhole and at Frank’s great Google Earth Blog, but for making it easier for you (to read through Widsets! ;-) ):

New high resolution:
Canada: Whistler, BC; Waterloo & Toronto, Ontario; Nanaimo, BC; and Fort Saskatchewan, AB
England: Base 50cm coverage of nearly entire country,
Germany: Cities/Regions of Greifswald, Trier, Köln, Stuttgart, Bonn, Oldenburg, Rostock, Saarbrücken, Hamburg, Hannover, and Ritterhude
Austria: Villach region
France: Cities of Caen, Dijon, Metz, St Etienne, Toulouse and Rouen
Spain: Catalonia and Valencia
Andorra
US: Imperial County (CA); Yellowstone National Park (WY); Galveston/Houston (TX); Peterborough (NH); Cheyenne (WY); Burke, Wake, and Cabarrus Counties (NC); Racine and Kenosha Counties (WI); Washington, DC; St Paul (MN); and the State of Alabama
Japan: City/Regions of Kochi, Asahikawa, Koriyama, Miyazaki, Nagano, Utsunomiya, Akita, and Toyama

Large Digital Globe (60cm) update includes areas in Sudan, expanded Africa, Australia, Mexico coverage and smaller areas of coverage in Asia, Polynesia, South America, Canada, Europe, Middle East plus some interesting islands in Antarctica and Greenland.

Updated Imagery:
Americas: Bogotá, Columbia; Mission Viejo (CA, US); Hillsborough County (FL, US)
EU: Dublin, Ireland
Middle East/Africa: Beirut, Lebanon and Tripoli, Libya
Asia: Hong Kong and Manila, Philippines

Updated Terrain:
Western US 10m, Canary Islands 10m

Explain GPS to kids

My colleague took his son of 7 years old to work. This is a realy nice kid, so once and a while this is fine.
I showed my colleague my new eXplorist. He was enthusiastic and of course the boy wanted to know why we were enthusiastic like that.

I did explain him that this gps device got the signal of at least 3/4 gps satellites and that they that were telling it where they are. By knowing that the device can make an calculation to know where it is itself…anywhere on the globe. This is the elementary version.
You could have talked about atomic clocks and the delay of the signal, but this is for an older age I would say.

I really like to explain things to others, I must be the trainer in me… But it is extra nice to explain things to kids(, especially if it is one of your favourite subjects). They are often so inquisitive.

I know, not all of them!