+kbootb Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 Just saw this on the BBC news site. Geocaching didn't even get a mention Quote Link to comment
+Stuey Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 Geocaching didn't even get a mention "This will have many practical applications: <snip>, and a lot of other useful applications." Does that count as a "mention"? Quote Link to comment
+klaus23 Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 I thought that chap holding the GPS looked every bit a geocacher. Big jacket and sturdy boots. If only we could see inside his pockets - he's probably got 4AA batteries, a pencil, and a travelbug... Quote Link to comment
+wildlifewriter Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 I was interested in the paragraph which reads: "It is expected the European network will have orbiting satellites in place to begin operations beyond 2008. " ... that'll be 2011, then. Quote Link to comment
+Wadders Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 And go three times over budget !!!! Quote Link to comment
+klaus23 Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 ...and ze Germans will have paid for 95% of it Quote Link to comment
+McDeHack Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 (edited) I will chuck a quid or two in, if they were to mention caching. Edited December 10, 2004 by McDehack Quote Link to comment
+Brenin Tegeingl Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 (edited) Have a look whose in one of the consortium, iNavsat consortium comprises Thales, EADS and Inmarsat. If this one wins, some of the Americans will be throwing a tantrum . For those who don't ever pop into the main forums, I'm reffering to Thales who are a French company, who manufacture Maggelan GPSr's. Think Iraq. Dave Edited December 10, 2004 by Mancunian Pyrocacher Quote Link to comment
+Haggis Hunter Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 Geocaching didn't even get a mention If Geocaching didn't get a mention, why give them the pleasure of getting advertisement on here Quote Link to comment
+The Hungry Caterpillars Posted December 16, 2004 Share Posted December 16, 2004 If Galileo is actually launched will current GPS units be able to use the signals.Why are the Americans apperently so upset by the Galileo project??Will it actually go ahead? Quote Link to comment
+Brenin Tegeingl Posted December 16, 2004 Share Posted December 16, 2004 If Galileo is actually launched will current GPS units be able to use the signals Yes the two systems are compatable Why are the Americans apparently so upset by the Galileo project? Because they wont have control off it, hence the aggrement to switch of the signal any any area were there is military action involving the other. Also Galileo will have services for sale, on top of the free basic signal. And finally the Chinese are getting involved, as the tests on the Yang See river showed. Will it actually go ahead? Yes, because of the above, and also the initial spending on it is being sorted for allocation. Dave Quote Link to comment
+The Hungry Caterpillars Posted December 16, 2004 Share Posted December 16, 2004 Thanks for the reply but why are the Americans so upset about not controlling it when it is owned and paid for by the Europeans and is being paid for by the Europeans? And what is it to do with the Chinese?Sounds very strange to me Quote Link to comment
+The Hungry Caterpillars Posted December 16, 2004 Share Posted December 16, 2004 Aah,gotcha-a bit of work on the internet explains all Thanks for the input Mancunian Pyrocacher Quote Link to comment
+The Forester Posted December 17, 2004 Share Posted December 17, 2004 Excellent news, kbootb! There had been some very serious 'differences' between the Italians and the Germans, but fortunately they did the adult thing of keeping lines of communication open and they have now reconciled their differences and restored their previously healthy working relationship. Don't worry about the 2008 completion date. We'll be able to use the system long before then, just as some of us were using NavStar GPS for 10 years before it was finally commissioned and certified. Abolition of Selective Availability reduced the error by about two-thirds. WAAS/EGNOS has further reduced the error by about the same proportion. Galileo will reduce the error by about two-thirds again. Probably the biggest improvement will be in urban areas, as the number satellites increases from a couple of dozen to five dozen. The Murricanes are miffed about Galileo for several reasons. It will break Uncle Sam's mononpoly on SatNav (Russia's Glonass is now a shadow of its former self and is fading). There had been some discussions in the Pentagon about starting to charge civilian users for the service, but with Galileo online that will become completely impractical. GPS is used for several things other than navigation. Its extremely precise time signals are used for all sorts of applications, from synchronising alternating current phases in power distribution grids to synchronising frequencies in cellular telecoms. With the world becoming more and more dependent on the service for such basics of 21st century life as electricity and telecomms, the US military has enormous potential power. Europe's civilian Galileo takes that power away from the Murricane military at a stroke. Hence they're a bit miffed. Just as Airbus Industrie broke Boeing's global monopoly over large airliners, so too Galileo breaks the Pentagon's monopoly over SatNav. Cheers, The Forester Quote Link to comment
+spioradsaor Posted December 17, 2004 Share Posted December 17, 2004 Can I switch ma WAAS back on then Quote Link to comment
+The Forester Posted December 17, 2004 Share Posted December 17, 2004 Can I switch ma WAAS back on then Why ever did you switch it off? Do you disconnect a couple of the spark plugs from your car's engine when you go out on a cache-hunt? If not, why do so to your GPSr? Cheers, The Forester Quote Link to comment
+Nellies Knackers Posted December 17, 2004 Share Posted December 17, 2004 Thanks for the reply but why are the Americans so upset about not controlling it when it is owned and paid for by the Europeans and is being paid for by the Europeans? And what is it to do with the Chinese?Sounds very strange to me The phrase "power crazed psychopaths" springs to mind Quote Link to comment
+Cryptik Souls Crew Posted December 17, 2004 Share Posted December 17, 2004 Can I switch ma WAAS back on then Why ever did you switch it off? Do you disconnect a couple of the spark plugs from your car's engine when you go out on a cache-hunt? If not, why do so to your GPSr? Cheers, The Forester My car runs faster with all spark plugs connected, my gps runs slower with WAAS enabled. I don't understand your analogy. Quote Link to comment
+The Forester Posted December 17, 2004 Share Posted December 17, 2004 my gps runs slower with WAAS enabled. Does your WAAS-enabled GPS run slower than you can walk? Quote Link to comment
+Cryptik Souls Crew Posted December 18, 2004 Share Posted December 18, 2004 my gps runs slower with WAAS enabled. Does your WAAS-enabled GPS run slower than you can walk? We already established I was driving my car, firing on all cylinders ;-) If you need WAAS for geocaching (even though probably less than 1% of caches were placed by a cacher using WAAS corrected coordinates) then you really aren't looking hard enough. Waiting for those map redraws while its turned on is a PITA, especially when you are approaching the junction and need to know which lane to get in now, not in 30 seconds time... Quote Link to comment
+The Forester Posted December 18, 2004 Share Posted December 18, 2004 Waiting for those map redraws while its turned on is a PITA, especially when you are approaching the junction and need to know which lane to get in now, not in 30 seconds time... That sounds like a mapping software issue, not one of processing the satnav data into a useable fix. My Magellan has no problem producing a fresh fix every second -- with or without WAAS. The issue of whether the increase in accuracy from 3 metres to under 2 metres is perhaps moot because the resolution of the DD.MM.MMM format which we use in geocaching is coarser than the accuracy which Galileo will give us. The major advantage to us geocachers will be in the greatly increased number of available sateliites which will be a boon in built-up or very craggy areas. Quote Link to comment
+Cryptik Souls Crew Posted December 18, 2004 Share Posted December 18, 2004 That sounds like a mapping software issue, not one of processing the satnav data into a useable fix. My Magellan has no problem producing a fresh fix every second -- with or without WAAS. Processing the correctional data obviously uses cpu time which could otherwise be used for map redraws, and for me it's not worth it just to gain a little more accuracy. Not that my Garmin takes any notice of the EGNOS birds at the moment anyway! More satellites is always good, getting a fix in London can be a nightmare... Quote Link to comment
+The Forester Posted December 18, 2004 Share Posted December 18, 2004 getting a fix in London can be a nightmare... I know exactly what you mean. Yesterday I did a cache trail (a multi) along the main thoroughfare of the old part of Edinburgh. I walked about half a mile without getting a single good fix. In the end, I went to the public library and plotted the final fix on a very large scale map to see where I should be going. Having a constellation of 60 sats will make such treks a lot easier to navigate with our GPSrs. Cheers, The Forester Quote Link to comment
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