Galileo/gps Cooperation Starts

[+Captain Morgan]

Hi!

 

Finally it sems to become true, see:

 

http://www.gpsworld.com/gpsworld/article/a...il.jsp?id=86683

 

So, soon we can't talk anymore about GPS and GPSr but we will probably talk about GNSS and GNSSr.

 

Perphaps the above URL comes obsolete too, I wonder when

they will change it to www.gnssworld.com or something similar?

 

And lots of editing will be needed in geocaching.com too

[+Halden]

Will both GNSSr and GPSr benefit from improved precision by using each others signals?

[+Brenin Tegeingl]

Galileo is proposing cm accuracy for recreational receivers as opposed to m+ accuracy we have now under the US system. So any agreement can only help. Also there has already been agreement with China about them becoming a partner in Galileo, tests have already taken place in China using EGNOS(the forerunner of Galileo), with what has been reported as good results.

Dave

[AJK]

If cm precision and accuracy became a day to day reality, how would that affect geocaching? Maybe hiders would choose to provide slightly offset coordinates so that finders would still have to actually search...

[boreal jeff & sons]

I don't understand how they resolved the security concerns the United States had.

 

Could this mean a reduction in the cost of the GPS units since now there will be competition?

 

As far as being too accurate and making cache offset from provided coords: I thought the ideal of this game was to find caches. If you want to make caches harder to find, put them on a mountain or make puzzles caches.

[AJK]

If cm reality were really possible, it would very difficult to have high difficulty micro or traditional caches. If I know a cache is within 10cm of my GPS, it's going to be easier to find than a 7m search radius. Hiding them up mountains would increase terrain rating but not cache difficulty..

 

For me, geocaching is about getting to the cache site, then spending time trying to figure out where it is. I find it less satisfying to walk to a general area and immediately find the cache. You may have a different perspective.

[+woo2]

I think it would raise the bar for a quality cache. No more of that "dumped a boring container in a boring location" stuff. I'm not thrilled with those as it is. For a good cache it will require a good location, a good hide or a good puzzle.

 

'Tis a good thang.

[+Brenin Tegeingl]

Having a signal that is capable of cm acuracy, and having the reciever produce cm acuracy from that signal is two different things. I've got a stage on a multi that I placed, every time I go back with the GPSr the only one I've got, it shows the location up to 7m away in different directions. All the finders have had no problems with the co-ords! One persons cm acuracy could still be a couple of metres out. Dave

[Kerry.]

Recreational CM accuracy from Galileo is another one of those myths, basically rubbish. Not without augmentation and not without a cost and much of the higher accuracy service that will be offered by Galileo will come at a cost, this is what Galileo is, a commercial system and apart from Open Access Service (O.A.S), which is a free for all the commercial side of Galileo will be encrypted and controlled via access keys etc for a fee.

 

The 95% OAS accuracy for single freq has been quoted as 15 metres horizontal & 35 metres vertical with the dual freq 4 metres horizontal & 8 metres vertical.

 

.... tests have already taken place in China using EGNOS(the forerunner of Galileo), with what has been reported as good results ....

 

EGNOS is not a forerunner to Galileo as EGNOS is only an augmentation system (similar to WAAS) and relies on a system like GPS and/or Galileo to be operational. Without GPS or Galileo EGNOS is useless.

 

Cheers, Kerry.

Edited March 4, 2004 by Kerry.