WAYPOINTS!
GPS NEWS - OCTOBER 2008 Side B
 Highlights.
SUMMER PHOTOS: THE B SIDE CONTEST!
Shortlist
of contest entries!
Hits can be on the B-side too. Now, it's a contest
with new judges (i.e. you)! [See
A-List Winners on flip side here] Your top
ten or so overall choices will be posted on GPS Central on Facebook with
entrants sent T-shirts/gear. It also gives us
a great 'excuse' to enjoy more amazing GPS pics and stories... Voting
closed Dec 15, 2008
| WINNERS:
Sue Wight, Roxanne Emblau, Enrico Ferrari, Tim Janzen,
Danger Dan, Bruce Holland, Elizabeth Yak, Robyn Byrne,
Paul Bruch, Mike Downey, Scott Paterson. Congratulations!
We are assembling your prize packages. In
the meantime, you'll be contacted by email for confirmation
of your mailing address. Prizes ought to be in the
mail by Wednesday Dec 17/08. |
| GPS
: AT WORK & UNIVERSITY |
Tim
Janzen (Joint Arctic Expedition, Nunavut) |
  |
| Hi
there. This submission is for the 2008 category of "Road
Trip". Current coordinates: 74-32-27.7N Lat, 082-26-28.5W
Long, Devon Island, NU. |
 
 |
The
enclosed photos were taken during a joint Canada, Denmark,
and Sweden expedition high in the Arctic Ocean, to
take water depths and seismic readings, as well as
some other scientific work. The main goal of
the expedition is to determine the extent of the Arctic
continental shelf for the purposes of offshore boundary
determination under the United Nations Convention on
the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) treaty. We were based
aboard the Swedish Icebreaker Oden, and were escorted
by the Russian Icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy (50 Years of
Victory). I was the Canadian contingent.
The
first photo, 001, is my trusty Garmin GPSmap
60Cx in my cabin window. It was a gift, purchased
at GPS Central. It shows our position at 269
km south of the North Pole. We actually
got much closer to the pole than this, but
I did not have the time to take a photo then.
Photo
002 is two of my colleagues on the ice in front
of our ship, the icebreaker Oden. We
have through-ice, acoustic depth sounding equipment
to measure the water depth. We are standing
on about 2-3 metres of ice, over 4,500 metres
of water!
Photo
003 is our ship's helicopter returning from
a flight to the Russian icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy,
which is assisting us in getting through the
3-4 metres of ice we are traversing.
Photo
004 is me and my colleagues back on the ice
via helicopter, taking more water depth measurements.
Photo
005 shows one of the science projects of collecting
ice samples. A person is being craned
in a basket down to collect "dirty ice" samples. Spectral
analysis of the dirt on the ice flow can pinpoint
where the along the shoreline the ice originated,
which helps to determine the nature of ice
flow and currents in the Arctic Ocean.
|
| Sheila
S. Villamor (Coastal Resource Management Program, Philippines) |
   |
1. Centennial
Mangroves, 2. Mangrove
Infinity, 3. Peeking
Up for Signal
Nogas
Island (98.23 ha) is a marine protected area (MPA)
covered with diverse mangroves of 12 species (10.29
ha old growth and 8.24 ha reforested). The island is
located at 10.411713 deg N, 121.918308 deg E. Garmin
eTrex Legend was used to survey the mangrove cover
and community structure as well as to mark
the transect plots of study sites. |
 |
4. Point
of Perspective
As
you arrive nogas island, kalachuchi trees welcome you
and lead you to the lighthouse. In celebration of Earth
Day last April 2007, we collected garbage left by irresponsible people
visiting the island. As we go around, Garmin
eTrex Legend was used to track the areas we cleaned
up. |
|
5. eTrex
d Left and d Right
Around
Nogas Island is a vast coral reef inhabited by 209 fish
species and other marine organisms. Ten stations were
established around the island to assess the percentage
cover of corals and conduct fish visual census. However,
it was found out that 41% of coral cover is dead and
only 33% live hard coral and 10% live soft coral are
left. This is due to destructive fishing activities therefore
this situation needs serious attention and action. Nogas
Island a marine protected should be strictly implemented
by the government with the cooperation of the local community.
|
| Professor
Gerard Lachapelle (Field Class - Kananaskis Country,
AB) |
 |
1. GPS
Navigation Lecture in K-Country_6Sep08: New users
of GPS learn how to use the system on a hike to Elbow Lake
in the Kananaskis Country. |
 |
2. Elbow
Lake Serenity_6Sep08: The serenity and beauty
of Elbow Lake, after a light snow fall during the night.
It is striking to the newcomers, two of whom touched
snow for the first time in their lives...
|
| GREAT
EARTH - going places... |
Wayne
J. Burke (Lake Ontario) |
  |
| I’m sailing across Lake Ontario,
and as you can see on the Vista, I’m 23.1 Nautical Miles
South of Main Duck Island (21.4 from next waypoint), which
is 10 Nautical Miles North of Oswego NY. Pardon the knee
in the photo, but enjoy the beautiful blue water of Lake Ontario
on a nice sunny day with no land in sight. |
| Bruce
Holland (Clayaquot Sound, BC) |
 |
Sea
Kayaking These photos were
taken on a recent paddling trip out and around Meares
Island in Clayaquot Sound just off Tofino, B.C. A wonderful
place to paddle combining sheltered inland waters with
the wild exposed west coast.
I have been kayaking for 28 years, always relying on the
good old chart and compass to get me to where I am going.
While I still always have the chart and compass on board,
I love tripping with my Garmin 76CSX. A quick glance and
I always know exactly where I am, even when the fog rolls
in. The ability to easily keep track of my time, speed and
distance travelled is an added bonus.
Photo
(left): My wife Linda paddling through a kelp bed as the
fog lifts.
|
    |
1.
Linda paddles a quite channel under lifting sea fog. 2. Good
friends Mary & Steve
in their double kayak as the last of the sea fog blows away
revealing spectacular vistas. 3. Clear,
calm waters and sunny skies as I paddle towards Lone Cone
on Meares Island. 4. Linda
paddling under sunny skies, on sparking waters and tendrils
of fog wisping away. |
| Robert
Berdan (NWT) |
 |
My
father and I travelled to the North West Territories in August
and used the Garmin unit for both on and off road travelling.
Several images are taken on the 60th parallel, Alexander
Falls (left) which is on the 60th parallel, and Cameron Falls
a short hike off the Ingraham trail near Yellowknife. Along
the highway we photographed bison, moose and a black bear. |
    |
| Scott
Paterson (Reversing Falls - Saint John, NB) |
 |
These
were taken at the Reversing Falls in Saint John, New
Brunswick, during our summer trip to the Maritimes. The first
two are during "high slack" -- when the Saint John River
is at the same level as the Bay of Fundy, allowing boats
to travel safely between the river and the bay. Later
in the day, we revisited the falls at low tide, as the higher
level river flowed into the bay causing rapids and whirlpools
to form. While we were there, of course I was able
to log a find on the earthcache, "Saint John Reversing Falls
(GCQC6K)" and "#1 Scout Scenic Series
- Reversing Falls (GCQB1Z)" . This place is a
must see during any visit to Saint John! |
  |
| Roxanne
Emblau (Wylie Lake, AB) |
 |
My
fiance and I along with my uncle and his brother in law
went on a five day fly in fishing trip this June to Wyley
Lake which is in North Eastern Alberta. We flew for about
and hour and a half from Fort McMurray with a clear view
all the way to the lake. No doubt about it this is a beautiful
locale, no one else on the lake but the 4 of us, nice hot
days and a ton of Lake Trout and Northern Pike with
our names on them. We grabbed our gear and away we went...
It
was our second day of fishing and Brad hooked into a nice
Lake Trout. He reeled the fish in with no difficulties
and retrieved his hook with no problem. He
was trying to be as gentle with the fish as he could (after
sticking a hook into it's lip when it thought it was just
having lunch) so it didn't get hurt in the picture taking
process and also to get the least amount of slime on himself
as possible, then back in the water with Mr. Fishy, should
have taken 20 seconds max. He got the fish up in his arms
so I could snap the shot.....
Just
as I was about to get a picture, the fish
decided that it didn't think it was very cool to
be taken out of its natural habitat thank you very much and
at that point decided to start squirming around and up and
down and all over the place with Brad trying to keep up with each
move without hurting it.
After
the first few flips and dips and oopsey dooseys
the fish actually slapped him upside the head with it's
tail, which I personally have never seen before. I was
almost tipping over the boat laughing hysterically and I
missed probably the best picture I could have taken in my
life time, ohhhh to get back that 2 seconds.... This picture
was actually the result of me laughing so hard that I accidently
clicked the button on the camera.
So
much for no slime.............approximate time
to get poor Mr. Fishy back in the water 1 min.
|
| Paul
Dunphy (Germany) |
 |
<<Autobahn
nuvi! - 200km!!!
Despite assurances from the car rental agency that the GPS
in the Mercedes I rented the first 10 days and the Audi I rented
after that both had the best GPS units available built-in to
the cars, my portable Garmin smoked them both. It had every
detail of every town now matter how small. The ones that came
with the cars were missing many towns and the details of the
towns and roads that were in the units were not nearly as good
as on my Garmin. It was a neat way to compare them and
it re-assured me I had made the right purchase with Garmin.
|
    |
| "Where's
Dano?" - Dan Babaluk |
 |
 "Here
are some hints. 1) An extreme geographic location on Earth.
Much easier to get here than the opposite extreme. 2) Even
the worst swimmer will do well here. 3) As you SCROLL through
the menus on your gps, you will find this place. Just don't
let your batteries go DEAD. 4) If you need any more hints,
consult one of the oldest books in the world. This place
is referenced several times. My trusty eMap with Garmin's
world map loaded, guided me nicely throughout the region." |
| Darrell
Vincent (PEI) |
 |
(No
story, great pic!) |
| Enrico
Ferrari (Trenton ON) |
 |
My
pictures are taken during a ride I did at the end of June
(Ride for sight * Trenton, Ontario). The route was downloaded
to the GPS (eTrex Legend my model), and the unit then mounted
on the newly received RAM mount (you guys are amazing,
it arrived in 2 days).
Pretty cool ride that saw the highlight of a bike under water
on a river crossing. In picture 03 is the actual removal of
water (actually visible) from the exhaust as part of the over
all procedure.
<<Picture 03. |
| Sue
Wight (Port Coquitlam, BC) |
 |
I
have just this week started geocaching and was thrilled
to find my first cache. Especially since it was one that
had alluded my friends for many outings. I received my
first GPS –a Garmin –at Christmas and being
directionally challenged- my son says it was the best gift
I ever received. I just came back from a month in Eastern
Canada Eastern USA and Quebec. I would never have attempted
driving a rental car there without a GPS. I am now hooked
on Geocaching and will be purchasing a special one for
the sport. Today we used my friend's Garmin Geocaching
unit. |
| Len
Wells (Vancouver Island) |
 |
 <
This is a shot of an area near where I work. It’s
from an old native village located on Village island on
the east side of Vancouver Island near Port McNeil and
Telegraph cove.
Len's Geofamily>>
|
| Robert
Geal (Nova Scotia to Newfoundland) |
 |
 My
pix were taken on our trip from NS to NL this past summer.
6 of us left on Aug 8th and took a week to get to Labrador
and back to NS.
It was simply an amazing trip for all involved.
|
| Denis
Ouellet (Alberta) |
   |
| 1.MYSTERY LAKE,
2. On top the GRAVE FLATS lookout
tower, 3. MCLEOD RIVER. |
| Shawn
Handley (Baja) |
 |
My favorite pic was taken from my sleeping bag
in a open wall palapa on the east coast of the baja (left).
Put 4500kms on the bike.
Rode from USA border to the tip of the Baja 2008.
The girls flew to cabo, I got married on a beach and rode back
north to the truck. |
    |
| Elizabeth
Hak (Yoho National Park, BC) |
 |
On
a recent trip to the mountains, I took a sidetrip to Takakkaw
Falls in Yoho National Park. The falls are a short walk
from the parking lot. Taking the foot bridge across the
river, I noticed people building inuksuks all over the
shoreline. It was an epidemic of industry. There were inuksuks
on boulders, on the shore, near the water and inukshuks
on inuksuks.
Inuksuks
were used by the Inuit for a number of reasons - to mark
dangerous areas, good hunting regions or places where caribou
routinely cross. But the one I like best is they were used
for pointing the way home - an early version of a
GPS unit!
Instead
of building a traditional inuksuk, I chose to place my
Garmin amongst them as a "then and now" tribute to navigation. |
| Michael
Leaman (Nevada & southern California) |
|
Over
the Christmas Break in 2002/3 I travelled from the cold and
snowy weather in Eastern Canada to Nevada and Southern California
for a 2 week vacation that included a week in Las Vegas and
a week in the Los Angeles. After picking up my rental
car in Las Vegas, the first thing was set up my Street Pilot
3 which I had already set waypoints in for all the places
I hoped to visit.
Over the course of the next 2 weeks I put over 2000 miles on
the rental car and the only time I got turned around was once
in Los Angeles when I decided I knew where I was going and
did not program the SP3 to take me back to the hotel. Of
course I missed the turn and as soon as I realized I set the
SP3 to take me back to the hotel and sure enough it handled
all the one way streets and in no time I was at my hotel.
The photos show Death Valley and actual elevation at the lowest
point I could find (238 below sea level). Even though I was
a GPS fan before I will never travel without one again. I
have since upgraded the SP3 to a SP 2610 and currently to a
SP2730 and also have GPS 10 for use with my Palm Treo 650.Needless
to say I am a Garmin fan! |
| Howard
Neighbor (Hoodoo at Pillar Lake, near Falkland BC) |
| |
| 1.
Hoodoo at Pillar Lake, near Falkland, BC. 30 m tall.
2. Two biker/hikers provide some scale. 3. Pillar is also
an Earthcache. |
| Martin
Lecomte (PQ) |
|
 Here
is Antoine’s, Emilie’s and Johanne’s
initiation adventure to geocaching with « Les Corsaires »!
The team went through mud, moskitos, determination challenges
to find the caches…and the reward was mini putt!
|
| Mike
Downey (Rocky Point, NL) |
|
 These
photos were taken this summer when my wife and I took our
motorcycles to Newfoundland for a holiday. We had never
been to NL before but we will certainly go back again.
The weather was not great, but we were dressed for it so
we had a lot of fun. It
was probably the best holiday we've ever had!
I
took many photos, partly because my wife was in an informal
contest with other motorcyclists on an online forum called "Ride
the Rock". The object of the exercise was to take
a picture of your motorcycle with a lighthouse in the shot
and see who would get the most pictures. We
did pretty well, compared to those who actually live in
NL, but we only found 5. Before we go back we're going
to create a "point of interest" file to upload
to our GPSs, to make the search a little easier.
I
use a GPSMap 60 CSx and my wife prefers her 76CSx. We'd
be lost without them, though we know we can't rely on them
alone. Maps are still very useful too. On
the ferry, I turned on my 60 and was able to see the progress
we made, and was surprised to see that the GPS knew we
were on the ferry.
It made the 7 hour ride much more interesting, especially
as we knew pretty much exactly what time we'd get into port.
Fascinating!
Anyway,
it was tough to choose only a few pictures, but here are
those I'd like to enter. The "Loch
Ness of Newfoundland" pictures were taken at the site
of a Geocache. We did find the cache, of course. The "monster" was
very well done; I bet kids get a real thrill, sitting on
it. The
other two pictures were taken in Rocky Point, probably
the nicest spot in all of Newfoundland. It was amazingly
picturesque, but unspoiled. The "Table Lands" nearby
were awesome!
|
| David
Leech (West Kootenays BC) |
|
 Check
out the GPS in our Jeep Commander. The OEM GPS was useless.
Sony Vaio VGN-TX651P laptop is only 7.5 x 11 inches – small
and light enough to sit on a Jotto Desk printer platform.
We’ve got the
Garmin GPS 10 Bluetooth antenna, and Fugawi maps for off-road
travel.
It’s great to have topographic maps “live” as
we travel the backroads and trails. We always know where
we are, what to expect, and when we are close to destinations
such as BC Forests campsites – which can be easy
to miss when there is only one site. We can plot our Fugawi
routes to Google Earth – that’s cool! These
two photos were taken on the Glacier Creek forestry road
in the West Kootenays of BC, access to a great hike up
to Jumbo Pass.
The map shows our vacation trek. The Garmin
also connects to my HP iPAQ, which we’ve used in
rental cars in Arizona, California, British Columbia, and
Quebec with the Garmin maps. So it’s a two-in-one
value!
|
| J.J.
Guy Longtin (Algonquin Provincial Park) |
|
Jack
asked me to help him out in his training as he will be
going to base camp at Mt. Everest this fall.
He went out and purchased a new GPS which tracks elevations
so when he emails back to home he can let everyone know at
what altitude he's at.
We
have been doing most of our training around the Calabogie
Peaks area to practice heights along with some back-country
stuff into Algonquin Provincial Park and the Barron Canyon
area. |
| Paul
Bruch (Volcano on Vanuata - Brisbane, Australia to Fiji) |
|
I
had the opportunity to join some friends for a 3000
KM, 26 day sailing adventure on their 15M (45') sailboat
from Fiji to Vanuatu to Brisbane, Australia. Although
the boat has several marine GPSs and a marine plotter systems,
I brought my trusty Garmin 60Cx and RAM mount anyway. It
proved a valuable addition to the electronics arsenal as
it provided real time access to position and track information
right at the helm rather than having to call down to the
navigation station. On land it also proved its worth
as on Vanuatu we embarked on several day long jungle
tracks through the jungle and up to the active volcano with
the knowledge that we always knew we were heading in the
right direction and that we could find our way back to
the boat. The
marine features such as VMG (Velocity Made Good), course
and bearing pointers, and off course tracks helped
us optimize our travels. |
    |
| James
Feather (Murray Peak) |
|
 This
picture was taken at N50 31.436 W121 34.592 on August 3,
08 while on my annual dual sport tour with my wife and
son. This is the view from Murray Peak looking SW towards
the Coastal Range 30 km away on the other side of the Fraser
River. The incredible view from here is 360°. In this
shot you can see my Vista HCx showing 2133 metres elevation. Right:
My son took this picture of me on the Hat Creek Forest
Service Road (N50 35.294 W121 35.608). |
| Danger
Dan (Alberta) |
|
We were on our way from Calgary to Saskatoon and we had stopped
to do some Geocaching along the way. We were on a backroad
near Youngstown, AB and I requested my Garmin 60CS to navigate
us back to Highway 9. It "helpfully" suggested that
I take this "road" as a shortcut. Just moments after
my wife said "I don't think this is a good idea" we ended
up in the situation you see in the attached photos.
I learned several things from this experience:
1) Just because City Navigator calls it a "road" doesn't
mean it really is a road.
2) GPS coordinates don't mean anything to AMA.
3) Yes, the "silent treatment" from the wife actually
can last the entire time while waiting for a tow truck.
|
| Robyn
Byrne (Esquimalt BC) |
|
|
| Clayton
Hare (Geocaching romance...) |
|
Title:
Wandering Together For Forty Years. In early June of
this year I purchased a Garmin Colorado and, even though
I earlier had a 1994 Magellan Meridan,
this little baby was something else altogether...in a league
of its own so to speak. Soon, my wife and I took up the
sport of geocaching and after two easy caches we were soon
looking for more of a challenge. One that seemed to fit
the bill was a cache of Badge 77's known as Grassy
Gulch Cache that had been hidden over three weeks
earlier and hadn't been found yet. New to the sport and
eager for a F-FTF (that's a First First Time Find)
on a more difficult cache off we went on the morning of
June 26. I should tell you right
about here that this was the day of our 40th wedding anniversary
and along with our lunch I packed two long stem wine glasses,
a waterbottle of red wine, and some cheese. If the cache
hadn't been found by the time we got there, it would be
a double celebration. My wife June (Moonstone_6) knew about
the wine and the glasses....but what she didn't know was
that I also carried up her present...a ruby ring, ruby
necklace, and ruby earrings...ruby, because it was our
40th.
|
| Bernie
Palmer - Here, there & everywhere. |
  
1. Girls
trip to the desert, Zion National Park, little bit
of yoga at the top to get limbered up, 2. This
picture using my GPS was on a trek around Ausangati
in Peru, 3. While on Safari in the
Serengeti. There were 1.5 million zebras and wildebeests
travelling together with all of the predators following
close behind.
|
  
4. Dew
drops reflecting the daisy in them, taken in my garden, 5. Rocky
Mountain Bighorn Sheep taken in the southern Rocky Mountains, 6. All
motion, taken on the Elk River in the southern Rocky Mountains. |
| Trina
Kelemen (northern Alberta) |
| |
 We left home after supper one evening
to quad to our cabin this fall. Dark always comes quickly in Northern Alberta,
thus we were glad to have my husband's Map 76s GPS. We
arrived safe and sound to enjoy a roasty, toasty fire complete
with hot dogs, marshmallows and, of course, beverages! |
|
|
GPS
SIGHTINGS: pop & celebrity, politics & natural
sciences, life, TECHNO, skies, etc.
Oct
24
NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge. The
developers' deadline for US$5.25 million in cash and
prizes, 2009 competition. read
more
Oct
24
Video games turn 50. Go celebrate the
anniversary at Brookhaven National Laboratory. On Oct
18, 1958, visitors lined up to play 'Tennis for Two'
by Manhattan Project's William Higinbotham. read
more
Oct
13
Trimble & Panasonic bundle products. Toughbook
and GPS Pathfinder ProXT, ProXH, for utility field workers
- mapping, GIS and CAD operations. read
more
Oct
13
Navigon names LG exec, President of Americas. No,
Mr. Roach is a Navigon President, not the other guy. read
more
Oct
10
Be a spook for Halloween! The National
Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) is hiring. apply
today!
Oct
10
New patents awarded to Mobile Satellite Ventures
(MSV). Now work starts! - blending terrestrial and
space based radio frequencies/ networks and eliminating co-frequency
interference for handsets. read
more
Oct
10
Expedition 18 crew launches. New crew goes
up until April, 2009 - and #17 comes down Oct. 23. Docking
scheduled for Tues Oct14. International Space Station tourist
among crew for a few weeks. read
more | The
Famous Tourist? | Richard
in Space
Oct
9
Mozilla unveils location-aware web browser. GEODE
is new extension to Firefox that uses Skyhook Wireless
Wi-Fi positioning. read
more
Oct
8
SiRF debuts chip: SiRFlinkIII. Combo
bluetooth RF GPS is cost effective solution for mobile
navigation and location aware devices. read
more
Oct
8
GeoEye releases first image. GeoEye-1
takes a pretty sharp image from 423 miles above the
US eastern seaboard. see
it here | news
release
Oct
4
GPS The Movie. Final screening in Seattle
(Northwest Film Forum, 7PM) before the film goes to DVD in
March '09. movie
website
Oct
3
Garmin announces GPSMAP 600 series. Marine
and road navigation, 5.2" touch screen, IPX7(waterproof),
available Q1 2009. read
more
Oct
1
Taxis with GPS provide mobile traffic data. Siemen's
Mobility Div. presents new Traffic Information System
at 15th World Congress on ITS (Intelligent Transport
Systems) 2008 in New York, Nov 16. Siemen's
press release | Congress
on ITS 2008
Sept
30
SPOT helps rescue hiker. Helicopter
arrives soon after Michael Ervin ruptures quadriceps
knee tendon in Citadel Pass (The Banff Crag & Canyon). read
more
Sept
30
TomTom & Sex in the City. Kim
Cattrell is new navigator voice for spicey directions. read
more
Sept
26
Overall health status of GPS and IGS constellation.
Learn the details for each satellite in orbit. read
more
Sept
26
Nokia announces disaster software.
Comprehensive, quick location-based data collecting
on disease outbreaks or natural disasters for mobile
devices. read
more
Sept
25
Russia launches 3 new satellites.
Proton carrier rocket blasts off Baikonur
cosmodrome. read
more
Sept
11
Train your nuvi?
Garmin nuvi learns your driving and can better
estimate ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) for you. read
more
Aug
27
Windows Internet Explorer 8 in beta. Microsoft's
new security options give Opera, Safari, Firefox a
run for the money. read
more
More Newsletters>
ALSO:
See
2008 3rd Annual Photo Contest Winners!
check here
See
2007 2nd Annual Photo Contest Winners!
check here
See
2006 First Annual Photo Contest Winner
check
here
|
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Prizes.
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