Software To Find Averages

[+Silberkoerner]

Hi,

 

i'm very new to GPS and Geocaching.

i own a subnotebook running Windows 2000. As my Garmin Etrex GPS Reciever does not support averaging, i am looking for a Windows Software that does averaging for me when i am on the hunt for a cache. Is there any software available for that?

 

Thanx in advance

 

Alex, new german GEOCacher

[AJK]

I use a garmin legend - no averaging - you don't need it to find a cache, and it has been a matter of debate whether it's useful for hiding a cache.

 

So unless you're thinking of another application for averaging, don't worry about it. Tree cover will throw you off, but eventually you'll get to the general cache location.

 

Even if averaging was available, would you want to spend 10 minutes in one spot waiting for the average? You'd probably be able to find the cache in that time.

 

Have fun, akerin

[+Silberkoerner]

Hello Akerin,

 

i had the problem that i did not find the cache in about 45 minutes. That's the point where i want to get my notebook out of the rucksack and start averaging. Or is this senseless unless the cache owner did not average the coordinates of the cache?

 

Alex

[Taxman003]

I have a Legend too. Instead of averaging you can try the following.

 

Mark your waypoint and head out for a walk. Come back to the same spot (leave your backpack there or something). Repeat as many times as you please and enter the waypoints in Excel or whatever. You can then average them out yourself.

 

Tedious, I know, but I did this for my first cache "Kids Kache - Windsor" and I've been told that the co-ordinates are bang on.

 

Mike

[AJK]

Hello Akerin,

 

i had the problem that i did not find the cache in about 45 minutes. That's the point where i want to get my notebook out of the rucksack and start averaging. Or is this senseless unless the cache owner did not average the coordinates of the cache?

 

Alex

Number of possibilities here:

 

- Cache was just so well hidden you didn't find it (what was the difficulty rating?)

- You were looking for a large box, container was a micro

- Cache was gone (have others previously or subsequently found it)

- Original coordinates were wrong (again look at all previous logs to see if someone mentions it)

- You entered the wrong coordinates

 

I was looking for a cache last week. - GPS jumping all over the place due to a hill and trees blocking signal. In this case the cache was well hidden, and the original coordintates were about 90 ft off. I had forgotten to take the new suggested coordinates. I found it though, but came close to leaving.

 

Would averaging have helped? Probably not, signal was poor anyway (see definitions of accuracy and precision), and original coordinates may have been off. Keep searching.....

[+blindleader]

As others have said above, forget averaging for finding a cache, unless you want to spend six hours set up in one spot, and your GPSR can report to the computer which satellites were used for each reading, and the software can calculate GDOP and reject readings for which GDOP is too high.

 

If there is a particularly difficult location such as N47-42.45 W122-02.50 (big trees), a little bit of scientific reasoning does the trick. In the trees, the higher a satellite is, the more likely you are to get a usable signal. Too high and the geometry (GDOP) goes in the toilette. The best place for satellites is between 30 and 60 degrees above the horizon. I was having the usual trouble in the above location so when I returned home I configured the mission planning software with a 30 degree cut-off angle, which makes for a really ugly GDOP plot. But it shows a pretty good sweet spot for the day between 3 and 4 pm. I was there at three and guess what? I was consistently getting six or seven satellites with an EPE running in the low twenties, plenty good enough for searching. I stopped for a while to admire the satellite screen. It was so beautiful (from a cacher's point of view ). Several hours earlier in the previous day EPE was in the hundreds and I lost lock entirely after a while.

 

Everyone who goes to these lengths, has his or her favorite satellite prediction software. Mine is Leica Geosystems.

[gm100guy]

visual gps

 

Try this software for averaging your position on a laptop. I have used it before to check out my unit.

 

[+dino_hunters]

Another option for you is to sit for a few minutes, and let the tracklog track, based on time. Then, look at the sguiggles on your map screen. our average location is in the center of the squiggles.

[+Silberkoerner]

Thank's to all.

 

That helped a lot.

 

Alex