GPS Logging a Trip into Africa

[Daaave]

Hi all,

I was hoping you may be able to offer some advice (I've searched and only come up with some old info).

A friend and I are going to join a banger rally and drive from the UK to Timbuktu in Mali, NW Africa. On our trip we would love to be able to log our route and geo tag blog posts, twitter, photos, etc. What are the things we should consider and do you have any ideas as to the best way of achieving this?

We both have mobile phones with GPS (one iPhone and one Nokia), we assume there will be little or no phone signal through any of the possible countries - Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia & Mali. I assume we will have to log data and rely on internet cafes to upload info, which isn't ideal as that could be very hit and miss and mean big gaps in uploads.

Thanks for your advice.
Dave.

[MaFt]

you could set up a WordPress blog and use the iPhone app. this has geotagging and will also store your posts until you have a connection to upload them. i've not tried it but i'm pretty certain that the geotag will use the coordinates from when you press the button as opposed to when you upload the post.

for the logging you could use motion x gps - again, on the iphone. this is a paid app with a lot of functions and features. there would probably be some basic logging software for free on either the nokia or the iphone though. either that or you could buy a dedicated device for datalogging which would have a far better battery life but then would need connecting to a computer to retreive the logs etc.

you could also upload the logs to something like http://triptracker.net/ which, if i remember correctly, will match photos to the route if they are geotagged and, if not geotagged, according to the time stamp - i'm not 100% certain on that though.

MaFt

[robertn]

Dozens of free apps exist on getjar.com. Theres a couple of good and free mapping apps that I would recommend - trekbuddy for topo work and gpsmid for openstreet map maps. Getjar.com also has iPhone apps (Although I don;t have an iPhone, so have largely ignore them).

Tracking apps are widely avalible. Most will upload in real time. Make sure the one you choose can save files to memory cards and works when out of Celluar coverage. Given roamig most people get charged, watch out for ones taht only work inside celluar coverage.

Be careful about data charges if you a use mobile data while roaming. You can eat up data very quickly if you are not careful. Watch for the online mapping apps - the provider is not paying $10.00 a Meg to send those pretty pictures of the remotest part of Africa - you are.

Be aware that most cell phone GPS's are not as good as dedicated devices, due mainly to the smaller GPS antenna size, and many rely on Assisted Start to get the first fix quickly - they will still get a fix, but without cellular data coverage will take a long time (It can be many minutes).

I use a SE C702 Phone and find, within the limitations described above, its great. I tend to turn off data when roaming, only enable it when I want data connections, so I have control of how much it costs me. Depending on how deep your pockets are, I would look for the same capabily.

[Daaave]

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