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Garmin Rino-GPS Show and Tell
jspectre writes: "Garmin, makers of fine GPS products, has a sneak peek of their upcoming Rino (Radios Integrated with Navigation for the Outdoors). A new handheld combination of GPS and 2-way Radio using the common FRS spectrum. In addition to downloadable maps, trip planning, weighing 8.5oz and being waterproof you can "beam" your location to other Rino users while you talk to them. Your location will show up on their GPS display allowing you to navigate to each other. Expected availability, June 2002. Great fun for geocaching parties I'd think."
We've been discussing the RINOs (and all sorts of other GPS and GPS-related devices) for some time over on the geocaching neck of the woods. (At times, the Magellan/Garmin/Lowrance/etc. debate looks like a distro-fest.)
;)
The RINOs have a quadrifilar (quad-helix) antenna, which means they should have reception up there with the Magellan 300-series and Meridian receivers (and the Garmin GPS V). The poor reception of the Garmin eTrex line will not affect them. (And the Garminites all cry "Yipee!" and no longer have to cower before those of us who have been using Magellans the whole time.)
Anyway, for group caching, the RINOs look really fun. I do most of my geocaching alone, so I'd probably pass on them, though.
RINO usefulness for the existing GPS sports:
- Geocaching: Excellent if in groups.
- Geodashing: Maybe, but not likely.
- Degree Confluences: Same as geodashing.
- Geodrawing: Multi-pen art? Cool.
- MinuteWar: Possibly... occasionally.
The same story was posted on the 4th of March by Hemos, see 'Garmin To Marry GPS with FRS/GMRS'.
Al.The Daily ACK - Eclectic posts by yet another hacker
Uh, GPS receivers are just that, receivers. They send no data to the satellites, and they do not operate by making "requests," ala HTTP. By using a standard GPS receiver there is utterly no way the government or anyone else can determine your whereabouts. The only way your position can be transmitted is by using a transmitter like the Rino uses, or something like APRS (Automatic Position Reporting System).
The only thing to be worried about right now would be cell phones incorporating GPS technology that transmit your location, something which the government is considering mandating.
Of course the black helicopters can always find you, GPS or not.
-Vercingetorix
"Necessitas non habet legem." -St. Augustine
"(*) Quiet codes are little bursts that are sent prior to transmitting, so that multiple people can share the same channel. It's not perfect, but it works pretty well."
Actually the "quiet codes" are subaudible tones that open the squelch of the radio when received. Also called CTCSS (Continuous Tone Controlled Squelch System), they've been in use for years. They are not "little bursts".
Topozone is cool, but I like how eParka maps are configurable and rendered on the fly. You can't build an elevation profile of a trail/route on topozone.
I have it in my car.
The display gets these little pictures like the road signs for road works, and others for traffic speed etc.
It just routes around them, only seems to bother if the traffic is very slow for a long distance though.
I guess it takes the data from the Traffic Master which gets info from the road side traffic sensors and gantrys etc. and pumps it into the (Siemens?) navigation system.
Sorry, don't have many more details, it's like all built in, car's still on warranty, so have not got round to hacking around in it yet.
threadeds blog
While there is a lot of "open source" map data out there, there aren't a whole lot of free tools that will help you use it.
The tools and data fall under the GIS heading. Check out these sites to get started:
I've used these tools to build maps of GPS tracks on my website. A couple examples:
I've done most of these maps with a lot of manual labor...if anyone knows of open source/free ways to improve the process, I'd appreciate it!
This is no different than what happens on VHF Ham's that use a Mic-E encoder for APRS position reporting. There is a 1/4-1/2 second 1200 baud data burst at the end of the transmission. It's really not annoying, and when you consider that either 1) the communication is important enough that you really shouldn't care about being interrupted for 1/4 second when someone else talking on a channel you are using is interrupting you for far longer, or 2) you wouln't even hear it anyway if you are using a coded squelch.
:)
This whole product undoubtadely evolved from APRS. Anyone really interested in this unit would be blown away by APRS - It's the same idea but wider-range, internet-repeated, and has digital messaging capabilities.
~GoRK