Google Earth ?

[bobsadler]

i have a usb gps on my laptop. recently i've been in baku (azerbaijan), auckland (new zealand) and am currently in lagos (nigeria)

in each place i've been able to locate the building i was in on ge and the gps has always put me within about a 10m (30ft) radius of were i should have been (if that makes sense)

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by phiggins

The longitude was off by .001 minutes which is about 5 feet. Pretty good I think. It would be interesting to see what other people find making a similiar test.

.

I was 'proving' Google Earth to some folks in Tonga. They were on our boat which was on a mooring in a bay. I had the paid version of GE (its now free) and plugged in the GPS. The "Postion" marker was EXACTLY on 18° 41.968'S 174° 1.791'W

I had to laugh

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

I was 'proving' Google Earth to some folks in Tonga. They were on our boat which was on a mooring in a bay. I had the paid version of GE (its now free) and plugged in the GPS. The "Postion" marker was EXACTLY on 18° 41.968'S 174° 1.791'W

I had to laugh

Did they wave?

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by hoppy

Did they wave?

Yes they did! It scared the crappa outta me! LOLOL

[Canibul]

I used GE a lot. I have mapped out several old shipwrecks we have found here snorkelling, and I use it to find conch habitat, and the best paths through coral and shoal areas. BUT be aware that some of the data on it is old. I can easily see that the images here in the TCI on GE are approaching five years out of date. This means that there are dredged channels, docks, marinas, and canals that exist that are not on GE.

And for some reason, GE will sometimes 'blur' out big areas and there is no resolution. Or at least not enough to be useful. When we moved here, for example, in '05 there was a clear GE image of French Cay. then, for some reason around '06 or '07, the entire Caicos Bank was blurred to the point of uselessness. Lately, they have returned some of the resolution to it, but not all.

Since I now know that they degrade certain areas images from time to time, I am very cautious now about uploading upgrades to GE. Sometimes the old data is better than the latest. No kidding.

[Hud3]

Originally Posted by Canibul

... And for some reason, GE will sometimes 'blur' out big areas and there is no resolution. Or at least not enough to be useful....Sometimes the old data is better than the latest. No kidding.

I've had the same experience.

And, unfortunately, GE isn't nearly as accurate here in Nevis as it seems to be in Tonga for MarkJ. I've been systematically plotting some trails and plantation ruins here on the island, and the GPS position is consistently 85'-90' off when overlaid on GE. I'm using a new Garmin handheld with a very sensitive and accurate chipset, showing 7'-8' estimated position error.

[Canibul]

Some of the resolution changes have been going on very lately. Earlier this year I was trying to look at Big Sand Cay here in the TCI, south of Salt Cay. It was a useless blur. The only way you could tell on GE that there was even an island there was because there was a smudge of different color in the blur. That bad.

Today I took a look, and Big Sand Cay is back. The resolution is not the best, but good enough to plan a trip with.

Thinking "OhBOy, maybe my house is now visible ( construction started two years ago) I checked on that. Nope. Same old five year old data. But stuff that has been blurred for over two years is now visible again.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Hud3

plotting some trails and plantation ruins...and the GPS position is consistently 85'-90' off when overlaid on GE. I'm .

Are you sure you're on the trail and not just aimlessly wandering arround the bush? Terra Firma is a dangerous place for sailors! I think you're just bloody lost!

[lucseawalker]

Originally Posted by TaoJones

I'm happy to report that it's actually true - you're only as old as you feel. It's all a state-of-mind thing, I think, and since I've always been athletic, never smoked anything legal (and nothing in more than twenty years), never drank to excess, always used my seat belt, and never gotten involved with women of "questionable character," I don't feel a day over 30! (Well, most of the time, anyway. ) Actuarially, the statistics indicate that I could easily live well into my nineties, like my Pa (91), and his Pa (97).

My goal has become that expressed in The Tibetan Book of the Dead, a classic; i.e. A GD WNR. I pronounce that "A good winner," and those letters stand for A Graceful Death with No Regrets.

Of course, when I was younger and much more cynical, I went with the always reliable LABATYD. I pronounced that one "Lab-a-tide," and those letters stand for Life's a Bitch, and Then You Die. Heh!

TaoJones

PS: Sorry for my misunderstanding of your out- vs up- intent, Mark.

Do like Dennis Richard in his book "Your Health Is Your Choice" and you may live quite longer than you expect and healthy too