Todays ride (which GPS?) ...

I'll keep it brief. One argument, two near collisions with cars pulling out
in front, one p*nct*re, no pump, friends GPS.

Good news is that my puncture happened about 10 metres from a bike shop. I
asked if I could buy a tube, thinking that he'd lend me a decent pump. The
one he tried to sell me came in a box about the size of a brick. I decided
that I might give it a miss. Got a crappy old hand pump, but better than
nothing. Didn't have enough cash to buy a decent one. Tiny bit of glass had
hidden itself in the rubber of the tyre. Glad I checked properly otherwise
I'd have punctured 2 miles later....

Rain was about, with one massive downpour when I was stood under a shop
canopy. Phew!

Took loads of photos of businesses for a website I'm doing. (Hence the
stopping and cycling about lost in Croydon and Sutton etc).

My friends GPS worked well. I've now got a good track of what my cycle was
like via Google maps. Pretty cool.
http://fishpluschips.com/GPS/croydon.php

I'm now seriously considering a GPS system for myself. There's no point
buying a bracket for his one to attach to my my handlebars if I have to
return it soon. After using my friends Magellan GPS315 I've now got some
requirements for one I want to buy. Rechargeable, but I guess buying
rechargeable batteries is a decent enough compromise. Smaller than the
Magellan ideally. Maps are not neccesary. What is missing from this current
one (it may be the gpsu software), is the saving of bearing when saving
trackpoints. A little annoying as I could improve the google maps website by
putting arrows showing my route.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Nick

"elyob" writes:

My friends GPS worked well. I've now got a good track of what my cycle was
like via Google maps. Pretty cool.
http://fishpluschips.com/GPS/croydon.php

Brilliant! Is that automated?

I'm now seriously considering a GPS system for myself.

If I could effortlessly do what you've done there, I'd seriously
consider it myself, too. I'd love to map the Taff Trail.

--
Keith Willoughby http://flat222.org/keith/
Fair and balanced

On Sat, 30 Jul 2005 19:21:13 +0100, elyob wrote:

Magellan ideally. Maps are not neccesary. What is missing from this current
one (it may be the gpsu software), is the saving of bearing when saving
trackpoints. A little annoying as I could improve the google maps website by
putting arrows showing my route.

Any suggestions?

Very few of them actually know bearing (there are a few with compass
built in, but it's generally a very poor compass). It only knows
bearing because it knows where the last point is and where this point
is, so you can always work out the bearing from the tracklog as well
as the unit could (and indeed did in the first place).

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

"elyob" wrote

[snip]


I'm now seriously considering a GPS system for myself.

[snip]

So am I.

There's something called a Garmin Forerunner about which there's a
thread going in rec.bicycles.misc. The title of the thread is
something to do with commuting, because everyone is posting beautiful
maps of their commutes.

As far as I can tell, you only get the pretty maps by subscribing to
some web service, at vast monthly expense, which raises the question
of whether the Forefunner puts out its data in some special
proprietary format, rather than something generic. Come to that,
what kind of plug is on the cable. And will it do maps outside the
USA, even if one does pay a subscription

The Forerunner is worn like a wris****ch. The expensive model is a
combined GPS and pulse monitor, so you can correlate your pulse with
speed and elevation gain - neat.

Other questions I have with the Forerunner is whether it can cope
with things like the UK national grid, and non US geoids that
actually make the Greenwich Meridian go through the Greenwich
Observatory.

Jeremy Parker

On 2005-07-30, elyob wrote:

My friends GPS worked well. I've now got a good track of what my cycle was
like via Google maps. Pretty cool.
http://fishpluschips.com/GPS/croydon.php

That is marvellous.

Regards,

-david

"Keith Willoughby" wrote in message
...
"elyob" writes:

My friends GPS worked well. I've now got a good track of what my cycle
was
like via Google maps. Pretty cool.
http://fishpluschips.com/GPS/croydon.php

Brilliant! Is that automated?

I'm now seriously considering a GPS system for myself.

If I could effortlessly do what you've done there, I'd seriously
consider it myself, too. I'd love to map the Taff Trail.

I used the Google API, you're happy to the source. You need a PHP enabled
server. I'm looking at building a site so others can upload their data.
Would you pay for it?!

"Ian Smith" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 30 Jul 2005 19:21:13 +0100, elyob wrote:

Magellan ideally. Maps are not neccesary. What is missing from this
current
one (it may be the gpsu software), is the saving of bearing when saving
trackpoints. A little annoying as I could improve the google maps
website by
putting arrows showing my route.

Any suggestions?

Very few of them actually know bearing (there are a few with compass
built in, but it's generally a very poor compass). It only knows
bearing because it knows where the last point is and where this point
is, so you can always work out the bearing from the tracklog as well
as the unit could (and indeed did in the first place).

regards, Ian SMith

I figured that out after I posted. If you know where you were before, then
you can work out the direction when you hit your new point. I liked the
Carol part of Countdown, and my maths is okay. But not rocket science maths.

How can I work out the angle between these?

#1 ( -0.2952833333333333 51.385083333333334 )
#2 ( -0.2843333333333333 51.38218333333333 )

or

#1 ("N51°23.1050' W000°17.7170' ")
#2 ("N51°22.9310' W000°17.0600' ")


Thanks

"elyob" writes:

"Keith Willoughby" wrote in message
...
"elyob" writes:

My friends GPS worked well. I've now got a good track of what my cycle
was
like via Google maps. Pretty cool.
http://fishpluschips.com/GPS/croydon.php

Brilliant! Is that automated?

I'm now seriously considering a GPS system for myself.

If I could effortlessly do what you've done there, I'd seriously
consider it myself, too. I'd love to map the Taff Trail.

I used the Google API, you're happy to the source. You need a PHP enabled
server.

PHP is not a problem. I'd be most interested.

I was actually looking at this the other day, with the intentions of
doing it manually, but came to the conclusion that cycling the Trail
would be much easier than trying to come up with the way-points from the
map.

So, you just upload a set of waypoints?

I'm looking at building a site so others can upload their data.

Neat idea. Someone mentioned last year that they were doing something
similar, but he was generating maps. I think using the Google API
produces a much nicer experience.

Would you pay for it?!

Nope. And Google wouldn't be too happy, either :-) (Check the T&Cs)

--
Keith Willoughby http://flat222.org/keith/
"Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief"

"David Nutter" wrote in message
...
On 2005-07-30, elyob wrote:

My friends GPS worked well. I've now got a good track of what my cycle
was
like via Google maps. Pretty cool.
http://fishpluschips.com/GPS/croydon.php

That is marvellous.



Thanks .. It's version 0.1a at the moment ... can't wait to improve it and
also own my own GPS computer one day!

I want to put arrows on it next. Just trying to figure the mathematice
behind lat/long bearings. Well, not now. I'm drinking a beer and half
watching a film.

Also wondering where my next journey is.

In the mean time, check out ...

http://fishpluschips.com/GPS/london.php
and
http://fishpluschips.com/GPS/hello.php (my quick evening sprint)

"Keith Willoughby" wrote in message
...
"elyob" writes:

"Keith Willoughby" wrote in message
...
"elyob" writes:

My friends GPS worked well. I've now got a good track of what my cycle
was
like via Google maps. Pretty cool.
http://fishpluschips.com/GPS/croydon.php

Brilliant! Is that automated?

I'm now seriously considering a GPS system for myself.

If I could effortlessly do what you've done there, I'd seriously
consider it myself, too. I'd love to map the Taff Trail.

I used the Google API, you're happy to the source. You need a PHP enabled
server.

PHP is not a problem. I'd be most interested.

(email me for more info)

I was actually looking at this the other day, with the intentions of
doing it manually, but came to the conclusion that cycling the Trail
would be much easier than trying to come up with the way-points from the
map.

So, you just upload a set of waypoints?


I use gpsu to get the info from the GPS, then I parse that data and get what
I'm interested in. Trying to figure out their XML method as javascript is
far too restrictive. I'd also like to have hover over rather than click
pins.

I'm looking at building a site so others can upload their data.

Neat idea. Someone mentioned last year that they were doing something
similar, but he was generating maps. I think using the Google API
produces a much nicer experience.

Would you pay for it?!

Nope. And Google wouldn't be too happy, either :-) (Check the T&Cs)

sshh .. I know

It'd be a free to use site, but using adsense etc ..