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From: alex <al.m_at_3web.net>
subject: [Paddlewise] Oddities of GPS
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 2004 09:24:04 -0800
Very unusual behavior I observed a while ago in my Garmin Legend.  It showed
my location correctly on built-in world map, but erred by 9-12 minutes (about
15 miles) in latitute and longitude.  This behaviour remained the same when I
panned the map on the screen instead of actually moving myself - position of
marker on the screen map was accompanied by wrong latitude/longitude, when I
compared them to topo-map.  World map is poorly detailed, and was useless in
this area (and I couldn't use my paper-map either, being offshore, without any
specific landmarks in view - and without knowing my position).  Luckily, I've
noticed this before sailing off and simply used a compass to stay on course.
This only happened in some specific world map area - panning other areas
showed everything correct. Also, in a couple of days , when I moved about 30
miles away, everything was back to normal.  And I know for sure that this
particular section of world map was displayed with correct latitude/longitude
a year ago.   Just have no ideas what might have happened.
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From: Dave Kruger <kdruger_at_pacifier.com>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Oddities of GPS
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 2004 11:40:42 -0800
Alex, I have noticed similar errors from trip to trip, but only maybe fifty 
meters or so at most, though.  A shoreline will be displaced maybe 20 meters 
to 30 meters one direction, and a fixed navaid will show as similarly 
displaced on return to its location.

It could be a search of this site may help:  http://gpsinformation.net/  It 
is maintained by two retired aerospace engineers, who have no affiliation 
with any GPS manufacturer, and who have taken on the task of evaluating and 
delineating limitations of various receivers.

If you determine what is causing this, I would like to know!

--
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "alex" <al.m_at_3web.net>

> Very unusual behavior I observed a while ago in my Garmin Legend.  It 
> showed
> my location correctly on built-in world map, but erred by 9-12 minutes 
> (about
> 15 miles) in latitute and longitude. 
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From: <kayakwriter_at_netscape.net>
subject: RE: [Paddlewise] Oddities of GPS
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 2004 14:48:24 -0500
Hey Alex,

Three possibilities come to mind:

1. What part of the world were you in? If it's a "hotspot," might the US military, who run the GPS system, be scrambling the signals available to civilian GPS so as not to assist their opponents?

2. Could you or someone else have accidently reset the map datumn in your unit? That's effectly resetting the zero points for the x any axes or lat and long, and might account for the weirdness, especially if a "custom user" datumn were entered.

3. Solar flares scrambling the signals?

Cheers,

Philip



"alex" <al.m_at_3web.net> wrote:

>Very unusual behavior I observed a while ago in my Garmin Legend.  It showed
>my location correctly on built-in world map, but erred by 9-12 minutes (about
>15 miles) in latitute and longitude.  This behaviour remained the same when I
>panned the map on the screen instead of actually moving myself - position of
>marker on the screen map was accompanied by wrong latitude/longitude, when I
>compared them to topo-map. 
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From: alex <al.m_at_3web.net>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Oddities of GPS
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 2004 18:53:03 -0800
> 1. What part of the world were you in? If it's a "hotspot," might the US
military, who run the GPS system, be scrambling the signals available to
civilian GPS so as not to assist their opponents?

Far from hotspots (Baja), and I can tell you even more - I noticed this
error for this particular worldmap area, planning and marking waypoints,
prior to flying there from Canada.

> 2. Could you or someone else have accidently reset the map datumn in your
unit? That's effectly resetting the zero points for the x any axes or lat
and long, and might account for the weirdness, especially if a "custom user"
datumn were entered.

Well, it returned back to normal after a couple of days, without my
interference.  I confess, I touched "map datum" settings trying to eliminate
the error AFTER the error began to annoy me, (changed it from US to Mex) -
which was one of my blind and unnecessary actions :-),  but didn't notice
any changes.
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From: <Rcgibbert_at_aol.com>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Oddities of GPS
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 21:49:32 -0500
Although, some of your problems are not necessarily related, I suggest a reading of Nigel Calder's, How To Read A Nautical Chart (12 bucks, live a little). It discusses in the chapter, The Limits Of Accuracy, many such problems related to how accurate our charts are and how accurate our GPS units are. If you compound inaccuracies occassionally found in the chart with those sometimes found with GPS, you might see some of the larger variations reported here.

Rob G
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From: Tom Martin <tomhazel_at_grand-canyon.az.us>
subject: [Paddlewise] river protection group holds auction fundraiser
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 20:55:00 -0700
Hi all, thought you might find this helpful for some Christmas shopping and
river advocacy support, all in one. Happy water trails, cheers, tom

RFW Riverwire  AUCTION OFFERINGS EXPANDED
Release date: November 29, 2004

A womens Wonderjacket 200 lifejacket, Pyranha S6 kayak, a raft frame and a
pair of Sawyers new composite oars have joined the mens lifejacket, rafts,
inflatable kayaks and a smorgasbord of accessories, books and maps, hotel
deals, raft rentals and clothing. If you havent signed up yet, nows an
ideal time to register as a bidder and check out the goods at
www.rrfw.org/auction.php. Dont wait too long, though, the auction starts at
noon, Wednesday, December 1st and ends Sunday, December 5th at midnight,
Mountain Standard Time. Support our wilderness conservation and fair access
efforts and do your holiday shopping all at once!

A big THANK YOU to our terrific sponsors and item donors. Check them out at
the website, too, with links from our sponsor page.

RRFW would also like to remind people in the Phoenix and San Francisco areas
of Grand Canyon National Parks CRMP meetings this week. Both will be held
from 4:00pm to 8:00pm. The Phoenix meeting is Tuesday, November 30, 2004 at
the Glendale Community College Student Lounge, 6000 W. Olive Avenue,
Glendale: www.gc.maricopa.edu/map/. The San Francisco meeting will be
Thursday, December 2, 2004 at The Presidio of San Francisco, Presidio
Officers' Club, 50 Moraga Avenue, San Francisco:
www.presidio.gov/Visiting/DirectionsShuttle/OfficersClub.htm. We will be at
both meetings and hope to see you there, too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RIVERWIRE is a free service to the community of river lovers from River
Runners for Wilderness. Membership is FREE! Send your e-mail address to
riverwire_at_rrfw.org and
we'll add you to the RRFW RIVERWIRE e-mail list. To join, visit our website
at www.rrfw.org and click on the membership link. RRFW is a project of
Living Rivers. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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