Gaston's 3-D GPS project

jason

jason

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Lincoln, Nebraska
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Jason W (FlyNE)
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Ok, here's what I'm thinking.

I'd like anybody that has the capability to "record" their path to and from Gaston's on their GPS to do so. If you have the capability to create a .GDB file (from something like Garmin Mapsource) let's post them here after the fly-in. If we can get enough of them I'd like to compile as them all into a Google earth 3-D image to show the story of our fly-in.

Heck, record all of your flying, even over the weekend. When we're done we should be able to create a pretty neat compilation.

What do you think?

For those of you with access to the Red Board, here's a sample of what I'm thinking...

http://forums.aopa.org/showthread.php?t=14198
 
It's really cool what you can do with a GPS unit now.

I did something very similar with my handheld GPS when flying around in a plane in and around Seward that happened to be doing enough ground reference maneuvers to make me sick.

If you have Google Earth installed, you can view it here.
If you don't have Google Earth installed, view it here. Cool huh?

I also started playing around with the API and started building a site for the great trails here in Lincoln. I got three plotted with my receiver, which can be seen at http://bbw.homeip.net/trails/. (Note: You have to view it in Internet Explorer. When I first created it, it worked in Firefox, but for some reason the API changed and it doesn't anymore. You should see three trails). I didn't get very far with it, as other things of higher priority got in the way.

For any of you interested in Geocaching, you can see the the caches I've logged here. (If you're NOT interested in Geocaching, you should be. It's more fun than it sounds, and is kind of like a pedestrians' version of general aviation's The ConUS Challenge. Flying + geocaching = awesome! In fact, there are three caches within a mile of Gastons Airport)

Anyways, as you can see, there are many interesting things you can do with nothing more than a GPS track log!
 
I've been doing this myself for a while. As noted in the thread on the red board, if you have Google Earth Plus you can download your GPS track directly into Google Earth and save a .kml/.kmz file without having to mess with the middle step of using mapsource or other software.

If you don't have Google Earth installed, view it here. Cool huh?
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Hmm, you learn something new every day. Thanks!
 
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Oh yeah, another thing to add: geocoding photos.

Essentially, it's the process of linking a photo with the geographical position at which it was taken. Here is an example: the first time I saw a tornado. Click the little green icon and you'll see a photo taken from that exact location (accurate to less than 10 feet).

Wouldn't that be awesome for shots taken from the air? It'd be so cool to see everyone's GPS tracks into Gastons, with aerial photos along the way and flight reports. I can't think of better way to document a flight.

There are several ways to geotag photos. The method that I think will be the most practical for people will be time-stamp synching. Essentially, you synchronize the time on your camera to that of your GPS. You go on your merry way shooting photos while your GPS is logging where you're going. You then use a program (several can be found at http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~rakerman/geocode-photos.html#gps) that looks at the time each photo was taken and the times along the GPS track to determine where the photos were taken.

You can also buy cameras now that hook up to the GPS unit directly (like the Nikon D200) and some that have special GPS add-ons, but those probably aren't worth the trouble when you can just as easily throw a cheap GPS unit in the back somewhere and worry about the encoding later.

You can even do it manually, with no GPS at all, if you want to put in the effort to determine where each photo was taken.

Anyways, I think FlyNE's idea is awesome! I can't go to the fly-in, but I'd be more than happy to help in any way I can to complete this project. I'd be glad to host the site to which the finished product is posted.
 
Very cool.

I have been working with track files from my Garmin Zumo, but don't know if there is any way to get the track files (are there track files?) from a Garmin 430. Anybody know?
 
If there is no way to get them from your panel mount, what you could do (I've done this before), is bring your handheld with you, even though its not an aviation unit, and just let it sit in the back seat or something, powered on so that it grabs the track for you.
 
SkyHog said:
If there is no way to get them from your panel mount, what you could do (I've done this before), is bring your handheld with you, even though its not an aviation unit, and just let it sit in the back seat or something, powered on so that it grabs the track for you.
Click to expand...

I thought about that, but I tried to upload a track from the handheld and the web site wouldn't recognize it. I thought the track file might be different for road units and av units. :dunno:
 
The only other issue is that I'm not sure that non-av units carry an altitude component. Maybe, I've just never tried. I'm willing to take a look at whatever anybody submits.
 
FlyNE said:
The only other issue is that I'm not sure that non-av units carry an altitude component. Maybe, I've just never tried. I'm willing to take a look at whatever anybody submits.
Click to expand...

Most of the non-av units I've played with do, but they don't call it altitude, they call it elevation. At 12000ft in the air, the GPS thinks you're on the ground at 12000ft.
 
I'm almost positive that my Lowrance Airmap 500 does not record altitude but I could be wrong.
 
jesse said:
I'm almost positive that my Lowrance Airmap 500 does not record altitude but I could be wrong.
Click to expand...

Better make sure you have plenty of batteries or you might never make it down there. Ya know Kent and I won't be there to guide you! ha! j/k
 
CJones said:
Better make sure you have plenty of batteries or you might never make it down there. Ya know Kent and I won't be there to guide you! ha! j/k
Click to expand...

ha! what are the chances that you have

1) dead batteries in your GPS
2) a vacuum pump failure
3) your charts in the very back of the plane

all at the same time?
 
FlyNE said:
ha! what are the chances that you have

1) dead batteries in your GPS
2) a vacuum pump failure
3) your charts in the very back of the plane

all at the same time?
Click to expand...

Haha.. Apparently very good, actually! :yes:
 
CJones said:
Better make sure you have plenty of batteries or you might never make it down there. Ya know Kent and I won't be there to guide you! ha! j/k
Click to expand...

Sectionals & AF/D - Check
Garmin 430 - Check
Airmap 500 - Check
Garmin 396 - Check
Amazinly Talented
and beautiful
Tristan - Check

We won't be getting lost :)
 
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