h a l f b a k e r yThis would work fine, except in terms of success.
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A buddy has misplaced his GPS. It occured to me that a way around this problem would be to combine the GPS with a mobile phone, and allow you to call the GPS up and ask it where it is.
Kyocera Smartphone
http://www.kyocera-..._specifications.htm
Phone, PDA, and claims to have GPS capability. Something tells me that this won't be satellite GPS. Carry on... [st3f, Oct 04 2004]
GPS pager
http://www.eagle-in...m/ssp/tracking3.htm
Costs $12 a month. Weighs 15 ounces. Uses agressively proprietary DelOrmé software. [LoriZ, Oct 04 2004]
WAAS explained
http://www.garmin.com/aboutGPS/waas.html
Wide Area Augmentation System. Say WAAS, because it's fun to say. [notme, Oct 04 2004]
[link]
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My tenuous grasp of cell-phone technology leads me to believe that the location of any cell phone can be determined by the cellular station nearest to it. (This comment comes with my usual health-warning, ie, "I may be wrong, but...". Although I own a cell-phone, I have no idea how to use it to its full capabilities.)
(Edited to remove my misunderstanding of [st3f]'s link text. Apologies.) |
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Yeah I hadn't thought of that cell phone location system. This idea is a fairly narrow fix aimed at solving the specific proble mof not being able to find a GPS unit. This particular situation seems kind of ironic, which is why I phrased the idea in this way. I suppose you could apply it to any small loosable item, (stich a dialable GPS on to anything and you'll be able to find it (aslong as you have a map or another GPS) |
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To me, and probably Zircon, GPS is the system used to pinpoint your location using time-delay from satellites. It's accurate to about 10-50m unless you're in the military. |
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The 3G mobile phone protocol allows mobile phones to triangulate their position using the signals from the 3G transmitter masts. Since all that's needed on the phone is a software app, 3G GPS is likely to appear on quite a few phones in addition to the one I have linked. |
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I have no idea how accurate 3G GPS is, but its existence and easy integration with 3G phone hardware makes it less likely that someone will integrate satellite GPS with a cellphone. |
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Having said all that, I think it's a fine idea. The place you really want GPS is the kind of place where mobile phone coverage is worst. |
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(angel: the link was intended to supplement the idea, not bake it) |
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[st3f] thanks for that.
BTW You can get more accurate GPS outside the military, it just costs a WHOLE BUNCH of money, its called differential GPS and works by correcting the readings with those taken from a known-location fixed base station, every so often. Its used for coastal ship navigation if I'm not mistaken, and we use it for geophysics. |
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// works by correcting the readings with those taken from a known-location fixed base station// |
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...implying that 3G GPS has the potential to be quite accurate... (if only usable within areas of cellphone coverage) |
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If you are using one GPS to find another GPS, you are basically already using DGPS. Your absolute positions are not all that accurate, but since the same location errors apply to both units, the "meet me" accuracy is largely determined by the resolution scale of the two units. (Assuming location readings taken simultaneously, as the locations drift with time.) |
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Didn't someone suggest a PDA/cell phone/GPS just the other day (and it was shown to be redundant then)? |
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I was rather hoping this would be a service to dial that would tell me where I am. |
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I think right now they only have it in the US, but many GPS receivers come WAAS enabled. It uses two towers, one on each US coast to correct for time delay, and atmospheric anomalies. It isn't that much more expensive, and is apparently accurate to within 3 meters. |
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Sh, don't tell waugsqueke! He doesn't suspect anything. |
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