Monday, 27 August 2007
My first experiences of GPS
Hi Denis - thanks for the invitation to contribute to your blog. I've had my first dabble recently with the technology and so far I'm the only contributor to mine (a more specialised audience) so I thought I'd post something here to help develop yours!
I've been a bit of a Global Positioning cynic until one of my close friends (Derik) invested in a Garmin Forerunner 305. He's relatively new to outdoor running and was getting into some serious training for the Glasgow half on 2nd Sep. He bought one and we went on a training run together. He forwarded the links to his publically available route from the http://www.motionbased.com/ web site and I was converted.
If you're interested, you can see the 305 in the range here https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=142 . I bought mine from Amazon - currently showing at £155.77 - I had no problems with the delivery etc, all worked like clockwork.
It's pretty intuitive to use - a few little quirks but no showstoppers. You can upload to the software that comes with it and/or use the motionbased web site.
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/invitation/email/accept.mb?senderPk.pkValue=157097&unitSystemPkValue=2&episodePk.pkValue=3763454&backgroundDatasourcePk.pkValue=23
See above & choose "dashboard" or "map player" (latter is better but needs some extra Adobe software to work..). This shows a loop I did on Saturday from my home over the Pentlands. A bit of a big run but very satisfying! According to the 305 I used over 2,300 calories so I earned my tea!
So I'm now thinking of other opportunities to track my movements. It's got to be of interest to those mapping other things like footpaths (noting your other entry on the matter).
I know it's a bit of a gadget but even as a technologist I'm amazed by the latest advances in these things. Who knows where it'll get to in the next 10 years? Integrated communications (so my wife can have my recovery drink/snack/bath ready for when I get back), camera (wouldn't it be great to see a replay of the run from the comfort of the armchair), mp3 player etc..
I hope you find my musings of interest. Good luck with the Blog!
I've been a bit of a Global Positioning cynic until one of my close friends (Derik) invested in a Garmin Forerunner 305. He's relatively new to outdoor running and was getting into some serious training for the Glasgow half on 2nd Sep. He bought one and we went on a training run together. He forwarded the links to his publically available route from the http://www.motionbased.com/ web site and I was converted.
If you're interested, you can see the 305 in the range here https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=142 . I bought mine from Amazon - currently showing at £155.77 - I had no problems with the delivery etc, all worked like clockwork.
It's pretty intuitive to use - a few little quirks but no showstoppers. You can upload to the software that comes with it and/or use the motionbased web site.
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/invitation/email/accept.mb?senderPk.pkValue=157097&unitSystemPkValue=2&episodePk.pkValue=3763454&backgroundDatasourcePk.pkValue=23
See above & choose "dashboard" or "map player" (latter is better but needs some extra Adobe software to work..). This shows a loop I did on Saturday from my home over the Pentlands. A bit of a big run but very satisfying! According to the 305 I used over 2,300 calories so I earned my tea!
So I'm now thinking of other opportunities to track my movements. It's got to be of interest to those mapping other things like footpaths (noting your other entry on the matter).
I know it's a bit of a gadget but even as a technologist I'm amazed by the latest advances in these things. Who knows where it'll get to in the next 10 years? Integrated communications (so my wife can have my recovery drink/snack/bath ready for when I get back), camera (wouldn't it be great to see a replay of the run from the comfort of the armchair), mp3 player etc..
I hope you find my musings of interest. Good luck with the Blog!
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Hi Alan, very many thanks for your excellent comments. I followed your links and saw the whole thing for myself. I have to say that I am impressed and liked the data formatting which allowed various factors to be analysed...height ascent/descent; time, distance, stop-time, heartrate, etc ...really powerful wee bit of kit for £155 - thankyou for report. I do think it could be very worthwhile for trekking especially those of us who go off the beaten tracks - like I did down near Stonehouse! I did retrace the steps on the map but had to do it fresh, whereas this Garmin 305 thing does not lie...It sounds like a great training partner. Hope you and Derik do well. I've a friend doing the 1/2m in Sept. too and hope to support, so maybe see you then.
All the best Alan, thanks, Denis.
All the best Alan, thanks, Denis.
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