26/03/2021
Monument Toyota Constantia and Rivonia Toyota 4x4 enthusiast Satellite Navigation Talk
On the evening of the 18th of March 2021 Kevin Bolton on behalf of NavWorld presented a Satellite Navigation Talk to the Monument Toyota Constantia and Rivonia Toyota 4x4 enthusiasts at Hobby Park in Krugersdorp. Just after 19:00 Riaan Kotzee introduced Kevin and handed the floor to him.
Kevin Bolton is an experienced satellite navigation specialist starting his passion for the subject as far back as 1982 while still in the military. During his 43 years in this specialist field he has worked in South Africa, Turkey and a number of African countries, presenting talks and satellite navigation training courses to professionals and recreational enthusiasts. He has also visited Garmin Europe on three occasions to gain a better in-depth knowledge of their products.
The presentation started by reminding us of the basics of navigation:
• Knowing where you are,
• Knowing where you are going,
• Knowing where you have come from,
• Keep orientated,
• Have an alternative plan,
• And lastly always a bit of common sense or keep calm.
Followed by the elements of navigation:
• Distance,
• Direction,
• Time.
Once the introduction was over the basics of what Satellite Navigation can do for one while out in the unknown were discussed. The reason is that many people think that a GPS is a nice to have and not always necessary.
• It will give one a position / location (co-ordinate), latitude, longitude and height.
• It will assists one while navigating by giving distance, direction and time, between locations as straight lines like a stick man or as per road or tracks.
• The true value in the Garmin products is the TrackLog or Breadcrumb which will enable one to track your movement with metadata; date, time, location and speed per location / crumb. The TrackLog will also enable one to track back from where you have come within the accuracy of the satellite navigation device. Generally a satellite navigation device will give an accuracy of between three to five meters. The TrackLog technology in a Garmin has been used in many court cases to prove the accused, innocence or guilt.
• With the TrackLog capability a person can create accurate maps of an area and of your routes that you have travelled.
• And finally a satellite navigation device is a safety device making sure you are always pointed at your destination no matter how you try to confuse it, always giving the time and distance to your destination. Therefore you can never get lost. Kevin is a strong believer in safety and therefore believes that every tour group be it a single vehicle or a number of vehicles, there should be a minimum of at least two satellite navigation devices in the convoy if not at least one in every vehicle and two in the lead vehicle.
In today’s world there are four major GNSS in the world being, NAVSTARGPS the American system, GLONASS the Russian system, Galileo the European system and Beidou the Chinese system. At present Beidou is only reserved for military applications by China and Pakistan. If all four systems were available we would be able to receive signal from more than one hundred navigation satellites.
The next point that was discussed was how to select a Satellite Navigation System that you would wish to purchase. Breaking the crucial points into 6 headings. Listed below are just a few examples that would help guide you in making this selection.
• What do I need? A Satellite Navigation System for 4x4ing, must display maps, do street navigation, have a TrackLog, have a big screen, a minimum signal from two GNSS and something that has some level of water proofing.
• What do I want? A screen that shows sunrise and sunset, something that can take satellite imagery, touch screen, good battery life, able to be dash board mounted and as well as something that can be used as a handheld device.
• Features that are nice to have? A magnetic compass, with a hunting and fishing screen (when it will be a good day for hunting or fishing), Pitch and roll dials
• Features that are not needed? A barometer and a backup camera.
• Features that I don’t want? Camera
• Budget? The most important.
It should be remembered that the top of the range might not always suit your needs and that you could get away with something cheaper.
The question was then asked can a Cellphone do the same job as a dedicated Satellite Navigation Device. In Kevin’s opinion and his answer, a definite NO. A cellphone does not have the required battery life, most cellphones would not have the TrackLog capability, if it did it would use data for map downloads in most instances which could be costly and that is if there is network coverage. A cellphone is ideal for street and city navigation but not suited for the outdoor adventures and 4x4ing.
At this point he discussed the Garmin outdoor products that he would consider. To his knowledge Garmin is the only manufacturer that is still selling these outdoor products in South Africa, as all of the other top brands have either withdrawn from South Africa or have totally closed shop and their products are no longer supported or available in South Africa.
The Garmin products that he discussed was:
• The Garmin eTrex series that are be ideal for hiking, hunting and maybe as 4x4ing backup’s devices.
• The second device that he discussed was the inReach mini and the new devices with this technology. The inReach technology is not a satellite navigation device but a Satellite Communicator for two way global messaging. Working off of the Iridium network for emergency communications, tracking and sharing of your location. Again safety.
• The next product which are not ideally suited to 4x4ing but only as back up devices due to the smaller screen size. As with the eTrex series the GPSMAP 65 and 66 series are more suited to the hiking, hunting and professional applications. It should be noted that some of these devices now receive not only the original L1 frequency but now the L5 frequency, improving accuracy. The GPSMAP 66i includes the InReach technology.
• The following product was the Oregon series devices the bigger version of the touch screen eTrex 35 but still smaller handheld devices.
• The next up was the Overlander a rugged outdoor device which is ideal for 4x4ing with a big screen, 4x4ing features and user friendly similar to the older Nuvi series devices. This is a device that is Aneroid driven. Built to military spec. This device was reviewed in SA 4x4 during the last year and Kevin believes a winner.
• The last outdoor device to be addressed was the new Montana 700 series. Kevin has recently reviewed this device with the heading : THE NEW GARMIN MONTANA 700 series, Monster or Beast – WOW
Next on the agenda for the evening was to give an insight into a few new Garmin products on the way:
• The Garmin Enduro, a new sports watch with up to an 80 hours battery life in GPS mode.
• The Garmin Power Switch, a new digital power box, which can be used to control / manage up to six 12v accessories. The system can be expanded to control a maximum of twenty four accessories (4 x Power Switches). These Power Switches will work with most compatible Garmin 4x4ing devices and most smart phones. The limit, being a maximum of 30 amps per device. Important, not made to manage a winch.
• The last new device is the Garmin Tread. This device will be a winner for 4x4 enthusiasts and it is a mixture of the Garmin Zumo XT and the Overlander but with a 5inch screen. The device includes a VHF radio for messaging / no voice, with tracking to a maximum of 20 vehicles simultaneously. Tracking range of the Tread will be limited to the nature of the terrain. Due to only texting and no voice, no license is required in South Africa. It should be noted in some countries the device can have voice communication. However this feature is not in South Africa and therefore does not come with the required additional accessories.
Once finished with the product overview the different mapping that can be loaded to Garmin satellite navigation devices was discussed, being:
• Street mapping for Africa (4 map sets), City Navigator Southern Africa with the 12 southern countries, East Africa, West Africa and Northern Africa. The newer Garmin product is Topo Active Africa (complete Africa) with contour maps (maybe more representation lines, less than contours, which have a height value). Topo Active Africa can do auto routing to points of interest but not to street addresses.
• Tracks4Africa mapping, which Kevin believes is a must for anyone traveling north of the South African borders and adds value to 4x4 adventure.
• The other “map set” is BirdsEye from Garmin which is satellite imagery similar to that of Google Earth. Some of the new devices has this capability now included in the purchase. If not it can be purchased for an annual fee and downloaded as per requirement. Due to the size of the files one would only download places of critical interest. Kevin believes that this does add value to a navigation experience. When enabled, this would show as a backdrop to any other map enabled.
To complement the Garmin products possible accessories that could be of value and purchased additionally were discussed.
• Suction mounts (the new bigger suctions really work), dash mounts and air vent mounts
• Power cables, carry cases, protective screens, extra batteries for long trips in case and external antennas which he believes are not necessary for most devices these days but are a requirement if your vehicle prevents the satellite signal from entering the vehicle (example armoured vehicles or similar)
• RAM mounts are a product that also comes highly recommended with some of the larger and newer devices coming with RAM mounts in the box.
Some comments were made that people should take a bit of caution when using a satellite navigation devices.
• Ensure that when inserting co-ordinates that they are in the same format and the same datum is used.
• Select the setting for the route you wish to travel, shortest or fastest. This does make a big difference to your desire route.
• A common fault is when people confuse a route (which is planned) and a Track / TrackLog (something you have done)
• When navigating to a town or city do not try and activate the route from the street address but from the town or city function.
• If looking for a point of interest or address ensure the search function is set for near you or near another major center.• When searching for something ensure you are using the correct spelling. Most of the new names are in the latest map sets and that the old names still exist and have not been removed.
In closing Kevin gave an introduction and a few tips when using the Garmin Base Camp program.
Base Camp is a map viewing or mini GIS, software package, intended for use with Garmin GPS navigation devices. It will organize, save and create data, plan your trip with common datasets that can be shared between friends. The software should be used to plan your next hiking, biking, motorcycling, driving or off-roading trip. You can view your maps, planned routes, and marked waypoints.
• As with your satellite navigation device you must ensure that BaseCamp has the same and correct settings, while using the identical maps for planning your adventure.
• Before venturing out on your adventure plan and check your trip to ensure the desired information planned is what you want.
• Remember that some satellite navigation devices have limitations wrt the number of points in a route
• Please save your information in a logic format under My Collection and on your computer for future reference.
The planned 60 minute presentation stretched into a 2,5 hour session with numerous questions from the audience afterwards. In the end a most enjoyable and enlightening evening for everyone.
