[OSM-talk] [OSM-newbies] Wiki documentation on GPS devices - please help answer some questions

[Greg Troxel]

Dudley Ibbett <dudleyibbett at hotmail.com> writes:

> I would also add that the section on PDOP is rather technical for a
> newbie.  Perhaps this could be moved to a separate wiki page and the
> answer to the question changed to be more general.  If your GPS has a
> display then this is more likely to be given as a distance.  I must

It's true that PDOP is perhaps too complicated, but there's good advice
lurking: turn on your receiver and let it be still for several minutes
with a good sky view before starting to record.  In the woods, one can
go for quite a long time and not acquire some satellites, and with only
4 up high get atrociius accuracy.   By letting the ephemeris for all get
loaded before hiking, the track accuracy is much better.

For receivers without a satellite status page, the 'accuracy' number is
useful.  If one notices that you occasionally see a claim of '4 m', then
when it says '21 m' you know you are in bad shape, and should wait.
Basically, stay still with good sky view until that number gets to the
lowest value you typically see.

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