News

Endless Powder

Sat, 4 Apr 2009 00:54:19 -0600

On Friday we decided to take GPS Kit 3.1 out for a spin in some deep powder... this wasn’t too tough, seeing as how the Cottonwood canyons got 100+ inches of powder by Friday!

Since my foot is still healing from being dropped from the sky by our kite, we had to leave the skis home and hit it with the snowmobiles. The powder was awesome, and it’s still coming down now! We were by Guardsman’s Pass, a cool spot in between Park City and the Salt Lake canyons. (click here for the KML file)

GPS Kit 3.1 was able to track for 6 hours... this was not even in low power mode! We were impressed... as you might know, this is the biggest challenge for GPS apps on the iPhone. We are going to have to go again and see if we can get the whole day tracked with the low power mode. Really quick, some tips for good battery life:
• Use low power mode for long trips.
• Make sure it is in a pocket or place where it can get good satellite reception.
• Use the proximity sensor (you can turn it on/off in the iPhone system settings) to put in your pocket or bag while it is still running

Here are a couple shots from the video and track we took:

Kit chronicles: Lost Latrine

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:28:17 -0600

We recently got an email from a GIS analyst who had used the GPS Kit for an interesting mission. His goal was to find a bathroom that had been spotted 10 years before in a swamp. He says, “A friend and I armed with a topo paper and an X on the map of an approximate location for the latrine (which X was actually a guesstimate of what someone saw 10 years ago) and my iPhone using GPS KIT we were able to find the latrine [shown above], mark our tracks to get back to it as well as waypoints which I emailed from the phone in the field to my office to be used. This has been quite an enjoyable experience using this product.”

Golf and GPS Kit

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:34:45 -0600

We mentioned in our description on iTunes that you could use GPS Kit while golfing to see the distance to the pin so we thought we’d actually try it out.

Of course, as with other GPS units you either have to have the course pre-programmed or else walk the course once to mark each flag before it can tell you anything. So, we invested in a cart and made a run out to the flag before teeing off each time.

The results were awesome! The yardage was right on with what was marked for each hole. We were pleasantly surprised, knowing the shortcomings of the GPS accuracy as well as anyone.

Clarification about cell service

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 22:30:12 -0600

The blog posted earlier just stated that the GPS worked without cell service. We have since had many questions about what parts of it actually would and wouldn’t work so here is the rundown:

WHAT WORKS WITHOUT A DATA CONNECTION
Most of GPS Kit functions normally even without a data connection (cell or Wi-Fi). This includes tracking, waypoints, compass and all the dashboard functions.

WHAT DOES NOT WORK WITHOUT A DATA CONNECTION
1) Maps- currently the maps rely upon Google. They are not stored on the phone (at least not yet anyway) so you will not be able to access them while romping in the woods. This is our second-most requested feature (after GPX import) and we’ll look into it next.
2) Emailing- the emailing will not work either. This should be a little more obvious
3) Info tab- this is a dynamic tab that we put on there to be able to communicate with the users without doing the usual app store contrived workarounds. We don’t think anyone is missing it too much in the backcountry.

Finally, let’s bust a myth while we’re at it:
The iPhone’s GPS will NOT work if it is in airplane mode. We heard some reports that another app, TrailGuru, worked in airplane mode. We figured this was not true so we tried it and we were correct. Someone may have thought it did because their user interface does not look any different when it is not working (as opposed to ours which may be a little too in-your-face when it has no signal).

“does it work without cell service?”

Mon, 8 Sep 2008 23:10:17 -0600

We get this question a lot, and until today we did not know the answer. As soon as you don’t want cell reception you can’t get away from it! So Spencer (GPS Kit’s lead developer) and I geared up to test GPS Kit at Squaw Peak near Provo, UT.

What we did not realize is that this would almost be the end for us, for no sooner had we stopped the motorbikes on the side of the road did a Cadillac Escalade scream around the corner going at least 45mph (dirt road). As he turned to miss us he went into a powerslide and nearly took us out. It all happened so fast that by instinct we had both jumped off the bikes and prepared to jump off the ledge.

So be careful! So, from the irresponsible to the magnificent, I watched this paraglider (pictured above thanks to iPhone) take off from Squaw Peak on the way home.

Anyway, the results made us proud... the GPS works fine even when you have no cell signal.