GPS

As many know, I lost my Etrex32 recently so I am looking for a replacement. Must say that I am disappointed to see no real improvement in handhelds available leading me to conclude that I have to replace with exact same model.

Although I was happy with my Etrex I would have liked an improvement in battery life, connectivity and weight. I have a Garmin wacth but find that I need more than the watch GPS offers at times - especially ito imaging. 

Am I missing other options? Anybody with suggestions to improve on the Etrex as choice?

Hi BergAttie. Have you considered using a mobile phone? I use mine to navigate in the mountains regularly. I use the Locus Pro app in conjuction with phone GPS in offline mode to save batteries and then carry a powerbank for backup on longer trips. I got a pretty hi-res offline map of SA when i subscribed to the App for just over R100. There are many other maps available too. Uploading GPX tracks, Google earth marks etc is a cinch. I'm sure there are other similar Apps too. I know of some people who have even sourced the 1:50 000 digitised topo maps of SA and use them within the App. Having a dedicated GPS may be preferable for some but if you are already carrying a phone I think it's worth considering. Emergency contact, camera of sorts, e-reader and GPS etc all in one ;-D Cheers Brian

Thanks BrianG. I will expore this option a bit more. As you say phone is with me in any event. I just have t figure extra battery back-up then.
 

There are many apps available for your phone for hiking - I personally have Gaia Maps loaded which is free with certain topo maps and only charges a subscription when you need extra maps. However, I am so entrenched in Garmin and Basecamp software that I still use my old Garmin eTrex 20 to track all my hikes. Why? because nothing else compares to the 32 to 40 hour battery life I get on 2 AA lithium batteries. This allows me to go on a 3 day hike without needing to change batteries. My phone does not get through 2 days of hiking, only has a touch screen which is terrible to operate when wet (sweaty), is less robust than a dedicated GPS device, and costs 3x more so I prefer to be more carefree with my GPS.

Hi there
I have started making my own maps for hikes using GIS software. I overlay the path network on an aerial photograph and then export it to a geo-referenced tiff or pdf file (see attached example). On my phone, I use the free version of Avenza maps, which allows up to 3 of such maps to be loaded. Using the phone in flight mode, I get about 4 days of battery time, and pinpoint accuracy showing where I am relative to the path and surrounding landscape. It truly takes all the guess work out of the navigation, which is great when leading a group under difficult conditions. I agree that phones are definitely not as good as gps' in terms of batteries or robustness, but they are easily available technology and generally have much nicer screen resolution.

I am the chairman of the EKZNW Drakensberg Trails Honorary Officer group, and we have a project mapping and assessing trail condition. I am thinking of making such maps available through the Avenza store as a fund raiser for our project, charging about R100 per map. I would be interested to know if other hikers would see value in this. 

Hi Lechmere

Sounds great, my suggestion to anyone producing data, is to contribute it to the OpenStreetMaps data set. That data then becomes available in all maps that use that as a data source, which includes most of the big ones (Garmin, Apple, Google, etc). Otherwise people make their own maps and then they fall out of use (don't get updated) or become incompatible over time. 

There is plenty of prior work done on creating maps by myself and other members of the forum.

1. AndrewP created Garmin maps here: www.vertical-endeavour.com/forum/14-drakensberg-general/56345-drakensberg-gps-maps.html?start=0 a while ago

2. Another option which I really like, is these Garmin base images (found here:   gpstopos.co.za/public_html.html ) as they have excellent contours and use the OpenStreetMap trails which are the most comprehensive. Work fantastically in the Drakensberg. I use these ones on my Garmin topo devices

3. I digitized and georeferenced all the EKZN wildlife maps, and made them usable as an overlay in Google Earth, and in various apps (OruxMaps, OSMAnd, etc). I'll send you a private link to check them out. You can see video demos of them here (Google Earth): www.vertical-endeavour.com/forum/14-drakensberg-general/55557-google-earth-map-overlays.html?start=30

And here (Alpine Quest): www.vertical-endeavour.com/forum/44-gear/55931-apps-for-the-outdoors.html?start=50

4. I think the best app for maps by far is Gaia ... gaiagps.com ... it has exceptionally well rendered topo and hillshade. And it uses OpenStreetMap trail data so once again is very accurate. I use this app on my iPhone. I previously used OsmAnd but this has since become my #1 mapping app.

Cheers!

Ah the site www.gpstopos.co.za/public_html.html is down right now, I have emailed the owner to see if he will renew it. Otherwise, I have the data to share if anyone wants it.

@Lechmere to answer your question about spending R100 per map, I would say probably not since most mapping is contributed freely to the community, however if you asked for a donation for the Honorary Rangers in order to do other Berg maintenance work, I would definitely contribute to that. For example: creating signs that outline the rules of the Drakenberg and placing them in prominent positions at trail heads: no fires, max 12 person per group, no drones!

So putting up signs, fixing old signs, repairing erosion, etc - yes!

We attempted the GT earlier this year, using Wikiloc to Navigate. It "worked" but I found the maps very limited and we often found ourselves choosing the wrong side of a ridgeline etc. We are going to do another attempt this September and I decided that better maps would be very nice. After doing much reading I settled on the following: Locusmap with a silver subscription (R19 a month), with the free maps from OpenAndro maps, overlayed with the GT route as well as the GPX file that has all the Berg caves. I'm quite pleased with the result (see attached).
 

The only reason I had to subscribe to the silver option was for the map shading, which makes a huuuge difference.

I realise you can likely get something just as good or better with Gaia, but that stuff is expensive these days. 

What do you folks think? Am I missing an easier or better option?

Edit: The contour lines (data) does become more detailed when you zoom in. The screenshot is quite zoomed out.

Just to compare, this is what my maps looked like last time:

 

p.s. We have paper maps as well.

p.p.s. I hope this is the right thread, if not, please move.

Hi Wandelaar

I don't think there is any question about the quality of cellular based system's maps and graphics these days. For me the question hinges more on the device and the practicalities around these.

The big advantage of using a cellphone is that you are going to have it with you in any event so if you use it for navigation you don't need a second device.

The major disadvantage for me is that one now uses your primary rescue communication device on navigation that increases power consumption to the point where you have to rely on back-up power sources. This in my experience requires a powerbank of at least 20000mAh for anything longer than a 1.5 - 2 day hike. These are very heavy compared to a handheld GPS.

If this disadvantage is solvable I will overlook the other cellphone disadvantages as listed by others. I have not been able to find a better and lighter solution to powerbanks. I have looked at solar, solar battery combinations, kinetic and even wind-up solutions. All seems to not give a proper solution and are not fully developed. I believe technology properly applied should be able to solve this problem at some point but thus far it seems a bridge to far commerically.

Or perhaps I have missed something?