Re: [SI] Not Quite Obsolete - Alan's comments


"Alan Browne" <alan.browne@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:33QXf.3424$24.16865@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Ken Nadvornick wrote:

"Alan Browne" wrote:


Ken Nadvornick http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/57538105

What's obsolete? I use magnetic compasses all the time while hiking or
in orienteering races. Nice compo and exposure/print/scan but more
contextual information (map, hiking boots, knapsack, leather boots,
etc.) would have strenghtened the theme. Nice compass with the
declination offset, mirror, level and lubbber.


Not my Brunton... at least "not quite" yet...

And if the Pentagon, in their wisdom, ever decides to shut down the GPS
network during a time of war (and at the same moment I'm lost during a
backpacking trip, no doubt), then the simple elegance of letting the
Earth
*tell you* where you are will once again reign supreme. At least until
the
ICBMs are done falling...

Were it that simple. A compass without a map is not going to find your
way home. GPS is up and up to stay for the forseeable future. It is
critical in communications infrastructure (civil as well as military, and
the military use a lot of civil communications infrastructure) for timing.
It won't go away.

And I do not, as you might expect, own a GPS unit.

Why should I expect that? GPS receivers are low cost, very useful,
practical, simple devices to use. Mine (a 1998 Lowrance) has died but
I'll be buying another at some point. While I might not like them for
hiking, they are great for urban navigation.

Cheers,
Alan

In my experience, the GPS receivers are great for telling you where you are,
and where you were, but they have a real problem when it comes to telling
you how to get from where you are to where you were.....Only your visual
memory can do that. - And if you are basically a, "city boy" as am I, one
tree looks just like another, and I can get just as lost with a GPS along as
I can without it......


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: [SI] Not Quite Obsolete - Alans comments
    ... contextual information (map, hiking boots, knapsack, leather boots, ... And if the Pentagon, in their wisdom, ever decides to shut down the GPS ... A compass without a map is not going to find your way home. ...
    (rec.photo.equipment.35mm)
  • Re: [SI] Not Quite Obsolete - Alans comments
    ... Nice compo and exposure/print/scan but more contextual information (map, hiking boots, knapsack, leather boots, etc.) would have strenghtened the theme. ... Nice compass with the declination offset, mirror, level and lubbber. ... Or how many don't know where they are because the GPS is working and tells them they're somewhere else than where they really are. ... I would be amazed that you find that many at all, this falls into one of the common discussions I get about GPS, that batteries fail or reception is poor. ...
    (rec.photo.equipment.35mm)
  • Re: [SI] Not Quite Obsolete - Alans comments
    ... I use magnetic compasses all the time while hiking or in orienteering races. ... Nice compo and exposure/print/scan but more contextual information (map, hiking boots, knapsack, leather boots, etc.) would have strenghtened the theme. ... Or how many don't know where they are because the GPS is working and tells them they're somewhere else than where they really are. ...
    (rec.photo.equipment.35mm)
  • Re: GPS units
    ... >own a GPS unit, and I've never taken the GPS with me when hiking. ... are lots of things you don't "need" when hiking- a water purifier, a compass, ... You immediately know line-of-site and trail ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: GPS units
    ... The fact that GPS ... >would be irrelevant is a feature of the kind of hiking that I mostly do. ... >used my compass while hiking about half a dozen times in all the decades ... Mine has maps for a lot of California ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)