GPS devices?

[shabti]

Who here uses them? Designated hiking gps thing? I was looking at buying a garmin gps and two way radio thingy. http://www.rei.com/product/825518/garmin-rino-650-gps2-way-radio

At school, I know the geology department uses them. I kind of wanted to figure out how to log coordinates into a GIS mapping file (like QGis), so that I could create maps of everywhere I've been, and the locations of awesome sites for other travelers to see.

Anyone here have experience using these things?

 

[Deleted member 20]

I have dreamed of setting of basic supply caches for STP users & thought of using a geocaching method but nobody actually uses a real GPS in the traveling community. I think it would be cool to leave some goodies like canned food, clothing, trinkets, patches, zines, maps, pins & books for travelers to take & or trade items when they come thru a railyard. Maybe put everything in a waterproof plastic tote & hide from homebums. That being said my smart phone works perfectly for GPS lat/long.

 

[East]

I just the the GPS in my smart phone. You can download offline maps with Google Maps but they are limited in size. Most of the major GPS brands offer dedicated offline maps applications for some dough. Nokia has HERE! maps which are both offline and free, where you can download states, countries, etc.

 

[MarsOrScars]

I have dreamed of setting of basic supply caches for STP users & thought of using a geocaching method but nobody actually uses a real GPS in the traveling community. I think it would be cool to leave some goodies like canned food, clothing, trinkets, patches, zines, maps, pins & books for travelers to take & or trade items when they come thru a railyard. Maybe put everything in a waterproof plastic tote & hide from homebums. That being said my smart phone works perfectly for GPS lat/long.

There are older Garmin E-trex units online for about $20 a piece, a drop in the bucket compared to the original prices. Granted it requires an antiquated RS232 to actually load maps to it, but some have maps installed already - all depending on who you get it from. Point is, there are cheap units out there which are good enough so it's not outside the realm of possibilities if other StP members would like to start a geocaching bartering system.

I haven't looked into smartphone maps, I know google maps will accept raw coordinate data which would also work, as long as you're in range of towers to load the maps.

 

[Hillbilly Castro]

I have dreamed of setting of basic supply caches for STP users & thought of using a geocaching method but nobody actually uses a real GPS in the traveling community. I think it would be cool to leave some goodies like canned food, clothing, trinkets, patches, zines, maps, pins & books for travelers to take & or trade items when they come thru a railyard. Maybe put everything in a waterproof plastic tote & hide from homebums. That being said my smart phone works perfectly for GPS lat/long.

@meatcomputer has a GPS he said he'd kick down to me - I'm 100% down to get this going and post a megathread on it where we post up coordinates for everyone. It'd be especially good for those inevitable times when you've got to drop gear because of weight and pack space concerns - leave it somewhere an STPer will find it and use it! Also, poptarts and whiskey nips in ghost towns... sounds fucking fun.

 

[AlwaysLost]

@meatcomputer has a GPS he said he'd kick down to me - I'm 100% down to get this going and post a megathread on it where we post up coordinates for everyone. It'd be especially good for those inevitable times when you've got to drop gear because of weight and pack space concerns - leave it somewhere an STPer will find it and use it! Also, poptarts and whiskey nips in ghost towns... sounds fucking fun.

STP Scavenger Hunt how sick would that be?

 

[AlwaysLost]

There are older Garmin E-trex units online for about $20 a piece, a drop in the bucket compared to the original prices. Granted it requires an antiquated RS232 to actually load maps to it, but some have maps installed already - all depending on who you get it from. Point is, there are cheap units out there which are good enough so it's not outside the realm of possibilities if other StP members would like to start a geocaching bartering system.

I haven't looked into smartphone maps, I know google maps will accept raw coordinate data which would also work, as long as you're in range of towers to load the maps.

There are map apps that even work offline. I think they are 3rd party though not in app store.

 

[DrewSTNY]

There are map apps that even work offline. I think they are 3rd party though not in app store.

I use Back Country Navigator for Android. It can store maps offline to a pretty high level of detail for the US. Also, OpenStreetMap is a foundational map for a few other projects. I think you can store sections of that one as well.

A geocache barter system sounds pretty damn sweet too me. To bad I don't get out of this area much.

 

[MJhitcher]

As a geocacher and a person who is terrible at packing (seriously, gotta work on that), I fucking love this idea and I'll post if I ever leave a cache of this kind anywhere. Won't be at a railroad since I don't hop trains but it would probably be in a hitching-type spot. And I encourage others to do the same - lots of people like to swap/kick down gear and such anyway, this would just make it a bit easier if it had to be a sudden drop.