<span class="highlight">GPS</span>, Sat Nav why

If you had used them you wouldn't be asking.

You know exactly where you are to within in meters, when presented with a number of alternate tracks in a flat featureless bit of desert country you know exactly where you are. It takes a moment to know exactly where you are, not ages with a map and compass and then not being entirely sure you are where you think you are! Exactly is the operative word here. And when in a town that you don't know you don't need to pull over to read that map or directly, you know exactly where you are and exactly where to go!

"Moving maps" is something that you should see in action. Having a pointer on the screen saying where you are and which direction you are heading is pretty helpful.

Also:
#1 In desert country there are often no signposts and many tracks. Its nice to be certain about where you are, what track you are on and where you are heading.
#2 You can find features on topographical maps with certainty.
#3 You can record track files of where you've been and you can follow track files of where others have been. This is particularly useful where there are no discernable tracks.
#4 You get other interesting info, such as altitude. So you can measure the heights of sanddunes or how high up a mountain you have gone.
#5 If you have an emergency, you can relay your exact location to your rescuers

Let me give you a couple of examples.
Simpson Desert, 1980's. Lots of shot lines off the main track, some well used, none on paper map. One sign in the whole of the Simpson. My paper map (Defence Dpt) at the time was waay out, as the local policeman at Birdsville pointed out. With moving maps it would have been straightforward, not a navigation exercise.
Cape York, 1990's. Cross country track had tracks everywhere. No signs or on map. Trees down (fire) across track, made distance records problimatical. Moving map would have let me know if I was on the right track and how far to go, handy as I has a sick passenger on board.
2006 with moving map. Able to navigate at night along the Kidson track with no thoughts of where are we. Features, campsights etc all found by moving map with paper map backup. Nearest people around 400K away. Very few signs.
People here could give much more graphic reasons I'm sure.
Paper maps have their uses, but the moving map is a giant leap for many travellers.

I used to think the same, then I tried one and now wouldn't be without one. It's not a replacement for maps, but gotta admit pulling a paper map out now is done very infrequently.

Apart form the advanatges when 4WDriving, when on the blacktop being able to type in the address then get turn by turn directions not only makes life easier, but is also safer to IMHO. But each to their own.

Cheers

Captain

What Time says Tim agrees with.

Digital mapping gives a hightened sense of security and confidence in remote country, and reduces the risks of getting lost travelling this great land.

My ipaq 5965 runs TomTom turn by turn mapping as well as OziExplorer and when driving to unfamiliar areas in the city leaves me concentrating on driving not balancing a map on my lap.

Tim

Simply, they are great Toys.

More seriously, a paper map won't show you your current position.

A GPS with moving map capability, or linked to OziExplorer, or similar, will show you exactly where you are, wherever you are.

Did I say they are great Toys!

I think that they are so great that I have two GPS.

To be sure to be sure.

Another example. Heading east from Broken Hill. Most of the roads are straight ,but there is the odd corner.

Sitting behind a road train, the road appears to be straight, a quick look at the moving map on the GPS and there is a service station just ahead. Waited until I passed the servo. Good thing that I did as a vehicle was coming out heading west.

Now I am not saying that you should rely on them totally but they are a good guide as to where the road is going ahead.

Wayne

One of the best aids to navigation going.
Helps with plotting your position on a map, be it paper or electronic.
Cheers
Shawn

Love mine too!!!
Like Wayne said, it's great to "watch" the road ahead and know what's coming up! I have also found it uselful to plot waypoints at home and then "find" the camp ground/river/track/pub we're looking for without having to look to hard. Another thing we do is enter waypoints out on the track and fit them to an electronic map when we get home for future use.

One other time we wanted to get to a particular camp spot before sundown..... our GPS showed the sunset time and we were able to deduce whether or not we had enough time to get there.

Great gizmo's.....

Cheers

Brian

I've heard these questions before and I guess its a fair enough question to ask. As a person who spent his career making maps (paper and digital) I reckon GPS & Sat Nav are the bees knees. To put a simple prespective on it, if you are in a remote are, you can have the most up to date and accurate maps in the world but if you don't know where exactly you are on that map then what value is the map? People have perished thinking they were at one location but in fact where somewhere else and made wrong decisions based on where they thought they were. In its simplest form, a GPS gives you coordinates or lats and longs of where you are so you can pinpoint your location on that great paper map you have.

Obviously having a sextant in you back pocket and knowing how to use it would help too.

My big regret is we didn't have these gadgets (GPS & Sat Nav) when we were field checking the maps because we would have produced much better maps.

Toolman

To paraphrase someone else...You will know exactly where you are when you are lost! There may be a little arrow in the middle of a featureless background on the map but you can be sure thats where you are :-))

On top of all the other things GPS is good for as listed above, one thing was overlooked SAFETY SAFETY............maybe you can read a map fantasticly down to the (i will use an old term) yard but the people with you would not have a clue were they are.

Some one gets hurt!

You may have a sat phone, HF radio or even give a passer by a note saying where you "may be" be .......but with GPS you can be sure down to a couple of (i will us a new term) meters and any one can give the co ords and be sure it is correct.

Or something like that .

Regards Richard

Many Years ago I done my first trip into Sydney in a semi trailer, LOST kept having to stop to check the ubd, not easy in a truck to find places to pull over , Now I moved to Perth last year, people tell me to go there , No problems the GPS guides me there , The truckie asks me what time does the Sun set at ??? I can tell him.I can tell him how far we come, how far to go, what time we will arrive , all by GPS , they are so handy for work and play, go on go spend a few dollars and get a Garmin .

Doug

Emergency services - call in 'there's a fire/mva between town x and town y at GR xxx xxx.

There might be a boat load of roads, but every ambulance, police, fire, etc know exactly where they're trying to get to. Very handy, particularly if you're not in your own back yard.