Slashdot Mirror

I'd rather be out GeoCaching. Safer, legal (well no one can arrest you for hacking at least), and there's treasure to be found!

Anybody else use their GPS units for Geocaching? (Sort of a treasure hunt using GPS). In practice, the 100 metre figure is a 'guaranteed' level of accuracy, as i have never been anything like that far off. As it is a long weekend here, some friends and I have been using an old Garmin 45 to find all the geocaches within an hours drive of where we live. All caches so far have been within 10 metres of the waypoint, and the three we found today (one in the dark!) were within 3 metres of where the unit said the waypoint was. It is also quite common for match racing yachts to have centimetre accuracy units (often one in the bow _and_ stern), although the expense of these units (~$25000) makes for a very steep price/performance curve.

My Cache is located at N 37 50.047 W 122 13.809 A 56,000 km. It contains a compass, a dollar bill and a 5kg nuclear core. Please sign the log.

I've hidden the cache at this coordinates on this companies network's NT server. Feel free to take warez from the cache, but be sure to put something back in return.

New sport! I call dibs!

--

GPS used to have a 'feature' called select availability which could mess up your location readings by miles in some cases. In 2000 Mr. Clinton signed a bill that got rid of that 'feature' and enabled all of us to use our GPS devices with a great amount of stability.

I use my gps a lot when I go on Geocaching excursions. I have noticed that when traveling long distances my location jumps a lot on the screen. Sometimes my car manages to lose a signal and then, BANG, I'm going 120 when my GPS is trying to catch back up with where my car really is.

I don't understand how any company can reasonably believe that they can accurately track a persons SPEED with GPS. The locations are typically accurate to a matter of feet. Sometimes the accuracy can get up to a matter of yards or miles. It all depends on the terrain you are in (Trees, etc), as well as how many of those GOVERNMENT OWNED satellites are within sight range of your GPS.

Somehow I doubt that this car rental agency has their own ring of satellites up in orbit that have an accuracy of mere inches. Furthermore, if this system does exist, it would have to be not only accurate but absolutely fool proof. There could be no error at all in any measurements.

If they had that, they would quickly be out of the car rental business and have a lot of people knocking on their door for service.

-S

Scott Ruttencutter

"There's a party," she said,
"We'll sing and we'll dance,
It's come as you are."