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Garmin Vista - Accuracy Circle on Map Screen


Guest Point2Point

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Guest Point2Point

I don't quite understand the 'Accuracy Circle' that the Vista draws on the map screen. I would think that the circle radius should be drawn at the current accuracy reading of the GPSR. But mine always seems to be drawn at about 1000' radius. I can't find any detailed info about this in the manual or on Garmin web site.

 

Anyone know the details of how the accuracy circle is supposed to work and thereby defining its practical use?

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Guest Reservoir Dog

P2P:

 

From the manual:

 

"The Etrex Vista uses both map resolution and GPS accuracy in defining your location to a point within the circle. The smaller the circle, the more accurate your location."

 

Does that help?

 

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Terry (Reservoir Dog)

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Guest gstrong1

The only time the accuracy circle comes up is when I zoom in to 500 ft. or closer. I rarely zoom in that close, so I hardly ever see it.But I wish Garmin would add in an option to shut it off completely. Pretty useless as far as I'm concerned.

 

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Gary "Gimpy" Strong

Rochester,NY

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Guest turken

yeah. I have a Garmin Legend, and I'm not all that impressed with the accuracy circle... I usually run with the zoom too far in/out to see the circle, and when it is there, It isn't really helpful. I have seen the circle change sizes though as the GPSR picks up more sattelites, so It must be based on the unit accuracy in some way.

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Guest Reservoir Dog

It's just a signal strength indicator. I used it this weekend while driving to a town about 50 miles away. It did help me find the direction arrow, which is probably a bigger plus than knowing the strength.

 

rd.gif

 

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Terry

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on calculation, but also some error in the map itself. We all know the base map is far less accurate then the Mapsource data.

 

I actually find the accuracy circle useful when caching. As I get real close I zoom the map page in and if the cache waypoint is within the accuracy circle then the GPS has gotten me about as close as it can and I start searching for the cache.

 

It is a shame that Garmin does not explain features like this with more detail. It would be nice to know how much of the accuracy circles diameter is dependent on receiver accuracy and how much dependent on the maps loaded. They do this with other features like averaging and EPE calculations. icon_frown.gif

 

Later

mcb

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on calculation, but also some error in the map itself. We all know the base map is far less accurate then the Mapsource data.

 

I actually find the accuracy circle useful when caching. As I get real close I zoom the map page in and if the cache waypoint is within the accuracy circle then the GPS has gotten me about as close as it can and I start searching for the cache.

 

It is a shame that Garmin does not explain features like this with more detail. It would be nice to know how much of the accuracy circles diameter is dependent on receiver accuracy and how much dependent on the maps loaded. They do this with other features like averaging and EPE calculations. icon_frown.gif

 

Later

mcb

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Guest Choberiba

quote:
Originally posted by mcb:

I get real close I zoom the map page in and if the cache waypoint is within the accuracy circle then the GPS has gotten me about as close as it can and I start searching for the cache.


 

Wow!

 

This is the reason I keep coming back to these forums, you never know what idea someone will come up with that can be incorporated into my cache activities.

 

Thanks MCB (most cunningly brilliant?)

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Guest Iron Chef

I think MCB is right. It is probably a mix of the EPE calculation and the probability of error included with using the map in "overzoom" mode. Garmin warns that maps being viewed in overzoom sometimes arn't correct because the number of reference points isn't high enough for the road to appear as it should. I've use the circle with some success on a few occassions.

 

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-Iron Chef

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

agefive.com/geocache/ ~ Fe-26

Lets Drive Fast and Eat Cheese!

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