Active 10 query. Advice appreciated.

[Saniman]

Hi,

I have never used a pocket satnav before and would like to know if this unit will meet my needs. I need a robust handheld GPS with OS map on screen for the purpose of locating and risk assessing private water suplies for a local authority.

I need it to navigate to points in the lake district (the sources of various streams and water supplies) and mark a point on the map once the source has been identified. I then need to take a 12 digit map reference for this point and mark it as a POI with a note on the map. I then need to navigate down to the storage tanks taken from the sources and mark the location and again take a 12 digit grid reference with a POI marked on the map and again a note. I then need to mark POIs for the properties served by the supplies identified (not so vital). The idea is that i can have a handheld with the locations of all private water supplies and storage tanks that a colleague could use to locate the supplies in future for further assessments.

If you have used on of these and think it could do that please let me know. Otherwise please could you suggest an alternative.

Thanks in advance.

[Gibbo10]

I would think that it will do exactly what you require.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/YhQ3fPw8DsFkQV5YuohdzA?authkey=Gv1sRgCOjpoJaL0PLi-wE&feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/LbFTHIH1vUnrNh90t2u4qA?authkey=Gv1sRgCOjpoJaL0PLi-wE&feat=directlink

[planetnine]

By 12-digit I take it this includes the 100km two-letter reference (eg SU, SK, TF, etc)?

Bear in mind that although this grid reference will describe a location to 1-metre accuracy, you are unlikely to get that actual accuracy out of any consumer GPS without some kind of augmentation system -more typically 3 to 5 metres. (With EGNOS switched on I can get between 1 & 2m reported accuracy, but with the EGNOS Satellites typically below 30 degrees elevation in the UK they are easily obscured by terrain or builldings). I'm presuming that this wil be adequate for your use.

The POIs are good for your use and I think you can add a comment or note of up to 255 characters in addition to the POI title, although this is a little fiddly with the joystick. You can also add your own POI icons to the device if you know what you are doing with a graphic package and SatSync. Mr Gibson, who replied to your post first, is a useful friend here with POIs and connectivity.
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planet nine
Lincoln, UK.

[Saniman]

Thanks for the replies. Very Helpful indeed.

By 12 digit i did mean the two letter additional reference but while i am tech savvy, this outdoor lark is completely new to me personally. The reason we are asking for 12 digit is that the legislation we are going to implement gives guidance on what we should be doing, but gives little indication as to how.

I'm the most tech savvy in the office so it has fallen to me to buy the navigation kit. Thankfully i live 15 minutes drive from keswick and the shops there have some demo models i can go play with.

I hope the inaccuracy of the GPS aspect of the unit will be offset by the detail on the OS map. I was aware of this limitation but cant do anything about that and will just have to work with it. In reality it shouldnt be a problem and much better than marking everything on a paper map only.

Thanks again. Ill keep an eye on the forum to learn more about these units so as not to ask silly questions.

Regards
Saniman

[BigPerk]

And if you opt for the Route Planner, though at extra cost, you should be able to upload your routes and POIs to the PC and print from there (though I haven't actually had to try it personally so don't know quite what you get).

Also others here may well be able to advise on better alternatives for getting the information printed out on an OS map using other tools, rather than manually copying details onto paper maps.
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David
(Navigon 70 Live, Nuvi 360)

[planetnine]

Heh, not silly questions, and glad to help. On a 1:25k paper map 1mm represents 25m if that is any help, so 5m of uncertainty would be a fifth of a millimetre at that scale.

1:25k is the closest scale OS map that Satmap produce as standard, although I'm sure that they would be able to supply OS 1:10k as a special order if their licencing agreements allowed it (not sure how protective OS are with these). What scale paper maps do you usually use?
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planet nine
Lincoln, UK.

[planetnine]

Here are a few screenshots to illustrate scale on a 1:25k OS map. The two red POIs are 100m apart and the red and green POIs (point2 & point3) are 10m apart. You can see the limitations of the scale of the map at that zoom level, so 5m GPS uncertainty probably won't matter for your application.












And there are 256 characters available in the POI description for a short note. There is a way, using the Satsync exporter, of putting a whole POI folder's worth of all this info into a spreadsheet.





Different POI icons can be chosen, and as I mentioned before, you could create your own for this job.
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planet nine
Lincoln, UK.

[Gibbo10]

[planetnine]

Heh, but how close will it drop you to the container? how accurate have you found it to be in the field?

I seem to be getting very repeatable results when EGNOS is picked up, but that's not alway possible at ground-level at our latitudes.
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planet nine
Lincoln, UK.

[Gibbo10]

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