[Talk-us] US GPS Set for Mapping Parties

[Karl Newman]

On Thu, Sep 25, 2008 at 9:03 AM, Adam Schreiber <sadam at clemson.edu> wrote:

> On Thu, Sep 25, 2008 at 11:49 AM, Ian Dees <ian.dees at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Thu, Sep 25, 2008 at 10:46 AM, Adam Schreiber <sadam at clemson.edu>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> On Thu, Sep 25, 2008 at 11:12 AM, Ian Dees <ian.dees at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> > On Thu, Sep 25, 2008 at 10:02 AM, Adam Schreiber <sadam at clemson.edu>
> >> > wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> Would there be any interest in getting together a box of GPS devices
> >> >> to be sent around for North American mapping parties similar to what
> >> >> they have across the pond? [1]  Maybe Garmin would sponsor something?
> >> >> [2]
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > I will start a sponsorship request form now unless someone else has
> >> > already
> >> > done so.
> >
> > Does anyone know if the OSM Foundation is a 501(c)3 org here in the US?
> > Perhaps we should start one...
>
> I'm not sure how non-profits incorporated in a different country are
> handled in the US.  I suppose you're saying set up a OSM US Foundation
> to facilitate such donations?  This might also be good if there were
> ever to be a US mirror of the API/tile serving.
>
> > Also, what are our "job titles" and when are all of the US mapping
> parties?
>
> The currently planned Clemson, SC party is Oct 11, which is within
> their 6 week window.
>
> Adam
>

If you're going to approach Garmin, and you have a choice, see if you can
get the 60CSx series, because the new eTrex HCx series and the Garmin
Colorado have significant "drift" problems where under challenging reception
conditions (i.e., tree cover or urban canyons), the reported position can
drift away from your true position by up to 700 feet in some cases. It will
sometimes recover on its own after a long time, but a power cycle will fix
the problem immediately. However, it's sometimes difficult to tell when it's
occurring, so it would be bad to get invalid data for OSM use. There is also
the new Oregon touchscreen device which uses a different GPS chipset and
doesn't have the same problems, but it is still new and its accuracy not
fully trusted yet.

I'm not sure how excited Garmin will be to sponsor OSM anyway, since one of
the ultimate uses of this project is to supplant the maps you currently have
to buy from Garmin to use on their GPS receivers.

Karl
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