[OSM-talk] missing maps? no: missing GPS traces.

[Oleksiy Muzalyev]

Hi Mario,

I switched from an app to the dedicated GPS device. It is for now the 
Garmin eTrex 35 Touch (no affiliation). It is capable to record a GPS 
trace for about 20 hours on the pair of cheap AA alkaline batteries.

Here is, for example, the 431 km GPS trace I recorded in Mexico from 
inside a bus: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/4330126920 , or 
the 488 km GPS trace I recorded in Ukraine from inside the train. I 
published these traces also at the OSM.

This device is using EGNOS [1], the European Geostationary Navigation 
Overlay Service, a satellite based augmentation system, in Europe, and 
the WAAS [2], the Wide Area Augmentation System, in the North America.

This GPS tracker is quite rugged. It can survive being in the rain for 
hours or dropped on a hard surface. But most important it works for 
hours without discharging my communication device.

It has got also its share of disadvantages. It has modes for hiking, 
cycling, climbing, and even fishing, but no modes for the train or the 
bus. If you look carefully at the above mentioned traces you may notice 
that they were recorded in the cycling mode. And after the device's app 
uploads them to the website, I receive superfluous automatic 
notifications about reward badges for long distance cycling. However, it 
should be clear to the software that no one could cycle 431 kilometers 
with the average speed of 69 km/h.

I think of upgrading my GPS logger. I would like to have one with the 
modes for the train, bus, and car, in addition to cycling and hiking, a 
bit larger display, but also to keep ruggedness, long endurance, and 
portability. I think it would be a good idea to have also an external 
GPS sensor with a cable of about 3 meters (10 feet). For example, to 
install it on the roof of a survey car. But I am not sure about the 
external sensor, since such a long cable may weaken the received GPS signal.

[1] 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Geostationary_Navigation_Overlay_Service
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide_Area_Augmentation_System

Best regards,
Oleksiy

On 17-Feb-20 18:21, Mario Frasca wrote:
> Hi everyone.
>
> mapping Santa Fé, Veraguas, Panamá.  allegedly, a "strategic tourist 
> attraction" for this country, but what's the strategy, I'm at odds 
> understanding that.  anyhow.  I'm trying to convince the municipality 
> to help me helping them, and my plan is to: (step 1) collect traces, 
> (step 2) process them together with local input and bing aerial 
> pictures and integrate the information into OSM, (optional step 3) 
> produce a nice large format map that makes the effort visible to 
> people not using osm.org.
>
> the "collect traces" step is where I'm most perplexed.  I've been 
> walking around, travelling by local transport, uploaded the traces to 
> OSM and my perplexity is how come aren't there any but really truly 
> any other traces than what I've uploaded the last few weeks, and one 
> by some German guy in 2009.
>
> no, wait, I'm not just complaining for the sake of it, I'm looking for 
> opportunities.
>
> you see, we are in 2020, and people still do not know OSM even 
> exists.  just count them: we have 1.35 billion people walking with a 
> handheld device, most of which with a GPS, and only 10 thousand 
> installations of OSM Tracker for Android.  that's a really negligible 
> percentage, homeopathic almost.
>
> I opened an issue on the osmtracker-android github project, and I 
> invite you to contribute ideas there.
>
> https://github.com/labexp/osmtracker-android/issues/234
>
> my ideal scenery would be: one arrives at an airport, or a bus 
> terminal, and notices a poster advertising a 'minimal controls' osm 
> tracker, with a QR code to download it.  installation is followed by 
> opening it, and the program suggests creating an OSM account, and some 
> default options for uploading traces.  then the process would be 
> automatic: you start recording, you stop recording and at that moment 
> the program asks "do you want to upload this to OSM?"  (now this 
> option is hidden behind a long-press, and is followed by the 
> not-yet-solved need to register on OSM.  let me tell you: casual users 
> stop here.)
>
> Mario
>
>
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