When is the fastest route not the fastest?
When the GPS didn’t try hard enough. And no, we’re not just talking about agreeing with the GPS about what is the fastest route. This is all about the GPS agreeing with itself. When you calculate a...
View ArticleGPS Works like Birthday Cards
Recently I celebrated a birthday which got me thinking… You can loosely describe how GPS works by thinking about the way you receive birthday cards in the mail. Ignoring for a moment that each card has...
View ArticleWhy Not WAAS?
In the context of car GPS devices, frequently people will ask me about WAAS. If WAAS improves the accuracy of GPS, isn’t it good for car GPS devices? Well, maybe… but probably not. It is time for a...
View ArticleLane Assistant
Related Article This article is a companion to our Junction Image article to help you distinguish between these two similar features. Lane Assist is becoming a popular feature recently as the data that...
View ArticleJunction Image
Related Article This article is a companion to our Lane Assist article to help you distinguish between these two similar features. Junction View was a feature first made popular in North America by...
View ArticleSatellite Perspective
Just how far away are the GPS satellites in orbit above the earth? Really far. Really, really far. About 20,200 kilometers (12,500 miles). But just naming the distance doesn’t give you the full...
View ArticleSnap To Roads
Street navigation devices often give the illusion of having an accuracy far greater than what is true. They do this through what we call a “snap to” feature. What we mean by this is that the GPS will...
View ArticleReported GPS Thefts by State, Mapped
Recently in our forums a member came across statistics from the FBI NCIC (National Crime Information Center) showing reported GPS thefts by state. The data covers just about the past two years and...
View ArticleAssisted GPS, A-GPS
With the proliferation of smartphones, iPhones, and iPad devices with GPS capabilities, many people are asking about Assisted GPS, also known as A-GPS. Does it use the “regular” GPS satellites? Is it...
View ArticleWhy You Can’t Reverse a Route
A question that comes up again and again in our GPS Discussion Forums is Why can’t you reverse a route? A similar question with virtually the same answer is Why does my GPS pick a different route when...
View ArticleGPS explained: Position accuracy | Accuracy Values by Garmin Receivers
Note: The following was not something I wrote, but found on the web several years ago. The original site is no longer online, so I’m including it here for preservation. I can’t speak to the accuracy of...
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