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An interest in the technology?


Crid

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I was out caching recently with a friend. He's not a geocacher as such, but he's come along caching with me several times and really enjoys it. We both work in IT (although different areas of it) and we got to talking about the technology behind GPS.

 

I'm a geek through-and-through, so I find GPS fascinating from a technology point of view. So I came to geocaching through learning about GPS. Even though I know how GPS works, I still find it amazing that it works so well. So although I cache and map, it's fair to say I'm pretty inseperable from my GPS - walking, cycling, driving - I've nearly always got it with me. In fact, I have two now (bought a Colorado several months ago).

 

My friend on the other hand isn't interested in how GPS works. But he enjoys geocaching because it's an interesting use of existing technology. A treasure hunt for the 21st century. (He also enjoys traditional treasure hunts where several teams are competing against one another at the same time). He's borrowed my GPS a couple of times so that he could show other people what geocaching is about. He's also taken the GPS paragliding and we had fun looking at his tracks in Google Earth (showing the altitude). He's more interested in the uses of the device than the workings of it.

 

I'm curious to know what other cachers' opinions are of GPS. Are you fascinated by how it works, or is it just a tool to use?

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I was out caching recently with a friend. He's not a geocacher as such, but he's come along caching with me several times and really enjoys it. We both work in IT (although different areas of it) and we got to talking about the technology behind GPS.

 

I'm a geek through-and-through, so I find GPS fascinating from a technology point of view. So I came to geocaching through learning about GPS. Even though I know how GPS works, I still find it amazing that it works so well. So although I cache and map, it's fair to say I'm pretty inseperable from my GPS - walking, cycling, driving - I've nearly always got it with me. In fact, I have two now (bought a Colorado several months ago).

 

My friend on the other hand isn't interested in how GPS works. But he enjoys geocaching because it's an interesting use of existing technology. A treasure hunt for the 21st century. (He also enjoys traditional treasure hunts where several teams are competing against one another at the same time). He's borrowed my GPS a couple of times so that he could show other people what geocaching is about. He's also taken the GPS paragliding and we had fun looking at his tracks in Google Earth (showing the altitude). He's more interested in the uses of the device than the workings of it.

 

I'm curious to know what other cachers' opinions are of GPS. Are you fascinated by how it works, or is it just a tool to use?

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It's a cool tool. I have a basic understanding (and that could be wrong!) of how the system works, and don't really want to know more.

 

By extension I know what buttons to push to do what I want on my GPS, though I am sure that it can do many more things than the few functions and features which I use.

 

This question reminds me of the early days of CD-ROM, when the disk had way more storage space than was needed. It was (and may still be) common for developers to include extraneous embedded software like games, music, bonus programs, etc. called Easter Eggs. Only the real geeks that were curious enough to search the disk would find them!

 

I guess I'm just not that curious! If you're like me and want somebody to point out the hidden stuff, see http://www.eggheaven.com/eggs/software/

Edited by TheAlabamaRambler
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I'm an engineer by profession and things like this have always interested me. Most people take for granted that they turn the unit on and it tells them within 6 feet or so where on the earth they're standing. It's hardly a simple process - it involves some very clever hardware and software to achieve. Understanding how it works doesn't diminish my fascination - it probably makes me appreciate it more than the average joe.

 

Every time I turn mine on, I'm amazed that they could build that capability into such a small, light unit ...and for so little money. Incredible! :D

 

I feel the same way about my cell phone, but that's for another topic :)

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Great question! For the most part, its just been a handy trinket to make my job easier, and my fun more fun. But I do find how it all works fascinating. Realizing that a handheld GPSr is the first "thing" specifically designed, engineered, and developed to make use of the Theories of Relativity is such an eye-opener! Will never take the difference between decimal degrees and decimal minutes for granted again.

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I'm more interested in the technology around caching then I am in the actual mechanics of how GPS itself works. I'm always interested in tweaking how I keep track of caches in GSAK, which macros I use to send data to the GPSr, ways to filter and slice the data, looking at maps, recording track logs, geotagging photos, etc.

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It's a pretty neat tool. The tech is nice, too. My dad worked for the USAF on the program that makes it work; his job was to make it keep track of airplanes, where they were and where they should be. Kinda neat. Without the tech, we wouldn't have the tools. It does triangulation for you, which I'm sure would be rather a nightmare with map and compass. Yeah, OK I've done it back in high school Earth Science, and it's not brain surgery or anything, but doing it with a bunch of poodle-haired snobs who'd rather be getting thier toes done than be out in the woods was a nightmare. It left a bad taste in my mouth. Eventually I just threw my arms up and said "I'm going to the flagstaff. See you there later." :) I like it as a tool and as technology. A little unnerving that we've got all these satelites flying around up there that can pinpoint your position to within 10 feet, but if I don't want to be found I can always turn it off.

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The GPS is a magic and wonderful toy to help me find little bits of plastic. The technology is also quite cool that makes it work.

 

I'm a techno-geek by profession and spend most of my days messing with hard drives - and really enjoy it. But I want to get away from all the techno-blather, and geocaching helps me do that. So by choice, that GPS is a toy. If I started taking it apart, and really dialing on on how it works, what the sample rate and frequency is, the granularity of the sample, blah, blah, blah, then sooner or later it would become work.

 

So it's a spiffy toy.

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A little unnerving that we've got all these satelites flying around up there that can pinpoint your position to within 10 feet, but if I don't want to be found I can always turn it off.

Some things you DO need to know! A GPS is properly a GPSr and the r stands for receiver... it does not transmit your location! You can find where you are but no one else can.

 

Certain Cell phones and other GPS-enabled devices add a transmitter, and those can be located.

Edited by TheAlabamaRambler
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I'm curious to know what other cachers' opinions are of GPS. Are you fascinated by how it works, or is it just a tool to use?

 

Both. I'm sitting in front of a system right now that simulates the entire GPS satellite constellation, while testing a commercial aircraft navigation system that uses GPS, I'm around the technology all day, and it stilll fascinates me.

 

For my wife, it's more of a tool we use when caching and hiking.

 

A little unnerving that we've got all these satelites flying around up there that can pinpoint your position to within 10 feet, but if I don't want to be found I can always turn it off.

Some things you DO need to know! A GPS is properly a GPSr and the r stands for receiver... it does not transmit your location! You can find where you are but no one else can.

 

Certain Cell phones and other GPS-enabled devices add a transmitter, and those can be located.

 

I want to emphasize what TheAlabamaRambler said here. Your GPSr DOES NOT transmit your position to the satellites. They have no idea that we and our puny GPSr's even exist.

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A little unnerving that we've got all these satelites flying around up there that can pinpoint your position to within 10 feet, but if I don't want to be found I can always turn it off.

Some things you DO need to know! A GPS is properly a GPSr and the r stands for receiver... it does not transmit your location! You can find where you are but no one else can.

 

Certain Cell phones and other GPS-enabled devices add a transmitter, and those can be located.

 

Of course a cell-phone transmits to the cell tower, but positioning is done by triangulation from multiple towers if multiple towers are available. If the phone only 'sees' one tower, then the location of the phone will be reported as the position of the single tower. This is from a real-life experience of a friend who is a search-and-rescue member.

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A little unnerving that we've got all these satelites flying around up there that can pinpoint your position to within 10 feet, but if I don't want to be found I can always turn it off.

Some things you DO need to know! A GPS is properly a GPSr and the r stands for receiver... it does not transmit your location! You can find where you are but no one else can.

 

Certain Cell phones and other GPS-enabled devices add a transmitter, and those can be located.

 

Of course a cell-phone transmits to the cell tower, but positioning is done by triangulation from multiple towers if multiple towers are available. If the phone only 'sees' one tower, then the location of the phone will be reported as the position of the single tower. This is from a real-life experience of a friend who is a search-and-rescue member.

 

Sorry, but recently there have been phones released that have a GPS inside them, and transmit coordinates of your location to the network on a regular interval. This data is available to LE on request.

 

Big brother is here.

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I came to geocaching through an interest in outdoor sctivities like cycling and hillwalking, but I have always had an interest in navigation and mapreading, so GPS technology heps feed my geekiness whilst I'm out walking.

 

It kind of reminds me of conversations I've had about mountain bike technology, for some it's more about the mountain, and for some it's more about the bike!

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A little unnerving that we've got all these satelites flying around up there that can pinpoint your position to within 10 feet, but if I don't want to be found I can always turn it off.

Some things you DO need to know! A GPS is properly a GPSr and the r stands for receiver... it does not transmit your location! You can find where you are but no one else can.

 

Certain Cell phones and other GPS-enabled devices add a transmitter, and those can be located.

You have made some good points. While most geocachers seem to understand that consumer-level GPSrs are receivers only, and thus do NOT transmit their location, it seems that the media often has the mistaken impression that a GPS receiver can somehow transmit its location, and this results in some really funny and inaccurate news stories at times! I have seen this same misconception shared by some some newbies to geocaching as well.

 

Incidentally, it always bugs me when people refer to a GPS receiver (aka GPSr) as a "GPS", for, having worked (and trained) for a good part of my life as an electronics engineer and scientist, I am well aware that the term "GPS" stands only for Global Positioning Satellite System (or Global Positioning System, for shorthand), whereas a GPS receiver is, well, properly designated as a GPS receiver or a GPSr.

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I primarily enjoy the devices nowadays simply for their use as a tool in various applications such as geocaching, but I do have a very strong techie background as both an electronics engineer and a scientist, and thus I appreciate the techie side as well. And, for a rather funny slant on the techie side of GPSrs, you may wish to see the new thread which I started this morning, on portable GPSr jammers!

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