Outdoor Navigation with GPS
Stephen Hinch
GPS—Global Postioning System—has been called the greatest advance in outdoor navigation since the invention of the compass. GPS can help you find your destination and return safely, whether you are mountain biking, hiking or backpacking, canoeing or kayaking, fishing, hunting, doing outdoor photography, or searching for treasure. This book shows users how to get the most from GPS in the outdoors.
First, it clearly explains how to use a GPS receiver to do simple tasks like creating waypoints and navigating to them, then explains advanced techniques that combine GPS use with map and compass skills for more ambitious journeys. Along the way readers learn what they need to know about latitude and longitude, UTM coordinates, position formats, and map datums.
Organized in a logical flow, each chapter builds upon previous learning. Hinch then details many uses for your GPS receiver. One chapter explains geocaching to help users get started in this fast-growing new sport while other chapters describe other unusual ways to have fun with GPS in the outdoors, and what to look for when buying a GPS receiver.
Hinch also explains how to use GPS with a personal computer to simplify planning and to create accurate records of your journeys. It also includes extensive references to useful internet sites. This is the ideal book for most outdoor GPS users because it emphasizes practical applications over technical theory. Hinch has taught GPS navigation since 1998.
192 pages, 5-1/2"x 8-1/2" 60 illustrations and charts.
Published by Annadel Press. ISBN 0-9661999-3-6 tradepaper. 2004
$15.95
From the back cover:
Learn to Use GPS in the Outdoors
GPS has been called the greatest advance in outdoor navigation since the invention of the compass. Whether you are a backpacker on a multi-day trek or a mountain biker out for an afternoon ride, GPS can help you find your destination and return safely. This book shows you how to get the most from GPS in the outdoors.
You will learn:
- How to use a GPS receiver to do simple tasks like creating and navigating to waypoints.
- Advanced techniques combining GPS with map and compass skills for more ambitious journeys.
- What you need to know about such things as latitude and longitude, UTM coordinates, position formats, and map datums.
- How to use GPS with a personal computer to simplify planning and to create accurate records of your journeys.
- How to get started in the fast-growing new GPS sport of geocaching
- Unusual ways to have fun with GPS in the outdoors.
- How to find your way back if your GPS receiver fails.
- What to look for when buying a GPS receiver.
- Up-to-date references to Internet web site resources.
Emphasizing practical applications over technical theory, this is this an ideal book for hikers, backpackers, cyclists, hunters, fishermen, kayakers, cross-country skiers, photographers, or anyone else who wants to learn how to use GPS in the wilderness.
The author
Author and photographer Stephen W. Hinch has taught courses in GPS navigation to police and fire personnel, park rangers, search-and-rescue staff, and recreational outdoor a enthusiasts since 1998. His experiences as a GPS instructor have shown that many of the most common classroom questions about GPS aren't adequately explained either in GPS instruction manuals or existing guidebooks. Trained as an electrical engineer, he has over 25 years of management experience in the high-technology industry.
The Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments 6
Preface 7
PART 1: Basic Navigation
1 Basics of GPS 17
How it works 19
GPS in the wilderness: essential skills 23
Sidebar: GPS accuracy 25
2 GPS Receivers 27
Satellite signals 27
Features of GPS receivers 30
Limitations of GPS 37
3 Navigation using Waypoints and Bearings 41
Waypoints 41
Directions and bearings 42
Simple navigation 45
GOTO function 46
Magnetic compasses 48
Baseplate compasses 49
Finding a bearing in the field 51
Common-sense navigation: following a bearing 52
True vs. magnetic north 53
Summary of simple navigation 57
Sidebar: Correcting for magnetic declination 59
PART 2: Intermediate Navigation
4 Knowing your Position: Latitude and Longitude 63
Latitude and longitude defined 63
Position formats 64
Map datum 69
5 Entering and Navigating to Stored Waypoints 71
Obtaining waypoint coordinates 71
Organizing waypoint coordinates 73
Programming waypoint coordinates 73
Navigating to stored waypoints 76
6 Geocaching 79
Geocaching web sites 81
Cache types 82
Geocaching rules 83
Finding a cache 84
Hiding a cache 87
Travel bugs 88
PART 3: Advanced Navigation
7 Topographic Maps 91
Topo map basics 91
Contour lines 92
Elevation 93
USGS Maps 95
Understanding topo maps 96
The UTM grid 98
Software maps 102
Physical connections and interface protocols 106
8 Route Planning and Navigation 107
GPS routes 107
Planning a route with paper maps 109
Reading waypoint coordinates 110
Creating the route 114
Planning a route with software maps 115
PART 4: Recovering from Disaster
9 Preparing for Disaster 119
Essential items 119
GPS survival kit 122
Other back-up plans 123
10 Map and Compass Navigation 125
Determining your present position 126
Triangulation 126
Dead reckoning 130
Altimeter navigation 133
Identifying the destination 136
Planning the route 137
Following the route 138
11 Primitive Navigation Techniques 141
Hike out or wait for rescue? 141
Self rescue 142
Celestial navigation techniques 143
Directions from the sun 145
Navigating a bearing without a compass 149
PART 5: Getting the Most from GPS
12 Fun and Games 153
Track log maps 153
GPS golf 157
Find the flags 158
GPS team building 159
Orienteering: GPS relay race 160
Organized activities 162
13 GPS Receiver Selection Guide 163
Garmin International, Inc. 164
Magellan (Thales Navigation, Inc.) 169
Lowrance Electronics, Inc. 170
Brunton 171
Cobra Electronics, Inc. 171
GPS accessories 172
14 GPS FAQs 175
Resources 181
Glossary 183
Index 187
