Recycling an Android Phone As a Handheld GPS?

imblum writes "So my dad's antique handheld GPS unit just went toes up and I was considering replacing it for him with an old Android Smartphone. All he really needs it for is hunting and camping (no navigation), so I don't want to pay for cell or data service. I found the program Mobile Atlas Creator to download map files onto the SD card, and an app called Maverick Lite to view them. Now all I need is to decide on an Android phone. I was considering a Samsung Behold II ($100-200 on Craigslist), but thought it would be nice to get some input from the Slashdot community. It seems like I can get a lot more functionality for the money out of an old Android than I could from a big name handheld GPS. Does this plan sound reasonable? Is there anything I'm overlooking?"

Comments

Battery life might be a concern.

[h4rr4r]

Battery life will not be as good as on a real GPS, but should be ok.

Re:Battery life might be a concern.

[kurokame]

It might not be a good idea for multi-day hikes, but you can probably get reasonable single-day battery life out of many or most models. Particularly if you power off the other radios, and if you can power off the unit itself when it's not being actively used.

As to why this and not a dedicated GPS unit - sure, a dedicated unit will probably have better battery life, and it might be better for GPS usage in other ways as well. But it's almost certainly less flexible. I can really only use it for GPS - what if I also want to take pictures or make notes about each location I'm at? Sure, I could carry more dedicated devices to handle those functions. But at some point, isn't it worth carrying one device which can serve several functions while fitting in my pocket? Also, a dedicated device probably comes with the software package that it comes with. Adapting a smartphone means that you're running a mobile computing platform which just happens to have a GPS sensor - you can probably pick among several options for the software, or even program your own. Some smartphones also have additional sensors like accelerometers or compasses which could improve the functionality - not all, of course, but potentially valuable if you can get it. Maybe some dedicated GPS units have this as well, but I doubt that the really cheap ones do.

For the subby, the situation they describe really does make it sound like a dedicated unit is at least worth a serious look. A dedicated unit is more likely to "just work" and that's likely all the guy wants.

Re:Battery life might be a concern.

[humblecoder]

As someone who owns an Android phone AND a dedicated GPS, perhaps I can inject something into this conversation:

Another consideration is how well it will hold up under the elements. Even the cheapest Garmin eTrex (which I own BTW) is pretty rugged. I wouldn't trust my Android smartphone out in the woods in the rain, mud, etc. Some other pluses of going the dedicated route:

- Battery life is better on the dedicated GPS, and when it does run down, it takes standard AA's.

- The dedicated GPS seems to have a better "time to first fix" than my Android phone, but that just might be because of the specific model. However, if your one purpose is to do GPS, it makes sense that you would do it better than a multipurpose device.

I do think it would be cool if there was a dedicated GPS that took pictures too. You could use the GPS to geotag the picture and have it as an icon for a waypoint to help remind you what that waypoint is.

Re:Battery life might be a concern.

[Gibbs-Duhem]

I did a reasonably extensive amount of research into how to do this, and I'm pretty confident I know the answer.

1. Get OruxMaps - it allows you to use maps without an active internet connection.
2. While connected to wifi, download the tiles from google terrain (or one of the other map sources available). If you know exactly where you're hiking, you can get zoomed in maps for say a 20 mile square around the center of your hike with amazing resolution.
3. Put your phone in a plastic bag, and only take it out if you actually don't know where you are (I find that I almost always do).

In terms of battery life, I was using my android phone as a camera too, and checking GPS every few hours to verify I was in the right place, and it lasted for three days taking down the battery by 40%. Make sure to turn off the cell tower seeking and such or else you will drain the battery really fast. Airplane mode probably won't allow you to receive GPS, unfortunately, but you can at least turn off wireless, data connections, etc.

If you aren't going to be gone very long, and you want a cool log of your trip, you can have OruxMaps poll the GPS in "power saving" mode, which as far as I can determine seems to mean connecting, and then dropping to low power (non-receiving) mode for 10-20 seconds before polling the satellites again. Then you can tell it to make a "track", and it will record your hike -- average speed, immediate speed at each point, speed distribution, altitude map, total distance, and other cute information.

Hopefully someone will mod this up high enough that the submitter can see it... this is the part of ask slashdot that always confuses me. Hopefully a few hundred other people came up with the same solution, so at least one of us is actually noticed =)

Why?

[dgatwood]

You're talking about spending $100-200 on an Android phone, and you can get a real dedicated GPS receiver for $90 that requires no effort to set up, no purchase of an additional flash card, has a warranty, etc.

Re:Why?

[ProppaT]

Right, but not everyone needs that. I bought a GPS for about $50 and it works great.

I have a cell phone that will play music, games, video, and act as a gps...yet I have an mp3 player because it's a better solution for the task, a Nintendo DS because the games are more than brief distractions, and a GPS because I don't want to pay the carrier for the right to use the GPS chip on the phone. Video, don't really care about video, but I suppose I could do that with the mp3 player or DS if I had to. There's something to be said for single purpose (or focused purposed) items that know what they're supposed to do and do it flawlessly.

Re:Why?

[Bigjeff5]

It's not a purse! It's a satchel, damnit!

Re:Why?

[hey!]

No. It is moronic to be less prepared than you could be. In some cases using a map and compass instead of a GPS is moronic, because it puts you at risk, even if you're pretty good with them.

I've certainly been in that situation. I once got caught on a high plain by a sudden blizzard. The day was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky. I looked up and saw the clouds boiling over the mountain range to the east, and I started running like hell to the west. I had about three miles to where the plain dropped off as the crow flies, maybe twice that on foot. Meanwhile the storm roared down the mountainside like an avalanche. I made it about halfway before it caught me, pelting me with big fat icy snowflakes that were whipped by the wind so they hit like snowballs.

Now, I probably *could* have made it out of there with my map and compass, but it would have been a challenge and taken much longer. Just trying to read the map in the wind and driving snow would have consumed precious minutes. So instead, I whipped out the GPS which made navigating down to lower altitude a piece of cake. Most importantly, it made getting to lower altitude quick. I passed dozens of potential false trails on the way out that I was able to ignore with confidence. After reaching the edge of the plain and descending a few hundred feet, the blinding snowstorm turned into a relatively gentle rain.

I'm not saying throw away your map and compass. You should have them and know how to use them well. But its reasonable and sensible to make GPS your first line of defense (and carry backup batteries) because when you're in trouble, time matters.

Re:Why?

[arashi no garou]

Huh? You're not paying for the right to use the GPS chip, any more than you pay your carrier for the (ahem) "right" to use the audio chip.

I take it you've never been a victim...errr, customer of Verizon. My dad has them, and he actually has to pay an extra monthly fee to be able to move pictures and video from his phone to his computer. It's the craziest shit I've ever seen. I don't care if they have better coverage than T-Mobile, at least I'm on a carrier that gives me complete control over what I do with my phone.

Used GPS are cheap

[winkydink]

I just bought a used Magellan explorist 500 ion Amazon for $7. Why bother with hacking an android phone?

Cell phone GPS not the same...

[Gazoogleheimer]

There's a reason why 'real' GPS units cost more, despite not necessarily having as many fancy 'features' that often end up being unnecessary.

Cell phones rarely have WAAS. Cell phones usually also use the cellular system to receive the phase of the GPS satellite transmission to aid in reception--but--if you don't have any service, the accuracy can get pretty deplorable (well, compared to say my GPSmap 60CSx that usually locks within fourteen to sixteen feet)...the battery life isn't as good, cell phones are horribly made, and the chipsets and antennae are simply much, much, much better in a dedicated unit. Pick up a used GPS--that's a real GPS--and it will be much better suited to hunting and camping rather than looking for the closest Starbucks. Real GPS units have rubber gaskets for a reason.

Re:Cell phone GPS not the same...

[countertrolling]

...chipsets and antennae are simply much, much, much better in a dedicated unit.

He said "Android", not "Apple"...

Re:Cell phone GPS not the same...

[PipsqueakOnAP133]

I know you're trying to be funny, but I've been in a situation where I had to find out how worthless all the "GPS-capable" smartphones in my hiking group really were. For the discussion at hand, it doesn't matter if it's an Android, WinMo, or Apple. They're the same: absolute crap.

You're looking at a few crappy metal traces which are shared with all sorts of other radio gear compared to an actual hard-core ceramic patch antenna.

Want to see quick numbers? Let's go to sparkfun.com:

Cell phone class antenna: GPS-09131
Gain: 2.6dBi

Mini wussy GPS helical antenna: GPS-09871
Gain: 18dB (typical, they claim)

Old school generic ceramic GPS antenna: GPS-00177
Gain: 26dB

A group of us got lost in the hills hiking. Given that most phones depend on cell tower assistance for GPS, all of them couldn't tell us where we were. So after wandering into the next park's guest station, they drove us 45 minutes back to our starting location. Next time, I'm bringing an old WinMo2003 handheld with a GPS CF card because it actually has the right kind of antenna. (as well as WAAS support, etc)

Android phone as a GPS in the woods? Hell no.

For you dad...

[0100010001010011]

Get a good Garmin or other hand held GPS. One that can be operated with winter gloves on or such. If he's like my dad, he's not going to want to mess with any other applications or functionality. He wants a device to tell him how to get to the next camp site or hunting spot. Not listen to MP3s. He's also going to want something that is probably water proof, drop proof and has a battery life much longer than that of an old phone.

Garmins are by far the easiest to hack and even allow you to use your own maps. TomTom from what I've heard locks their stuff down hard. Plus Garmin has been around longer in the 'off road' GPS device market.

For yourself, sure, sounds like a fun project. I'm considering an iPod Touch + Bluetooth GPS + Jailbreaking as an in car GPS device. I was looking for an application to make the maps from OSM, but it looks like Mobile Atlas will do that.

Re:Battery availability might be a concern.

[Peter Simpson]

GS runs on AA, can get spares & carry them with you. Android will want to be charged at some point, and how will it behave if it can't find a cell site? GSM units will keep transmitting, increasing battery drain. Spend a hundred bucks on a new GPS for him.

durability

[KnightBlade]

A GPS device in my experience is much more durable than a smartphone. Smartphones are delicate devices. My GPS has been dropped tons of times, been left in the car in hot weather and cold winter, even sprayed with water on a couple of occasions. It still works. I doubt a smartphone would do that. On the other hand you could use the android for more than just navigation. You could have apps installed that don't need an internet connection, music, videos and what not. Although most new GPS devices do play mp3s.

A real GPS is better suited for wilderness use

[arifyn]

A real outdoor GPS (not a car-nav unit) will have substantially better battery life and be reasonably waterproof and shockproof. It also probably won't be dependent on a touchscreen that is impossible to operate with gloves or as soon as your hands get wet/cold. It may have a screen that is actually readable outdoors. Many GPS units take standardized (AA) batteries so extended trips without recharging are relatively easy.

An android phone will have a bigger, more colorful screen and a more open/versatile OS, and it will undoubtedly be easier to load whatever maps you want on it, rather than vendor-approved, possibly expensive ones. Without some sort of additional protection, though, the device will break the first time it gets dropped on a rock or rained on. It'd be more suited to city and car navigation than camping and hunting.

old android phone is an oxymoron

[Khashishi]

Android is what, 22 months old?

Dear SlashRock- make new wheel with rocks?

[toygeek]

Dear slashrock,

My gene donor's old wheel finally broke. Sure, I could tell him to buy a new one that would work perfectly but I have some old rocks laying around and was thinking of learning masonry so that I could build him a new one. I have pretty much everything I need, and it'll only cost twice as much as a new wheel. I plan on using rocks. I know its older technology, and not as reliable, nor are they made for wheels (not since bronze finally got out of beta, anyway) but I figure that re-using old technology would be good.

So, what kind of rock should I get? Granite? Sandstone? And which quarry should I get it from? I was thinking that granite would last longer but sandstone would ride nicer and would be easier to lob at a dinosaur in case of attack.

Thanks SlashRock!

Re:Dear SlashRock- make new wheel with rocks?

[Anonymous Coward]

"So, what kind of rock should I get? Granite? Sandstone? And which quarry should I get it from? I was thinking that granite would last longer but sandstone would ride nicer and would be easier to lob at a dinosaur in case of attack."

Wheels made from rocks are quite a demanding application. Most rocks are very strong under compression (e.g., in a building or wall), but many are relatively weak under tension with low elastic strength, and therefore they will break relatively easily when a wheel is sheared laterally, such as when rounding a turn (due to forces acting perpendicular to the direction of travel). A way to mitigate this is to make the wheel rather thick, but the disadvantages (weight) are obvious.

Granite is probably a better choice than sandstone because most sandstones have individual grains that are in contact only over a small part of their area, with the spaces in between cemented together by other minerals that are often quite soft (e.g., calcite). Worse, many sandstones don't have those spaces fully infilled (i.e. the sandstones are porous), which does increase their elastic modulus, but makes the material more prone to surface wear (it's easier to rub the mineral grains off the surface -- and it's even worse if water freezes in your neighborhood). Cracks tend to propagate easily in sandstones. By contrast granite and other intrusive igneous rocks are comprised of mineral grains that grew together as the molten rock crystallized and therefore the grains interlock quite tightly with virtually no open spaces between them (i.e. they are holocrystalline and often equigranular). A downside, however, is that some of the more common minerals in many granites (e.g., feldspars and micas) have good mineral cleavage (it's not what you think, it's planes of weakness in the crystal structure), and the more coarse-grained granites therefore tend to break more easily (because the cracks propagate along the relatively large, weaker cleavage planes in the large grains). One way around this is to look for a granite with less of the minerals that have cleavage (i.e. less feldspar and mica) and more of the minerals that don't (e.g., quartz), and to choose a granite that is as fine-grained as possible (then the random orientation of the cleavage planes from grain to grain will mean the cracks can't propagate as far along them before bumping into a grain boundary). As a bonus, quartz has a greater hardness than feldspar or mica, so frictional wear will be reduced too. Therefore, a nice, fine-grained quartz-rich granite (ideally a quartzolite, but they are quite rare) is probably your best granite option. A fine-grained, non-vesicular mafic igneous rock, such as a basalt or diabase/dolerite, might work well too, although they have higher density and don't have significant quartz (but the very small grainsize partly offsets this).

But why limit yourself to granite or sandstone? You can get

Re:Battery availability might be a concern.

[Anonymous Coward]

Airplane mode disables all the wireless including gsm. Battery life will still likely be an issue for hunting, probably can get a few days with occasional checks.

If he's going out into the wilderness any appreciable distance and doesn't know how to use a map and compass, or how to find the four directions without a compass then he might be a candidate for a Darwin Award except that he's apparently already reproduced.

Seriously. A sharp person can learn basic old-fashioned navigation in about ten or twenty minutes. Do that and a GPS device is just a convenience. Nice to have for sure, but out in the wilderness you need some skills too. A knowledge of common edible plants for the area and the know-how to make basic snares and traps for wild game and makeshift shelters is a good idea too.

Re:Battery availability might be a concern.

[arashi no garou]

Anyone who is going hunting and camping (as the Asker said his dad would be doing) and doesn't know the basics of direction finding and survival in the wild has no business there, at least without a knowledgeable human guide. That said, many experienced hunters, hikers and campers these days carry GPS units for that extra added layer of security, as well as making it easy to map out a path in new territory.

Personally, I'd ditch the idea of buying a cellphone to "repurpose" it as a standalone GPS unit. Not only is this inefficient and potentially expensive, it's not really repurposing at all. Repurposing is finding a new use for something you already own and no longer use, not buying someone else's old gear and wasting your time and money on a half-assed solution.

In this situation, I'd prefer my dad to have a true GPS unit that is weather resistant, has long battery life, and (ideally for a hunter or hiker) topographic maps. A device like that has much more to offer than a used cellphone for perhaps $100 more.