Lazy Daze Owners' Group

Re: Emergency Weather Radios

Reply #25 – April 10, 2015, 09:12:30 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 152174

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I use Garmin USA on my IPAD and IPhone. It has maps and will work without an internet connection which is why I purchased it. When I am off-roading in my Toad sometimes no internet connection so I have a backup. Not a perfect APP but helpful 95% of the time. If an internet connection present Google Maps usually gets me where I want to go.

Bob Pahrump NV. SKP's for a few...

Re: iOS devices as GPS

Reply #27 – April 10, 2015, 09:24:34 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 152176

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Judie, My IPAD 2 has cell capability but I don't use it. I have Verizon (formerly Mellenicom) service that my IPhone, IPAD, and Laptop all connect to via WIFI. When no internet use Garmin USA App. A little spendy at $50 but I got it for free using ITUNES gift card my CC company sends me.

Re: iOS devices as GPS

Reply #29 – April 11, 2015, 01:33:12 am

Yahoo Message Number: 152181

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"I was wondering how the unit follows the location of the vehicle if there is no connection to the satellites."

There's often confusion about how GPS mapping devices and mobile (smartphone or tablet) apps work.

In order for a device--whether it's a dashboard-mounted Garmin Nüvi or an iPhone running a GPS navigation program--to help you navigate, two things have to happen: first, the device has to know your exact location (latitude and longitude)... and second, it has to be able to display that location on a map. These are separate functions, and are done in separate ways.

Any GPS receiver chip can find your location--in fact, that's all it can do. Many tablets, including all the cellular-capable iPads and all of the iPhones and Android smartphones, have a GPS receiver that listens in on a dozen or so satellite signals at once for the sole purpose of determining exactly where you are. The GPS satellites are somewhat like lighthouses or beacons: they transmit but don't receive. They don't know where you are. Conversely, the GPS receiver in your Nüvi or your iPhone/iPad only receives data from the GPS satellites, and from that data calculates your location.

Notice that I haven't used the word "internet" in any of the above. The internet has nothing to do with how a GPS receiver determines where you are. But now we come to the second necessary function of a GPS navigator. It's no good to know that you're at N 38.8809984, W -99.318088. You want to see where that is on the map, and how to get from there to somewhere else.

That's where the internet can be useful. Apple, Google and others provide free apps that take the location data from a GPS receiver in your phone or tablet and plot it on a map that's been downloaded from the internet. But because a map of the entire US is well over a gigabyte and a half, they download only the portion you need to see: your immediate surroundings, or if you're traveling on a plotted route, the area along your route (and usually for a few miles on either side).

As long as you have an internet connection when you initially plot the route, these apps are smart enough to save the route's map data in memory, so that even if cell reception drops out along the way, the map display won't go blank. As long as the phone or tablet's GPS receiver tells the navigation app where you are, the app will use its stored map data to show your progress, regardless of internet or lack thereof.

Now, there is another kind of navigation app that stores map data for the entire US on your phone or tablet, so there's no need to download maps from the internet (except to update a few times a year). In effect, these apps make your phone just like a standalone Nüvi unit, which also has the entire US map database built right in, and thus needs no internet connection. The app I use is called Garmin U.S.A., and it's a whopping big download--close to two gigabytes--but it makes me entirely independent of the internet for navigation.

It's your choice. Most people will do OK with the free Apple Maps or Google Maps apps, which grab map data from the internet on the fly as needed. Some will prefer a self-contained app such as Garmin U.S.A., even though it costs forty or fifty bucks and requires a substantial amount of storage space on your device. (Garmin actually makes both self-contained and internet-dependent navigation apps, so it's easy to get confused. Read the descriptions carefully.)

But to reiterate: for a GPS receiver to find out where you are( lat/lon), no internet is needed. That only comes into play when an app wants to download maps, and even that is not always necessary.

Andy Baird

Re: iOS devices as GPS

Reply #31 – April 11, 2015, 11:40:14 am

Yahoo Message Number: 152185

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Andy,

Ditto what Lynne wrote.. Great Info.. .. And Lynne.. That was the cutest and had to LOL when I read "Lilly..4 legged alarm system" .. Love it!

Re: Emergency Weather Radios

Reply #33 – April 12, 2015, 12:20:33 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 152214

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Linda:  It may be the time of the year, but the two and a half years that I lived outside of Phoenix we had plenty of dust storms, hail storms, and your general thunderstorms.  While this was some time ago, every rainy season there were several deaths with people trying to drive through low areas.  We noticed on a recent trip that a lot of the low spots (forgot what they are called, but they direct the water) now have bridges across them.

Point though, keeping an eye out for sever weather no matter where you are, is always wise.

Thanks for your contributions to the side.

Bob in Florida

Re: Emergency Weather Radios

Reply #35 – April 13, 2015, 10:08:54 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 152241

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Hi Howard,

Just wanted to thank you for the info on the Midland WR-300 weather radio and also for the Codes for the states and cities..

Sincerely,

JO