[Xastir-dev] Position accuracy

[Jack Twilley]

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>>>>> "Curt" == Curt Mills <Curt> writes:

[...]

Curt> So... If you have a more precise position than what you can send
Curt> over the air, of what use is it?

A quote from Benjamin Franklin comes to mind, when he was asked a
similar question in 1873 about the use of balloons:

"Of what use is a newborn babe?"

Prepare for a shock:  there are people who use xastir for more than
just sending and receiving positions via APRS. 

We currently have the ability to use maps with a finer level of detail
than thousandths of a minute.  There are GPSes that transmit their
positions with a higher precision than thousandths of a minute.  There
are portable computers with color displays, xastir-friendly operating
systems, and storage to hold lots of maps.

With xastir, a good GPS and the right maps, the possibilities are
endless:

 * acts of orienteering can be committed
   - geocaching
   - confluence hunting
   - highpointing
 * urban trips become survivable
   - traverse Boston's Freedom Trail
   - play tourist in Manhattan from Battery Park to Broadway
   - visit San Francisco's ethnic environments
 * retrace famous paths
   - run the Boston (or NYC, or ...) marathon off-season
   - go where Lewis and Clark went way back then
   - ride the old Route 66

Not a single one of these uses necessitates amateur radio.  Sure, ham
radio can come along for any and all of those adventures, but it's not
a requirement.  

Curt> The compressed positions give you an accuracy of 1 foot
Curt> world-wide as I recall.  I can't imaging needing anything better
Curt> than that for any APRS use.

It's my not-so-humble opinion that restricting xastir to the limits
currently imposed by APRS is short-sighted.

Jack.
- -- 
Jack Twilley
jmt at twilley dot org
http colon slash slash www dot twilley dot org slash tilde jmt slash
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