Date: Sat, 10 Oct 2009 06:33:39 -0700
Reply-To: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Maps vs GPS
In-Reply-To: <f700b5ac0910100054n35f94cb1ja1aaddc4e8da7735@mail.gmail.com>
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The GPS system has a few things going for it that most maps don't. For
one, you can use it to find things by Lat/Lon. coordinates. Some out of the
way places are referenced like that in guidebooks or online, so you can
simply enter the latitude and longitude numbers and find out how far away it
is and which direction, etc etc. Most maps don't supply the lat./long.
You can also use a GPS realtime as a speedo/odo when your Vanagon one acts
up or quits. The little Garmin I have for my bicycle can sense and record
movements of ~1 foot. It's about the size of a cell phone and I've been
using it in the Vanagon as my main time/speed/distance instrument lately. I
just recently got a replacement cluster for the van.
For true "Adventure travel" GPS is a real advantage over maps. Many
places I go, many of the "roads" are not on any of maps that I've ever
found. Or there are no 'formal' roads and Google Earth didn't bother to
sat/photo the area in enough detail to be useful finding your way. But you
can enter the Geo coordinates and take the most likely path in the direction
indicated on your GPS and eventually find your way...or easily retrace the
path using the recorded Track feature.
We took an interesting trip to the desert and spent a couple of weeks
exploring using a GPS to find all the interesting hot springs. Google the
Soak Net..It give a state by state listing of hot springs, their GPS
coordinates, the water temp and flow, etc. We had our dirtbikes along, so
we found some very nice isolated springs and some primitive camping spots
that weren't on any of the maps.
I still use the maps too, and I've yet to get a real on-board navigation
system for my Van...Never needed that, really...I could have probably used
one a few times...
Don Hanson
On Sat, Oct 10, 2009 at 12:54 AM, Andrew Grebneff <goose1047@gmail.com>wrote:
> With a proper map you can see the whole route at once, which can help
> you keep it in mind. With a GPS unit's minuscule screen all you can
> see is a wee bit, unless you are using it to navigate to the local
> corner store.
>
> I looked into a Garmin GPSMAP60 but the price of the software soon
> adds up to far more then the unit itself, a real have. So I'm staying
> away from GPS in droves.
>
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