GPS Epoch Issue

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  • 21 Feb 2019 23:57
    Reply # 7177889 on 7177426
    Deleted user
    Annie Hill wrote:
      My latest one has a lot more memory than its predecessors, to try to avoid this built-in obsolescence, but I can't seem me getting any more out of a $1,000 phone than I do out of a $200 one.

    Generally these days you can get a very good phone for just under NZ$200 and up, which will do just about anything that most people need to do. Minimum workable memory these days would be 16GB with the ability to add memory via an SD card. With a 16GB phone roughly half of that should be available after the OS and a few apps are installed. My considerably more expensive phone has 32GB of internal memory, half of which is still free after the OS and a lot (of useful) apps are installed. My 32GB SD card is still quite empty although there are a lot of photos, and music, and some videos on there. Certainly if and when I need to replace the current phone I expect I will spend a lot less than I did previously, and 32GB of memory can now be had in phones less than $300. I am of course talking about Android phones, anything Apple is going to cost a lot more and without expandable memory.

    What extra would a $1000 phone get you? More internal memory, faster processing power, a better camera and better display resolution for a bigger screen, if you feel that is needed, and for a few phones more robustness and waterproofing. But for a restrained budget a lot less money will buy a very good phone. Samsung, Oppo, and Huawei are just three brands here in NZ who produce very good, but lower cost phones. There will also be others. It is also worth noting that today's $200 phone is the equivalent or better than what would have been a much more expensive phone not that long ago.


    Last modified: 22 Feb 2019 04:57 | Deleted user
  • 21 Feb 2019 20:11
    Reply # 7177426 on 7170066
    David wrote:

    Ahem. You asked about getting the GPS in your phone to do something reliably useful. I was saying that a marine chart app would do that.

    But since your trusty Garmin 76 is going to keep on providing you with a position to pencil onto your paper charts, it no longer matters.

    My misunderstanding, David.  By 'you need a marine chart app', you meant ' what is required is a marine chart app.'  The question about the phone being trustworthy was largely one of idle curiosity. To date, all my smartphones have proven to have insufficient memory to keep themselves updated (and don't allow a lot of the apps to be moved to an SD card), so I suspect I would need to upgrade significantly, as Paul suggests, before using my phone for a teensy weensy chart reader.  My latest one has a lot more memory than its predecessors, to try to avoid this built-in obsolescence, but I can't seem me getting any more out of a $1,000 phone than I do out of a $200 one.
  • 19 Feb 2019 14:05
    Reply # 7172692 on 7167569
    Deleted user
    Anonymous wrote:

    My deal little Garmin 76 that was given to me in 2001 and works perfectly, will now be obsolete and something else to go into landfill.  And every time I turned it one, it reminded me of my old friend, now long deceased, who gave it to me.  There are times that the 21st century fills me with despair.  I still have my sextant, of course, but liked my GPS to see how miles I'd sailed.  I also found it useful for 'will I get there before sunset?' calculations.  I am disinclined to shell out for another one.

    Phones and GPS.  I must have this wrong, but on occasion I've used the GPS on my phone, via Maps, and when it's lost its phone signal, it also loses its map.  Could one trust it as an alternative to GPS offshore?



    I too love my Garmin 76 and would be very upset if I could not use it anymore.
  • 19 Feb 2019 13:35
    Reply # 7172673 on 7163048

    I have just bought a Motorola E5, all of £70, which is about as cheap as you can go for a smartphone  I baulked at getting a proper water resistant phone, fortunately this one can just be squeezed into my old iPhone aquapac.

     It does have a proper GPS, which should work with phone data switched off.  All phones use mobile towers to speed up the GPS function, but it should not be essential.

  • 19 Feb 2019 00:34
    Reply # 7172089 on 7167569
    Anonymous wrote:

    Phones and GPS.  I must have this wrong, but on occasion I've used the GPS on my phone, via Maps, and when it's lost its phone signal, it also loses its map.  Could one trust it as an alternative to GPS offshore?


    Not all phones have a full GPS. The cheaper phones (and knowing the Grasshopper, it is a cheaper phone!) actually get their GPS signal via the mobile network access towers. Hence if no phone signal, you also have no GPS signal. Putting a charting app on such a phone will change nothing.
  • 18 Feb 2019 13:22
    Reply # 7170832 on 7170512
    Anonymous wrote:
    Annie Hil wrote:

    .Phones and GPS.  I must have this wrong, but on occasion I've used the GPS on my phone, via Maps, and when it's lost its phone signal, it also loses its map.  Could one trust it as an alternative to GPS offshore?



    I have the Navionics App on my phone and have found it to be incredibly useful and reliable. I even use it in my work situation. Even a not expensive smart phone, provided it has a GPS receiver, (which most of them do), can become a chart plotter which may not have all the functions of a full blown marine chart plotter, but comes at a small fraction of the cost, considering that we already have the phone. You do need to download the charts onto the phone, and when using Google maps on a phone the maps need to be downloaded. I have used Google Maps in areas where there is no mobile reception. I did also once manage to get a longitude and latitude out of my phone GPS, but I cannot at present remember how I did that. I don't know that I would trust my phone as a method of offshore navigation without some kind of back-up such a good old reliable sextant. But I imagine that by now there are offshore sailors who have crossed oceans using their phone as a navigation tool.

    I also have a very useful tide app on my phone which provides accurate tidal predictions for all of NZ including all secondary ports. And this was free, apart from the annoying banner of adverts which scrolls across the bottom of the screen, still there is no such thing as free lunch! Tidal predictions are also built into Navionics, but seem to only be for the current month whereas I often need to plan for a month or more in advance with regard to depth of water at different wharves we use.


    Even if your Ipad, Iphone does not have a GPS chip, you can now get a little wireless bluetooth device https://bad-elf.com/collections/bluetooth-gps which will give you GPS anywhere, even in the middle of the Pacific Ocean

    Not cheap though.




  • 18 Feb 2019 05:57
    Reply # 7170512 on 7167569
    Deleted user
    Annie Hil wrote:

    .Phones and GPS.  I must have this wrong, but on occasion I've used the GPS on my phone, via Maps, and when it's lost its phone signal, it also loses its map.  Could one trust it as an alternative to GPS offshore?



    I have the Navionics App on my phone and have found it to be incredibly useful and reliable. I even use it in my work situation. Even a not expensive smart phone, provided it has a GPS receiver, (which most of them do), can become a chart plotter which may not have all the functions of a full blown marine chart plotter, but comes at a small fraction of the cost, considering that we already have the phone. You do need to download the charts onto the phone, and when using Google maps on a phone the maps need to be downloaded. I have used Google Maps in areas where there is no mobile reception. I did also once manage to get a longitude and latitude out of my phone GPS, but I cannot at present remember how I did that. I don't know that I would trust my phone as a method of offshore navigation without some kind of back-up such a good old reliable sextant. But I imagine that by now there are offshore sailors who have crossed oceans using their phone as a navigation tool.

    I also have a very useful tide app on my phone which provides accurate tidal predictions for all of NZ including all secondary ports. And this was free, apart from the annoying banner of adverts which scrolls across the bottom of the screen, still there is no such thing as free lunch! Tidal predictions are also built into Navionics, but seem to only be for the current month whereas I often need to plan for a month or more in advance with regard to depth of water at different wharves we use.

    Last modified: 18 Feb 2019 06:57 | Deleted user
  • 17 Feb 2019 20:19
    Reply # 7170066 on 7170032
    Annie wrote:
    David wrote:

    Phones and GPS.  I must have this wrong, but on occasion I've used the GPS on my phone, via Maps, and when it's lost its phone signal, it also loses its map.  Could one trust it as an alternative to GPS offshore?

    You need a marine chart app. Try going to Google Play and looking for Aqua Map, free to download the app, then pay for the charts. On my iPad (in iOS) I could get an everlasting set of LINZ charts in this app for £9.99 or a 1 year subscription for £4.49 so I guess it's the same in Android.


    No I don't, David.  I am quite happy with paper charts, thank you.  I can see no advantage at looking a something the size on A4 when I can see it on A0.  As usual, I am out of step, but at present I am quite happy being so.  Moreover, I don't have a tablet and can buy a lot of charts for the price of one!!

    Ahem. You asked about getting the GPS in your phone to do something reliably useful. I was saying that a marine chart app would do that.

    But since your trusty Garmin 76 is going to keep on providing you with a position to pencil onto your paper charts, it no longer matters.

  • 17 Feb 2019 20:01
    Reply # 7170057 on 7168326
    Eric wrote:

    Bonjour

    The change should not affect the main GPS function (providing the position on a WGS84 reference) but a side function that provides the UTC time reference. The GPS time is not exactly the same as the UTC (there are few seconds shift) and, for size of the signal issue, the date data is shortened. The GPS signal gives only a week information. If the receptor GPS program is "economic" the decoding from the GPS "date" reference to the UTC date reference could be affected by the present change. The impact would be that the date could be strange (something like 20 years ago) but the time and position would remain good.

    So, please, keep your loved GPS for manny years.

    Eric

    Well, that is wonderful news, thank you so much.  I can usually more or less remember what year it is, but it would be disconcerting to have the time wrong.  I don't quite understand the details, but I am happy with the reassurance that my Garmin (affectionately known as Gremlin) and I can continue with our happy relationship until the poor little thing dies a natural death.
  • 17 Feb 2019 19:48
    Reply # 7170032 on 7167778
    Davidwrote:
    Don't give up on it until you've asked https://support.garmin.com/en-NZ/ about epoch rollover.

    Phones and GPS.  I must have this wrong, but on occasion I've used the GPS on my phone, via Maps, and when it's lost its phone signal, it also loses its map.  Could one trust it as an alternative to GPS offshore?

    You need a marine chart app. Try going to Google Play and looking for Aqua Map, free to download the app, then pay for the charts. On my iPad (in iOS) I could get an everlasting set of LINZ charts in this app for £9.99 or a 1 year subscription for £4.49 so I guess it's the same in Android.


    No I don't, David.  I am quite happy with paper charts, thank you.  I can see no advantage at looking a something the size on A4 when I can see it on A0.  As usual, I am out of step, but at present I am quite happy being so.  Moreover, I don't have a tablet and can buy a lot of charts for the price of one!!
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