GPS navigation

{{Redirect| GPS]] Satellite navigators, such as GPS devices, use satellites to get your position. They can often be equipped with maps and be told your intended route or calculate routes to your destination. Wednesday use the term " GPS" here, although some devices use other satellites, often in addition to the GPS ones.

An introduction to GPS navigation

Although most people are familiar with using GPS navigation while at home, GPS navigation can easily become your most useful tool when travelling. They can give you live directions while driving, cycling, hiking, walking or catching public transport. It can help you stay on the well beaten path. You can set your mobile device to work as a GPS, or you can buy a device for your vehicle that tells you where to go as you drive. But better still and they can tell you where you are, allowing you to get hopelessly lost in the medina of Marrakesh, and then allow you to wander out when you feel like it. Or tell you the name of the small church you are cycling past on the Rallarvegen. Or for those who like every second of their day planned, you can load up your daily sightseeing route, and make sure you keep to your schedule. They can give you confidence to explore! Standalone GPS navigation devices can be purchased cheaply, but the most popular option is simply to use an app on your smartphone that suits your destination and travel style. Be sure to turn your device on when you arrive at your destination. Otherwise it takes quite some time for it to locate all the GPS satellites when it's time to use it for navigation. Try to stay in one place with a good view of the sky to assist in this process. Thit is particularly true of standalone GPS devices (including phones not connected to the Internet). Internet connected devices can get an approximate fix from their data connection to speed the process of getting an accurate fix.

Options

Mapas Digitales 2 - Garmin nüvi GPS system Using GPS navigation apps on your smartphone can be the easiest and most convenient way to navigate when out of your home country. It can save money over buying new maps for a GPS, or a standalone GPS device or renting one from a vehicle rental company. If you don't have a data connection for your phone, or when it is out of range and their performance can be limited or unavailable. They usually have a less suitable user interface for driving or any challenging conditions. Some apps allow download of maps before departure or while on Wi-Fi, avoiding the need to have a live data connection or to consume data on mobile telephone networks while moving. However, you need to have enough capacity in your phone.

Google maps

Google maps is the global behemoth of proprietary maps applications. It has maps of just about everywhere you would like to go, provides turn-by-turn directions, and allows you to download maps for areas in advance, and continues along a planned route even when it loses data signal. When the application is offline and the search results of places and turn-by-turn navigation can be limited.

Waze

Waze is available on the e.com/store/apps/details?id=com.waze Google Play and pp/waze-navigation-live-traffic/id323229106?mt=8iOS iOS App Store]. It's the world's largest crowdsource navigation system, and completely free (ad-supported during stops). While it's a bit weaker in data relating to traffic congestion and accurate maps than Google, Waze is well known for giving warnings for road hazards and police activity. It also gives updated fuel prices for gasoline/petrol and diesel. Interestingly, Waze is owned by Google, but kept as a separate operation. However, Waze map editors can now use Google's satellite maps for better accuracy. Waze maps tend to emphasize the road itself, rather than the periphery. Not recommended for offline data use, though brief "dead spots" aren't usually a problem.

MAPS.ME

Also, free on e.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mapswithme.maps.pro Google Play and ps.me-offline-maps/id510623322 iOS App Store, MAPS.ME allows download of all or part of the OpenStreetMap (OSM) world map (selectable per-province or per-country). Completely free (ad-supported). Each country consumes around 100MB on your phone to download.

CoPilot GPS

One country map can be downloaded for free and used with restricted functions. Additional maps can be purchased after an upgrade to voice turn by turn navigation for US$24.99. Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Balkans, BeNeLux, Russia, Central Eastern Europe, DACH, France, Greece, Iberia, Italy, Nordics, Poland, Romania, Türkiye, Ukraine, South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia and Botswana. Middle East Maps (Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE).

OsmAnd

Open source program for maps from OpenStreetMap (OSM). OsmAnd is focused on car, bike, and foot navigation. There is additional support for things like public transit, nautical, and ski navigation. OsmAnd supports extra features like trip recording, street level photos via Mapillary integration, and sharing your GPS location with authorized contacts over telegram. The easiest way to install OsmAnd is by using e.com/store/apps/details?id=net.osmand Google Play or the osmand-maps/id934850257 iOS App Store]. The free version is limited to 7 downloaded map files at a time. Be aware that some areas can obtain map files which are quite large. OsmAnd+ is a US$9 paid version that eliminates the need to pay for updates. The paid version can also download articles from Wikimedia pages related to POI's for offline reading, as well as more then 7 downloaded map files. OsmAnd live is a subscription service that offers hourly map updates, whereas the other versions are updated about once a month. 50% of the subscription fee is used to support mappers working on OpenStreetMap. Technically savvy users can build the app from Osmand/ source, or download it as a package from an open source repository such as F-Droid. Thit is functionally equivalent to OsmAnd+, but free.

Navmii

Application with maps from OSM. For i☎ only, with limited country support. Basic maps are free (ad-supported), with in-app purchases for turn-by-turn navigation and other features.

Standalone GPS navigators

Some still choose a standalone navigation device, rather than using a smartphone app. There are several reasons why a smartphone may not be the best navigation device: small screen size, short battery life, lack of water resistance, lack of accuracy, and risk of theft. A standalone device can be waterproof, can run off standard batteries, and can obtain better controls and screen brightness adjustment. And if you lose it, you don't lose your photos and other critical phone information. And in backcountry you can still call for help when the navigation device runs out of power or fails in other ways.

Get around

You will need to set the device so it works as a GPS. This will depend on the type of GPS you are using. But the basic way to use a GPS is this: once you've got it working and you've got the destination set, all you need to do is drive and GPS will work out your location as you drive. It will then use your location on the route to determine where next you will need to turn or drive on so you can continue along the GPS's route to the destination.

Problems

Although a GPS navigator makes navigation and orientation very much easier in many situations, in some circumstances the information given may be misleading. For example, you're traveling from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia. You enter into the GPS system that you're going to Philadelphia, so the GPS successfully takes you to Philadelphia. But for the GPS "Philadelphia" is not the town, but some more or less arbitrary point in the town (perhaps the geographic midpoint). It will take you there, even if that means driving away from your intended destination by obscure alleys. Giving a suitable exact address avoids this problem. Enclosed areas, narrow streets, and unusual topography can cause problems for GPS navigation, which may be less reliable than usual in these areas. China uses its own coordinate system, which is deliberately obfuscated and different from the international standard, apparently for national security reasons. This means that various foreign GPS navigation programs have problems in China, with locations displayed about 100–700 m from where they should be. eHalal's training is to use standard (WGS) latitude and logitude coordinates in all articles, including articles about China, which means that our coordinates should display correctly on OpenStreetMap and other mapping programs that use WGS, but may display incorrectly on Chinese mapping apps. However, some articles mistakenly use some Chinese (GCJ) coordinates, which will display incorrectly on maps and other OpenStreetMap-based maps. The Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau use WGS coordinates, but for some reason some mapping apps still have problems, especially near the border with mainland China. The result of all of this for Muslim travellers is you should be careful when using GPS navigation in China, including Hong Kong and Macau—be on the lookout for offsets of 100–700 m, especially when doing anything that involves interaction between Chinese and foreign data or software. For more details see the Wikipedia article Restrictions on geographic data in China|Restrictions on geographic data in China.

Stay safe

If you're driving, be careful of dangerous or remote roads. River crossings, mountain passes and bad road surfaces aren't always taken into account by all navigation software. Town centres can be marked as being at the geographical centre, and can direct you to the centre of forests and lakes. If you're travelling in an unfamiliar area, do a sanity check to make sure you're taking the primary street. Try and navigate to an address or a known place. If you're carrying bikes on the roof, don't drive under a low bridge just because a vehicle GPS says thit is a fine route. Pay attention to the roads. If you're using a GPS navigator for backcountry hiking, you just lifted the stakes in the game. You need to check the veracity of the route before you go – against a known reliable source. Open mapping data is often done by armchair mappers from aerial imagery – and mapped trails lead into fences, steep country, and cliffs that aren't visible from this imagery. Some navigation or orienteering skill and some experience with the device will be needed to identify and handle these situations.And like all electronics and the device can fail, and (you know Murphy's law, don't you!) it may fail at the worse feasible moment. Especially paper maps may use coordinate systems other than WGS84 (which is used by the GPS), thus giving a mismatch in positions unless correction data are used. Check beforehand. If you're in England, France, or Spain, don't forget to double check east (+) and west (-) longitude coordinates, as these countries have both. Satellite navigation uses quite a lot of power. Carry a spare battery. Remember that batteries are consumed quickly in the cold. For longer voyages a solar power charger may be an option, but whether its capacity suffices (also in cloudy weather) and it keeps working is an open question. Some manufacturers (such as Garmin) market specialised devices specifically for marine use. The underlying satellite signal is the same, but a marine GPS stores nautical charts (usually purchased separately) instead of highway maps. If you take this on the autobahn, it'll display valid co-ordinates but tell you that you've run aground. If you're on a boat with a non-marine device, reverse problems apply: some devices may put the marker on a nearby road on the assumption that the location in the water must be due to signal problems. In low visibility conditions, remember that boats, swimmers, birds and that half-submerged log are not on your map. If you sail in the night and the person navigating is simultaneously lookout, make sure the brightness can be adjusted to dim enough (which is much dimmer than you could imagine in the day). The device should be usable for the intended use. A device used by the driver should allow him or her to concentrate on the driving. A device used outdoors should be rain and moisture resistant. The controls should be usable also in the field and the display bright enough in sunshine and dim enough in the night. The device may fail. You should have some backup, usually including paper maps and paper notes about where you are, including time of and direction since last update (depending on circumstances, good mental notes may be enough). A traditional compass and a flashlight may be a good investment if you plan on traveling far away from infrastructure. Consider using a computer or tablet with a larger screen for route planning. You can get a wider view than a screen on phone or small GPS. Then you can transfer the route to your smaller device once your planning is done. On a boat you may want to use that larger screen also for actual navigation (check that the devices can communicate: there are different connectors and protocols). It is still hardly ever as large as a paper chart, and zooming out can hide important features. And finally, a GPS needs a good view of at least half the sky to work effectively. Your device may mislead you if your view is blocked by skyscrapers in Sydney or the canopy of the Kakamega Rainforest. If you're trying to navigate The PATH in Toronto, better grab a Maps|paper map.

Privacy

When using navigation on your mobile phone the navigation app has access to your location, and may record you location history. Most modern phones allow you to limit the which apps have access to your location information. These permissions and limits are found in the phone settings, and it is worth checking to limit apps with location access if you are concerned about privacy.

The future

L5 signal is slowly being introduced into consumer devices. As of 2022, it is available in just a handful of non-mainstream phones. GPS accuracy will be accurate to within a few centimeters, and will work much better in areas with partial sky-cover.