What GPS tracking device did you use?

J

Jake Jhonson

Well-Known Member
I am curious and wondering of what are your tracking devices used to keep track on your drones :cool: You are free to comment like a boss!:cool:
 
Haven't done this yet but considering just strapping my old android (mytouch 3g is pretty small and I can probably remove the screen and casing to save some weight) on there and writing a small app to just text out the GPS coordinates or otherwise post them to a webservice to store them in a database I can poll.
 
Was just exploring another option could build it up from scratch with one of these https://store.particle.io/products/asset-tracker?variant=41492970054 only advantage I see doing it yourself over the prebuilt is if you are in a place where 2G is going away (believe in the US) then something on the 3G network will work for longer. Also price wise the prebuilt is a little better deal up front but a little more expensive monthly after the first years ($5 a month vs $3 a month on particle).
 
wafflejock said:
Was just exploring another option could build it up from scratch with one of these https://store.particle.io/products/asset-tracker?variant=41492970054 only advantage I see doing it yourself over the prebuilt is if you are in a place where 2G is going away (believe in the US) then something on the 3G network will work for longer. Also price wise the prebuilt is a little better deal up front but a little more expensive monthly after the first years ($5 a month vs $3 a month on particle).
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But I've heard Trackimo is now competing for best 3G GPS Tracking device. I have seen a lot of good feed backs of Trackimo users. Well $5 and $3 is so close and not so expensive at all.
 
Using billion dollar satellites to find tupperware in the woods!

People hide containers of varying difficulties (mental and/or terrain) in places all over the world, post the coords on geocaching.com for other people to find.

 
Jake Jhonson said:
Is Geocaching only an application?
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No, it's a physical game that uses gps, either on an app or gps handheld, to guide you to an associated set of coordinates. Then you have to search for the container, like a scavenger hunt.

An example, I have one that will lead you to the back lot of a strip mall where broken up concrete was dumped years ago. You have to move around the area searching for a large container. Not easy in itself (3.5 rating out of 5 for terrain) but finding the container isn't all that hard.

Then you open it and you find the 5 out of 5 rating for mental difficulty. In a 3.5 gal bucket is about 100 golf balls and one of them has a small container placed inside it with a strip of paper to sign. And you can't just dump it out or the balls will fall in the books and crannies of the surrounding concrete.

My first geocaching I placed was a cedar log that I drilled a hole into one side and placed a container in and placed that in the woods.

A third example (not mine) is a pop can sized container placed in a drain pipe below a castle here in the area. The cace brings geocachers that didn't know it was here, both local or travelers.

Loveland%20Castle.jpg

Geocache located in the recessed area on the right.
 
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Yah pretty sure geocaching has been a thing since before everyone carried a GPS device around but imagine it has gained some popularity since we mostly all carry that capability now. Never done it but it sounds like fun, something like pokemon go but with real physical things to find.
 
wafflejock said:
Yah pretty sure geocaching has been a thing since before everyone carried a GPS device around but imagine it has gained some popularity since we mostly all carry that capability now. Never done it but it sounds like fun, something like pokemon go but with real physical things to find.
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Started out in 2001 after Clinton flipped the switch that gave GPS to the public. One guy got an idea to reverse how gps could be used, buried a 5 gal bucket full of goodies and not to goog goodies (3.5in floppy disks), posted the coords on a forum and waited. From that Geocaching was created and the only thing left from that original cache is a rust-eaten can of beans. They are now all over the world (you might have passed many) and there is even one on the ISS (Russian side)

Ingress was the first(?) app game that used real-world objects that were interacted with in a virtual game fashion and the Pokemon game is a skin over the framework of Ingress by the same company.
 
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Torc the Sinister said:
Started out in 2001 after Clinton flipped the switch that gave GPS to the public. One guy got an idea to reverse how gps could be used, buried a 5 gal bucket full of goodies and not to goog goodies (3.5in floppy disks), posted the coords on a forum and waited. From that Geocaching was created and the only thing left from that original cache is a rust-eaten can of beans. They are now all over the world (you might have passed many) and there is even one on the ISS (Russian side)

Ingress was the first(?) app game that used real-world objects that were interacted with in a virtual game fashion and the Pokemon game is a skin over the framework of Ingress by the same company.
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Huh thanks for the brief recent history lesson.
 
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