GPS NAVIGATION FROM A TO Z – 1/3
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- GPS NAVIGATION FROM A TO Z – 1/3
HOW TO NAVIGATE YOUR OWN ADVENTURES
Adventure: unexpected chance, singular and extraordinary occurrence; risky but attractive and fascinating undertaking; trial, experience whose outcome is uncertain or random (from Treccani dictionary)
Today’s motorcycles are getting more advanced, more technological, higher performance, more beautiful (some) and even expensive… but despite the “economic crisis” they are selling more and more. The data tell us that from 25 years ago to today the fleet of motorcycles on the road has steadily increased (along with the age of the average motorcyclist, which seems to be 40.4 years old..): leading the way in Europe is Italy with about 7.4 million two-wheelers on the road, Spain with 3.5 million… for a European total of about 35 million vehicles on the road.
These numbers, however, should be read in the aggregate: sales of mopeds have plummeted, however, sales of ‘real motorcycles’ have increased; and not even the mid-sized ones, but the big ones.
As can be clearly seen from the chart to the side (source economia-italia.com), there has been a slow and steady increase in motorcycles, a market ‘pulled’ first from the late 1990s and early 2000s by large scooters; then in recent years by large displacement bikes, especially maxi-enduros, which means that buyers are spending much more money than before and that the value of this motorcycle fleet is much greater than 20 years ago.
Far be it from me to bore the reader with yet another economics class, but I think it is now plain for all to see how fervently the medium- and maxi-enduro segment is in turmoil and how much the media is pushing it by associating the term “adventure bikes” with it with images of adventures among the deserts of Morocco, the mule tracks of the Alps, the Pyrenean mountain pastures or even lost in some remote part of the world that we didn’t even know existed but that makes us dream of exploring.
Exploring, that is. Let us return then to our good Treccani dictionary.
Exploring: seeking to discover, to know what is unknown, making use of appropriate means.
“By using appropriate means“. I know, we all have romance in us. I live with it, or live with it, on a daily basis. But the reality is that no matter how much one has a spirit of adventure and adaptation, no matter how well prepared and experienced one is..it is precisely the evolution of navigational tools that has allowed us to get to “explore” the world to the point of leaving little unknown (indeed, going even too far..).
Oh yes, I would love to set off on my bike and..go. Maybe just set a first destination but forget about on/offline maps, charts, topography..clock. That’s it, clock, another problem of our century. As romantic and adventurous as we are, the real adventure for many of us is forgetting to look at the time and maybe getting home late..but also being too late and finding ourselves at sunset still in the mountains, with little cover, without the proper equipment to solve some problem and without the experience to spend the night safely.
Where do I want to go with this? That the media are using the threads of romance that we are connected to to, at times, make us feel a little small and thus make us think that “if he can do it, then so can I.” I don’t doubt it, I am the first to think so, and I have always done so since I was a kid, ever since I dreamed of becoming a military paratrooper. For the purpose, I recall a phrase of one of my “heroes” of the time, a pioneer, Patrick de Gayardon: “overcoming a limit, an established boundary, before courage, is discipline, experience, the help of science, medicine, physiology, psychology. Only by concentrating in the body and mind these things can one become a master of the extreme.”
It’s nice to feel that romance that leads us to seek adventure and set limits for ourselves further and further away, but what the media never lets us see is just all the “dirty work” behind it, the hours of preparation, the falls, the problems and … the staff of people who support.
Why am I talking about this? Because sometimes I hear people saying that using a gps is not real adventure…and often, others who don’t even know how it works; someone else has all sorts of devices available on the market with which they just press the “on/off” or “take me home” button and the rest…Arabic.
We have the technology and at an affordable price, too: why not use it to enhance our experiences?
For the purpose, an initial introductory article describing the gps systems, software and hardware, that we can rely on for safer navigation, to be followed by two more articles dedicated to all those riders who have the necessary materials but do not know how to communicate with each other and how to make them communicate with each other with simple and direct workflows.
If you don’t want to read too much theoretical knowledge, go directly to my setup by clicking on the icon below!
Basic introduction to GPS and integration into today’s society
GPS : Global Positioning System.
Using it, it is possible to locate the longitude and latitude of objects and people. This is done with satellites stationed in Earth’s orbit, making it possible to know the exact location of a place and the exact time at all times regardless of weather conditions. The satellites contain an atomic clock that calculates to the thousandth of a second the time from the request made by the GPS receiver to the responses obtained by the satellites themselves. At present, we have Navstar (American), Glonass (Russian), Galileo (Italian), and BDS (Chinese) satellites. A more detailed overview in the gallery below.
The GPS system was officially born in 1973, then only the preserve of the U.S. Department of Defense. From 1991, it was then decided to open the market for civilian use but, for security reasons, with very low accuracy (about 950mt offset), made possible through alteration of the signal by a special mechanism. Finally, beginning in the year 2000, all abolition was suspended, and in the best cases signal accuracy can now reach about 5mt offset from the original (although there is talk of a new algorithm that, through the Galileo satellites, would allow incredible detection down to 25cm offset).
In the past two decades, great strides have been made going from GPS units dedicated to the automotive industry whose price was dedicated to the very lucky few, to finding receiving devices in our pockets without even knowing it.
Navigators, trackers, personal beacons, smartphones, tablets, computers… certainly we can no longer return home or to work under the guise of being lost. By now, in fact, any smartphone, even the cheapest, still has a built-in receiving unit that allows us, through specific software applications (free and otherwise), to have a very detailed perspective of our position with respect to the map we are using as a basis for orientation and to be able to navigate in any direction with the help of directions or by following a track (a list of waypoints, nda). All, simply, as long as we have communication with satellites and thus as much vertical visibility as possible.
Security ensured by GPS systems
Being able to know precisely where we are at any, or nearly any, time gives us a truly high level of real and perceived security, which is enabling us to reach places and performances previously accessible to few.
In our case, in addition to allowing us to return home or head anywhere we want without effort and with a couple of clicks, it gives us the ability to communicate our coordinates with some accuracy to anyone. Virtually all devices can in fact display and send the location directly via sms, whatsap, email and whatnot. Have we punctured or had a mechanical problem and can’t get out of it? we call the insurance company or roadside assistance and report the coordinates. Did we have an accident? We call the ambulance and communicate the coordinates. Shall we plan an outing with friends or wait for someone? no longer need to communicate street and city, just send our location.Also important to know if a deterimined trail or mule track takes us somewhere or only into trouble, if there are alternatives to a closed or blocked route or where we are in relation to the original direction, especially with the 200+kg “adventure bikes” of the moment, queens of the market.
Recently, on one of my trips exploring Africa (not on a motorcycle), I was able to make certain trusted people aware of my location every 30 minutes (I could have done it every 30 seconds as well..and even shared it on facebook..) while they were comfortably at home and I was in the middle of the jungle in Uganda; all automatically through a web page of the satellite service to which my device was sending the waypoint of the moment.
Main GPS devices used in the off-road context
Garmin, a global supplier and leader in telecommunications and navigation, is probably the most widely used brand among outdoor enthusiasts. The seriousness of the company, the accuracy of the devices and the technical support, enable us to have a reliable and user-friendly device.
For navigation, particularly off-road, the models that are best suited for the purpose are certainly those in the Zumo series (such as the XT, here on offer) and Montana (such as the 700, here on offer). The InReach model also (here the latest Mini version) , allows you to rely on satellite communication anywhere in the world, perfect for overlanders or people who like to explore and venture solo in more or less remote areas and be able to communicate any emergency without the need for gsm signal to a list of people or an emergency operations center.
Lately, however, GPS navigator technology seems to have lost its pace and appeal to the simplicity and immediacy (and sometimes cost) of smartphone and tablet devices, which are also rugerized and in some cases dedicated to the adventure world. Carpe Iter e Tripltek 8 dominating the scene, Samsung Active Tab (here on offer) for those who do not want to spend high amounts of money but still have excellent performance; with a simple google search you can find other devices that are paving the way by surfing the wave.
Advantages? Many… with such a device we have everything we need “all in one”: navigator with one or more favorite apps and constant updates, roadbook, memory storage for our videos, a playful tool with which to watch a movie on Netflix or read from the tent or from a comfortable hotel room, a professional tool with which to work comfortably from anywhere thanks to a wifi connection, a sim card or tethering. Closing the circle is the possibility of using a handlebar joystick to control its functions, such as the one produced by Ursae System.
Browsing with one’s smartphone, the only device we carry, I strongly advise against it instead because I think it is more of a convenient and quick solution of a momentary need since:
- under the hot sun on some days, the brightness is often automatically reduced and, in some cases, the standby is activated, making it unusable
- in case of rain, unless we are equipped with a waterproof cover or one of the latest IP67/68 certified models, we would find ourselves limited
- again in case of bad weather, another limiting requirement would be to have a watertight pass-through of the smartphone power cord/cover and a waterproof USB outlet
- drops on the screen sometimes activate the device
- with gloves, especially in winter, in the case of operating the probability of having to take them off is high
- unless you have anti-vibration support (such as SP-Connect o QuadLock), the chances of breaking gyroscope and photo-video apparatus are high
- most importantly–in the event of a fall, accident or whatever, our salvation would be located far away from us and, according to Murphy’s laws, unusable
Don’t forget, speaking of safety, to read my article devoted to this important aspect
My set-up for on and off-road navigation
Normally, I use the bike mainly offroad and the miles of paved road I do are those that allow me to get to the starting point, to connect the different routes or to get back home. In any case, the set-up that I use and with which I am comfortable and without additional needs, practically never varies, whether it is for a trip on asphalt or doing offroad of any level o….including running a rally.
Setup Hardware
Main Unit: Carpe Iter v4 + joystick/pushbutton pad
Dedicated YouTube video: LINK
As an “adaptation” to using a tablet, I did a 1-year trial with a Samsung Active Tab 3, which I still consider to be the best option as a quality/price compromise on the market for those who do not work and/or race motorcycles and therefore need other accouterments (at a high price of course). Using the motorcycle professionally and after several tours as a guide including in complicated terrain such as Morocco (you can’t miss my video, one of the best you can find), I switched to it mainly because of the charging factor (it has dual charging with pins and a dedicated M8 rally screw cable) and brightness (1,000 nits versus 550 in the Samsung). Through the dedicated application DMD2 and the joystick, I can interact with the tablet without almost ever taking my hands off the handlebars. In addition, through a bluetooth OBD2 device connected to the motorcycle’s OBD socket (this is the best), I have the essential data at my fingertips (engine RPM, oil temperature, speed etc etc)
Emergency Unit: Garmin InReach Explorer+
In truth, it is very rare that I carry this satellite gps device with me: only in case I decide to take a trip, whether long or short, solo and through mountains. The gps and topographic maps, sincerly are not optimal for fast and accurate navigation but the real value of the device is the satellite technology that differentiates it from others. In fact, it allows me to communicate with anyone even without any gsm signal and transmit my location every selectable time range from second up to 8 hours. It also features an SOS side button that once pressed (only in extreme situations where one’s life is really at stake) allows one to instantly transmit a call for help with one’s current location to a risk operations center that will activate a “search&rescue” process to virtually anywhere in the world and by any means. To date, a more compact and improved version called “Mini 2” has come out (here on offer)
Setup Software
Garmin Basecamp (desktop)
Practically mandatory choice for Garmin’s home devices but also “home” in terms of track de archive management. To be honest, an underrated software (in some ways, even rightly so), not very user-friendly, with an interface that in my opinion is dated and presents some obstacles to a clear and smooth workflow but. capable of meeting any need for archiving, management, editing and creation of tracks and routes, as well as multi-device communication.
On Basecamp, I have uploaded and installed the maps of the countries I need and the topographical variants of the areas I most frequent for off-roading. All clearly “open source” and therefore free and available for download and use.
Guru Maps Pro (app)
Discount 15% on the PRO, code“FASTSKY“, by registering through the web page
My favorite app for waypoint, track and map management. Constantly updated, with clean and simple interface, maps of any country in the world downloadable for offline navigation and online auxiliary maps such as OpenCycleMaps, TopoMaps, Google Earth etc.. Complete navigation data, automatic synchronization between the different devices it is installed on, integration with Garmin’s Smartlink app…really a nice and useful app that I chose after trying several others from the competition. This is the app I use on the secondary unit.
iOverlander and park4night (app)
In case I decide to take it to the next level of “adventure” and then load up my tent and sleeping bag on my bike and go without any idea of when and where to stop to sleep, then these two simple and free apps come to my aid: they actually display all the various rest stops, water sources, parking lots, campsites, areas identified for wild camping and anything else that may be of support along our route. I would also advise you, before camping “wild” outside of equipped facilities, to take a look at the relevant laws that often prohibit free camping in certain spaces and especially at certain times that are not “vivac.”
Wikiloc (app)
To tell the truth I use it very little however in a couple of situations it has given me a hand: once to find an alternate route in the Pyrenees at an altitude of 2200 meters, an hour after sunset, after finding myself unable to continue due to the collapse of a mule track I was traveling on. The alternatives were few, they did not look good, and because of the hour I could not afford to make mistakes. In the database I found a published route that used a path 1km before my location and reconnected to the same mule track 2km later. It has to be said that, being of use and abuse by any user with any experience (and head..), there is not much to trust. Neither of the truthfulness of the routes, nor of the reported difficulty, nor of the stated activity. So beware of downloading a medium-easy trail bike route because you might find yourself on a downhill single track made by an enduro… well meaning, few words…
Conclusion
Having reached the conclusion of this first introductory but lengthy article about GPS systems, I anticipate directly the contents of the next, more technical and motivating article, which I am sure will keep many of you entertained. In fact, I will talk about tracks, routes, trusted-untrusted tracks, software used, and I will begin to talk about an initial basic workflow for managing and using tracks that will allow you to learn how to view a track on various devices, how to upload it, how to verify it, and how to archive it to keep an organized database of your adventures.
For any information, elucidation or dispute on the matter… please feel free to contact me at my social profiles or via a comment in the appropriate section below…!
Let me know if you liked the article so I can start preparing the next installment right away!
Gas to life!
