It’s never a good feeling when you are lost on your boat in an unfamiliar lake, yet on occasion even experienced boaters have had that unnerving feeling of losing their navigational way. However, if your boat is equipped with a Marine GPS unit, your chances of returning safely to shore increases exponentially.
It does not matter whether you use a standalone Marine GPS unit, or a handheld unit or have a GPS capable personal data (PDA) finding your bearings can be made much easier. Additionally, God forbid there is an emergency, you can use your marine GPS unit to give rescuers an exact location which would make you safe return to shore pretty much guaranteed and you will also get a quicker response.
When utilizing a handheld Marine GPS unit, it is best to first check the location when you are on the shore and market that down in your unit, in the event you get lost while you are out on the water. You can get to your destination in a quicker, safer, simpler manner by knowing where you are and where you need to go. Particularly if you are in water that you are not familiar with or a quick storm makes visibility nearly impossible. A Marine GPS unit can help you find yourself into a safe harbor in the event that you travel too far away from shore and loose any of your directional bearings that you were hoping you had if you maintained a line of sight.
Marking and Recalling Locations of Successful Fishing Spots
When on the water and your fishing and you come upon a suitable location that gives great results, you cannot put a ‘X’ on the water, but by utilizing a Marine GPS, you can do the next best thing. You can go back to the precise spot the next time you are looking for a place to catch fish, by marking the location that is revealed by the unit. There will be no judging location by a reference point on the shore and there will be no guessing involved because your Marine GPS unit has the data within it marked.
When boaters sometimes wander away from the territory that they are familiar with they need to send for help. Whether there was a malfunction on their boat or they lost their bearings on the lake and they have a need to guide the rescue craft to their location it becomes more crucial as time goes by. A Marine GPS unit on board can make your imminent rescue easier and faster if you can provide them with the exact location to give to a rescue craft.
In a more severe accident on the water, such as your boat sinking, then a quick rescue is in order. By utilizing a Marine GPS, particularly if equipped with a GPS locator, you can assist rescuers to find you near your last reported location. Having a starting point for a rescue operation can be a life-saving and critical piece of knowledge.
By: Korbin Newlyn
Posts Tagged ‘Handheld Unit’
Marine GPS Maintains Boater Safety
March 7th, 2010What Can A GPS Handheld Unit Do For The Hiker?
January 12th, 2010
Handheld GPS units are a hikers best friend. Any hiker knows that being able to find your way around, especially in wilderness areas, is important. Hikers also know two of the deterrents to hiking in the wilderness are how to find the head trail and then how not to get lost during the hike. A handheld GPS unit can give people the freedom to explore the experience hiking in the wilderness areas that they have not attempted before.
A typical handheld GPS unit is powered by standard batteries and is 2 to 3 inches wide and 4 to 6 inches long. These handheld GPS units have a small screen which shows an icon representing your current location and pre-plotted locations. Various models also have maps showing roads and streams, topography, etc.
Handheld GPS units which can be used for hiking in the wilderness, use satellites orbiting over 12,000 miles above the earth to determine the position of the handheld GPS unit on the ground. It does this by using travel times to the handheld GPS unit’s signals being emitted from some of the 24 Navstar satellites. Consumer grade handheld GPS units need to receive signals from at least three of these satellites to calculate your “XY” or map coordinated position. At least four of these satellites are needed to also calculate your altitude.
There are several physical elements which may prevent a handheld GPS unit from receiving a satellittes signals. Mountains, canyon walls, high metropolitan buildings, and dense forest growth can limit the number of low in the sky satellites that are visible and therefore useable by the handheld GPS unit.
Once a handheld GPS unit has a location fixed in it, here’s what it may do for you while you are hiking in the wilderness.
1. Waypoints: A waypoint is a single point location. It can be saved in the handheld GPS unit’s memory. As you are hiking in the wilderness you can see your current position in relation to the point you want to go to. Waypoints may be created and saved in the handheld GPS unit’s memory before leaving for your trip or while you are in the field exploring. Sometimes a series of waypoints are sequentially linked to form a route.
2. Routes: A route is a series of locations that are linked in sequence to describe a path along which you intend to hike in the wilderness. The maximum number of positions that can go into a route varies depending on the type and model handheld GPS unit you have.
3. Tracks: A track is essentially a route that is made up of many linked sequential locations which a handheld GPS unit automatically creates and saves as you hike in the wilderness. This is analogous with leaving markers along a trail, so you can retrace your path that your came in on while hiking in the wilderness. This helps the hiker avoid getting lost while enjoying and exploring in the wilderness.
Waypoints, routes, and tracks are the three principal categories of locations that are fixed by a hiker in a handheld GPS unit. An understanding of these three basic categories gives the hiker insight into how a handheld GPS unit can help one navigate and explore safely while hiking in the wilderness. It can be used to preplan trips and to guide the hiker along their from their start to the destination and back again. A handheld GPS unit is ideal for the hiker to track and show them where they are going, where they have been and to reverse the course and return the hiker safely to their starting point.
By: Beth Appel
