To pick up on Andrew's point. The battery life we have seen on lower end smartphones (Samsung Galaxy Pocket) deployed in the field (in Cebu in the Philippines) when using GPS to send regular location traces to a server (not OSM, but would be indicative of battery life of doing this) is 3-4 hrs depending on conditions and intensity of use. This is significantly less than 12 - 24 hrs achievable on dedicated devices and means the phone is also useless for anything else you want to do (email, text, phone, music) until you can charge it.
Having lots of spare batteries can overcome this, but is operationally frustrating when working in the field. Best regards Neil Neil Taylor Associate Integrated Transport Planning Ltd. ----- Original Message ----- From:Andrew Salzberg <[email protected]> To:"[email protected]" <[email protected]> Sent:23/01/2013 4:02 Subject:Re: [OSM-newbies] Wiki documentation on GPS devices - please help answer some questions I think this is a great topic to improve. When I first got into OSM my question was : why not use my phone? Aside from accuracy or any other issues, the best reason I've come up with not to is simply battery life. My garmin will easily last 12 hours, and a simple GPS logger 24 or more. So in that sense having an answer up front about smartphones vs. GPS units might be very valuable for a newbie (I know it was my first question). Again - I dont have definite proof of accuracy arguments, but the battery one (+ lower cost if you drop your logger in a lake vs. your iphone) seem to me to be the strongest/clearest arguments in favor of dedicated units. On Tue, Jan 22, 2013 at 2:25 PM, Dudley Ibbett <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: The real split here is probably whether you just want to log data or you want to navigate using a gps, whether it is with a map or just following a gpx route you've loaded up. I would also stick to dedicated gps devices. There are to many other reasons as to why people buy a particular smart phone or tablet. Top 5 things to consider when buying a gps perhaps? I'll post my list when I've had time to think more. Dudley ________________________________ Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 19:01:28 +0000 From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: Re: [OSM-newbies] Wiki documentation on GPS devices - please help answer some questions Thanks both, Good points all round. The http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/GPS_Reviews page is a beast! It's more a catalogue than an buyers guide which I would rather see. I would imagine most people wanting to give GPS mapping a go will look for a low cost entry into it first - hence my questions about GPS on phones. Perhaps if we can get a buyers guide / top 5 list the taht would be ideal. Help welcome :-) I'll see how I get on with updating the wiki page on Recording GPS Tracks first. Rob _______________________________________________ newbies mailing list [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/newbies _______________________________________________ newbies mailing list [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/newbies This email (and any attachments) contains confidential information and is intended solely for the individual to whom it is addressed. If this email has been misdirected, please notify the author as soon as possible. If you are not the intended recipient you must not disclose, distribute, copy, print or rely on any of the information contained, and all copies must be deleted immediately. This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by anti-virus software, but Integrated Transport Planning cannot accept liability for any damage caused by receipt of this email. Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail. _______________________________________________ newbies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/newbies
