Gps Abroad

[kinder1]

We are going on hoilday v soon (Spain) and we would like to do some caching whilst there.

This might sound like a daft question but, do we have to do anything to our gps for it to be accurate or do we just put in the coordinates and off you go?(Please Please don't have us doing something weird or daft.)

Thanks

[+wizard1974uk]

Whats the model of your GPS? Then you will hold you right leg in the air whilst scratching your left ear

[+Nellies Knackers]

It will behave exactly the same as it does here, but the coordinates may be different

[kinder1]

Garmin 60 CSx

How will the coordinates be different and how do I compensate for this?

Edited April 19, 2006 by kinder1

[+stora]

Garmin 60 CSx

How will the coordinates be different and how do I compensate for this?

 

I think you missed the joke.

[+Simply Paul]

Some people can be sooo mean! So long as it's set to the global WGS84 grid rather than any local system (like the British Grid) then the co-ords on the cache pages will still make sense to your GPS. The only things you need to look out for are distances in Km and metres and pages in Spanish. Other than that it's just like caching here. Just with sunshine.

[+The Bongtwashes]

Garmin 60 CSx

How will the coordinates be different and how do I compensate for this?

 

I believe in Spain, you'd be better using a Garmin eTrex. If you like I can meet up with you to arrange a swop.

BTW it's already set to metres / kilometres

[+The Bolas Heathens]

Sorry - can't resist this - what does the G stand for in GPS

 

Joking aside, it will work just the same here but the co-ordinates will be different.

[The Royles]

Please Please don't have us doing something weird or daft

 

Thats caching off the agenda then

[+Boardslider]

No one has pointed out that the first aquisition may take a bit longer when you arrive - my Vista sometimes even gets to the bit about are you indoors. This is because it 'looks' for satellites when switched on based on the date and where it thinks they should be - if you have moved a long way since switching off it can get a bit hissy.

 

BTW I use mine on the plane and bore the missus by telling her which cities we are passing over (you also get some wicked top speed figures in the odo).

[+stora]

No one has pointed out that the first aquisition may take a bit longer when you arrive - my Vista sometimes even gets to the bit about are you indoors. This is because it 'looks' for satellites when switched on based on the date and where it thinks they should be - if you have moved a long way since switching off it can get a bit hissy.

 

BTW I use mine on the plane and bore the missus by telling her which cities we are passing over (you also get some wicked top speed figures in the odo).

 

If you do want to use it on the plane, don't forget to ask first.

 

I asked could I use my geko on the plane and the air hostess said "sorry no moble phones"

 

After explaining it wasn't a phone she took it to the captain who said "yes" but to leave it switched off on take off and landing.

[kinder1]

Thanks for all the help(I think)

[+cobie]

I also went caching in Spain some time ago and I needed to change the time zone setting for the gpsr. I think I set it to Paris time. I assume this is the same for all gpsr. I have a little garmin foretrex 101. Also, keep the datum international.(WGS84).

[+Woodbury Walker]

We cached in the Ronda area of Spain and what we found was there was a lot of walking to the caches, some of the paths were not to clearly defined. A 3-4 miles walk was common, but again it took you to places and views you would have never seen.

 

I am sure you will enjoy the new experience!!

[+Boardslider]

 

If you do want to use it on the plane, don't forget to ask first.

 

I asked could I use my geko on the plane and the air hostess said "sorry no moble phones"

 

After explaining it wasn't a phone she took it to the captain who said "yes" but to leave it switched off on take off and landing.

 

I've used mine throughout a flight - including being the first to know that we were being diverted from Bristol to Cardiff and then after the announcement that the divert was cancelled and we were back on for Bristol, and following the map into our landing in Egypt. Some of this paranoia about electronic equipment on planes is just that. Essentially a plane is a big faraday cage (which is why it's ok to be struck by lightening) which is full of noise on the inside anyway, and I would challenge you to even detect (electronically) that a GPSr was switched on from even inches away.

 

And before you all jump down my throat, PM me and I'll send you the flight numbers I'm on in advance

[+tteggod trackers]

used mine all over europe all i change is the miles to km.one other thing is useful knowing what time sunset is if you want to be ready at the right time for photos!! i've used mine on flights too, i find its important to get a lock on before take off or else the plane's travelling too fast to lock on. take off speed is usually about 290 km/hr!

[+Paul & Ros]

 

If you do want to use it on the plane, don't forget to ask first.

 

I asked could I use my geko on the plane and the air hostess said "sorry no moble phones"

 

After explaining it wasn't a phone she took it to the captain who said "yes" but to leave it switched off on take off and landing.

 

I've used mine throughout a flight - including being the first to know that we were being diverted from Bristol to Cardiff and then after the announcement that the divert was cancelled and we were back on for Bristol, and following the map into our landing in Egypt. Some of this paranoia about electronic equipment on planes is just that. Essentially a plane is a big faraday cage (which is why it's ok to be struck by lightening) which is full of noise on the inside anyway, and I would challenge you to even detect (electronically) that a GPSr was switched on from even inches away.

 

And before you all jump down my throat, PM me and I'll send you the flight numbers I'm on in advance

 

It may just be paranoia about all electronic equipment on planes but on our last flight home from the US, GPS enabled equipment was specifically mentioned in the brochure thing in the seat backs as not being permitted to be switched on in-flight.

 

Oh yes, and if you are caching abroad, don't forget to change the language settings on your GPS to the local language. .

Edited April 20, 2006 by Paul & Ros

[+sTeamTraen]

Thanks for all the help(I think)

 

I think people were having a little trouble working out what you could be imagining might go wrong. GPS units are typically made in Taiwan (that explains the preloaded waypoints in most Garmin units) and they work worldwide - otherwise they wouldn't be much use. They don't have some way to detect that you have crossed a political boundary (international border).

 

That said, there are actually a lot of things which could, at a pinch, need some minor adjustment:

- If you are set up for OS units and the corresponding datum, you need to go to ddºmm.mmm and the WGS84 datum. Most units will do both of these for you at the same time (the UK datum makes no sense if you don't use OS units), but make sure you know how to change both and verify the datum anyway

- If have maps and you expect them to work, make sure you paid for Spain, and that you uploaded them.

- If your caches are described in metres and you normally use feet, consider making the switch for the duration of your trip

- If you use your GPS to tell the time (I do!), set the time zone

- If you want a local to help you out using your GPS, consider learning how to change the language - and learn what the "Change the language" menu option looks like in Spanish so you can change it back!

- If you normally cache in Eastern England, get used to longitudes being West

- If you use rechargeable batteries, make sure you have a plug adapter for the charger

- At the obscure end: if you do manual calculations with UTM coordinates, be aware of the various UTM "blind spots" (if you don't understand this, don't worry, it won't affect you)

[+GAZ]

I did a cache near Benidorm a couple of weeks ago......never changed a flippin thing on the GPSr, which is a Garmin Legend!

[Lentil]

I agree with Gaz.

We flew to Malaga at the end of last year with Monarch Air, and although I didn’t use the GPSr on the way to Spain, I did on the return journey.

 

I first asked the hostess if it would be ok to switch it on. She didn’t know what a GPSr was, but did show an interest in it and agreed to ask the pilot if it was ok. Unfortunately by the time she gave me the ok we were over Madrid, but still it was pretty cool reading off the places underneath the aircraft and watching the speed and direction.

 

Before leaving UK, I checked on ‘Google Earth’ which caches would be possible around the area I was travelling to, and then just downloaded the cache details into the GPSr in my normal manner.

 

As has been mentioned before, when you get to Spain, the only other thing you need to do is make sure you leave the GPSr switched on with a good lock on the satellites for around fifteen minutes before you go looking for your first cache and you should be ready to go. It would also be a good idea to do this when you get back to UK.

 

Have a good holiday.

 

Lentil

[+gazooks]

I agree with Gaz.

 

Took my GPS to Cyprus a couple of weeks ago and changed nothing. Found 4 out of 4 with no probs.

 

go for it.

[+The Blorenges]

I did a cache near Benidorm a couple of weeks ago......never changed a flippin thing on the GPSr, which is a Garmin Legend!

 

I've used my Vista C in South Africa, Tunisia, Libya, Sweden, and many other places. All I do is switch it on, manually tell it on the satellite screen roughly where I am - you don't have to do this but it does speed up the aquisition of the satellites. I always leave it on Lat/Long WGS84 and away it goes. I also have MapSource loaded so for Europe I always have a street map.

 

Being really sad I also often use it on planes usually connected to my laptop so I get a BIG screen realtime track of where I am! So when the pilot says, "if you look out of the left hand side of the cabin you can see Paris then I can double check this.....

 

You can also load the track created into Google Earth......told you it was sad.....

Chris

[+tteggod trackers]

paul and ros lets hope the pilot didn't turn off his gps off inflight, its my understanding its only irish bound ryanair flights that do this!!!

[Dave from Glanton]

It may just be paranoia about all electronic equipment on planes but on our last flight home from the US, GPS enabled equipment was specifically mentioned in the brochure thing in the seat backs as not being permitted to be switched on in-flight.

I wonder if what the airline is actually concerned about is devices which transmit their location back to somewhere using something like GSM/GPRS - they could be problematic. Far easier for them to say "no GPS" rather than to have to differentiate between specific types.

 

Similarly, they always say "no mobile phones" - they don't say "no mobile phones, except for those new ones from SonyEricsson which have the 'aircraft' mode on them which disables the transceiver"

[+Boardslider]

Similarly, they always say "no mobile phones" - they don't say "no mobile phones, except for those new ones from SonyEricsson which have the 'aircraft' mode on them which disables the transceiver"

 

Funnily enough the BA pre-flight stewardess speak, does mention these now, but says they still have to be off for take off and landing.

[SandyGarrity]

do we have to do anything to our gps for it to be accurate

 

Switch it on

 

Have a great trip