Gps 60 And Time Zones...

[+jollybgood]

I can't seem to find an answer for this one. Maybe someone here knows.

 

I'm in Chicago. I want to route to a city in a different time zone. (for example on the East coast).

 

Does the processor take into account the time difference when giving me an ETA for my final desitnation? I'm never really sure it takes into account I'm losing an hour.

 

On a recent trip I noticed the clock on the unit did change to local time when I entered a new time zone.

 

I seem to recall my GPSV didn't.

[+Latitude 26]

I think the GPSr calculates total travel time without any time zone adjustment. In other words, a 6 hour route takes 6 hours regardless of travelling thru different time zones...

 

Hope this helps.

 

"Bassmedic"

[Team Of Wheat]

I'm not sure of the answer, but I'd also like to know. It makes sense concerning what you say about the total travel time, but it would matter if the GPSr takes into account the local time of the destination when calculating the ETA.

 

I think the question is as follows: Is the ETA always given in the local time at the destination or the local time of the GPSr?

 

My guess is that it's the local time at the destination. I only say this because airlines do this when issuing tickets. The arrival time is always given as the local time at the airplane's destination.

 

Anybody know the answer to this one?

 

BradW0807

[CenTexDodger]

While I haven't specifically tried this, I think the answer is it gives ETA based on the time in the GPS, not of the destination. In other word if you have have an 8 hour trip, and you leave at noon central time, the gps unit will say you will arrive at 8:00pm central time. As far as I can tell, GPS units are ignorant to the ways of time zones. You would think that a $400 machine that knows where you are and what time it is (zulu time) would know what the local time zone is, but has not ever been put in the programming of the units. I was told it would take up too much memory, but I would think that if you put the time zones in the Basemap (not the whole world) it would not take up a significant amount.

[+Sputnik 57]

From what I understand from other posts here, the GPSr data does not include time zones. When you first start up the unit, you need to tell it what time zone you are in, even though it knows exactly where you are. It does all of its calculations in UT (univeral time, not Utah) and changes the display time to the time zone you choose. It gets the time from the satellites, but the time zone from your manual input. I would be very surprized if it "knew" that you were crossing a time zone and adjusted your ETA for that.

[+jollybgood]

Thanks for the feedback. Seems to be some difference of opinion on the matter.

Edited December 31, 2004 by jollybgood

[+WeightMan]

There is actually a way to find out for yourself. I can't because I don't have the maps from two different time zones loaded into my 60c. Simply put two data blocks on any screen that accepts data blocks. Those two should be time to destination and ETA. Now route a trip from one time zone to another. Compare the time to destination with the current local time and the ETA. If, for example, the trip should take three hours to destination, and the local time is Noon and the ETA is 3:00PM then the ETA is still given in your time zone. If the ETA is off by one hour then it is in the destination zone.

 

Give it a try, It should work.

[Toddy]

I recently flew from Calgary to Toronto and as I was flying my GPSMAP 60CS did not change time zones on it's own. It showed travel time and time of arrival according to the original time zone I was in which was mountain time.

[Neo_Geo]

I'm with Sputnik, CenTex and Bassmedic on this. Garmin GPSrs don't do time zones (I guess too many instructions to make such a function work properly). Instead it works with whatever UT offset you select. Since your GPSr won't know anything about time zones, it will display all information based on whatever offset you have chosen. If your GPSr is set for -5 hours offset (eastern time), and you're leaving New York at noon, and your GPSr says your ETA to Los Angeles is 5:30 PM, it means 5:30 eastern time. When you get to Los Angeles, you'll have to set your GPSr just like you'd set your watch.

Edited December 31, 2004 by Neo_Geo