use of IPAD as back up for navigation

[wieland]

did I miss something???

In a very recent issue of PBO the use of an IPAD was discussed as a very useful back up tool for navigation. The pros and cons of the various available navigation Aps were discussed.
I went to talk about this with a couple of staff at the Apple store in Cambridge today.
Conclusion: These Aps cannot really work at all when you are out at sea,i.e. off shore, because the signal for the 3G IPad GPS comes from terrestial telephone masts and not from a Satelite. The IPad will therefore be only useful for navigation, when you sail on rivers or very close inshore.

Why was this not mentioned in the PBO articles? Or did I get something wrong here?

Anybody knows the answer????

 

[stevensuf]

the cheaper ipads dont have an internal gps chip ,the more expensive ones do and can be used anywhere or you can add an external gps chip to the cheaper ones

 

[prv]

Conclusion: These Aps cannot really work at all when you are out at sea,i.e. off shore, because the signal for the 3G IPad GPS comes from terrestial telephone masts and not from a Satelite.
[...]
Or did I get something wrong here?

Yep - your entire first sentence is completely wrong

The iPad GPS has nothing to do with telephone masts, and works exactly like a boat GPS.

Just make sure you don't buy the cheaper Wifi-only iPad, because it's intended for use mostly at home and doesn't have a GPS in it.

Pete

 

[fireball]

Apparently you could get a bluetooth GPS for the Wifi only iPads - but prob not as convenient ...

3g iPad & iPhone work fine independently of the phone network - as proven by many on here. There is an advantage of having a phone signal in the first instance as it gives a rough position - also I think there's some data feed about Satellite timings that can get passed more quickly - but not sure... eitherway - phone signal helps get the position more quickly - but it will work without.

 

[nigelmercier]

I went to talk about this with a couple of staff at the Apple store in Cambridge today.
Conclusion: These Aps cannot really work at all when you are out at sea,i.e. off shore, because the signal for the 3G IPad GPS comes from terrestial telephone masts and not from a Satelite...

Strange, the Apple Store people normally know what they are talking about ...

 

[prv]

Strange, the Apple Store people normally know what they are talking about ...

Sure, but that doesn't mean that customers never misunderstand what they're told

Pete

 

[[70521]]

did I miss something???

Conclusion: These Aps cannot really work at all when you are out at sea,i.e. off shore, because the signal for the 3G IPad GPS comes from terrestial telephone masts and not from a Satelite. The IPad will therefore be only useful for navigation, when you sail on rivers or very close inshore.

Sounds good to me, how far offshore are you going? I "usually" get a signal about 5nm out to sea.

Personally I use a chart 95% of the time, but I am very old. No issue with signals there.

 

[fireball]

Sounds good to me, how far offshore are you going? I "usually" get a signal about 5nm out to sea.

My last trip away from the coast I could still get a signal and post on here about 15Nm off ... was a bit slow though ... (posting - not the boat!)

 

[Neil_Y]

If you're thinking of using phones for navigation I have to commend Motorola for producing a truly waterproof gps smart phone the Defy. With Navionics we could navigate at speed in some fairly trecherous waters off Brittany as well as if not better than boats equiped with dedicated marine plotters.

It was submerged many times to around 2m at speeds of impact in excess of 22 knts, we were cat racing up to 15nm offshore.

 

[AHoy2]

If you're thinking of using phones for navigation I have to commend Motorola for producing a truly waterproof gps smart phone the Defy.

+1

also ruggedized to take the knocks and drops.

 

[tom_sail]

I used my iPad as a back up to navigation. In this case I had to cross a sand bank with the aid of a transit between 2 telephone masts, then find a contour line, follow it until I found a pool as well as using 3 point fixes. The iPad allowed me to back up the tradition methods giving me reassurance I was doing it all right.

Now time for the plug I have a wi-fi model and the kind people at bad-elf sponsored me a bad elf gps unit which is a gps dongle for the iPad, iPhone & iPod. find out more here

The image of my Track.