Gps problem

[nova@…]

Dear Talos rowing:

I have just bought a Droid X, and the reason I did this was to use your rowing application.   I just tried it out, and I am having some problems with it.

 

Or, one problem.  I get no reception of any kind.  That is the speed of the boat is never registered.  

 

Is there anything I need to do to set up the phones GPS aspect, or to enable it?

 

Or do I need a separate App.

 

It looks good in the boat and I can read it all right, even in its waterproof case.  

 

But, no signal.  I rowed in Chapel Hill, right in the middle of things where cell phone service, from Verizon, is fantastic.

 

So, what do you suggest?

 

Thanks,

 

Craig

[tshalif]

The GPS default setting is to update boat position/speed every 40 meters. This is, admittedly, a bit too infrequent for our kind of sport. For myself I have changed the settings (available through the application menu->settings->GPS Min Distance) to 20 meters.
The speed display cell (top left) should also show a green/yellow/red colour stripe below the speed figure, to signify the GPS error range (green gives us a 2 meter error range, yellow and red mean the GPS system will be quite inaccurate).

[tshalif]

The settings mentioned above are those from the Talos Rowing application context menu, not those of the Android system. For speed/distance detection in Talos Rowing, the GPS must be turned on - can you see a satellite dish icon in your status bar once you start Talos Rowing? As a way to check either your GPS function or not, try opening the Google Maps application. Again, can you see the satellite dish icon in your status bar? Is your location circle small or large?

Thanks for the note. But it doesn’t quite get to my difficulty. I row in Chapel Hill where the cell phone reception is terrific.

My problem is this. _I don’t get any reception at all, and no green bar under the speed section, the rate for 500 meters_. So, I went to the GPS section and enabled the GPS possibilities.

That is I checked three boxes, “Use wireless networks,” “Use GPS satellites,” and “Enabled Assisted GPS.”

Should all three be checked?

I just took the phone outside and I still didn’t get the (green or any other colored bar) under the speed window, but I wonder how long the phone takes to pick up the satellite?

Is there anything else I have to do to enable the GPS function?

Also, in adjusting the GPS down to 20 meters, on my phone the prompts work this way menu -> settings -> locations and security, but there is no menu item for adjusting the GPS distance, not in the settings main menu, and not under Location and Security.

So how can I adjust the GPS down to 20 Meters?

I put this in my boat yesterday and it would be great to have, particularly the rate for 500 meters, which, of course, tells you everything (if you are rushing the slide, etc) although the ratio of drive to slide would be good, too.

So, have I done the right thing to turn the GPS on? How do I adjust the GPS down to 20 Meters?

I have a Droid X, brand new.

Thanks,

[tshalif]

Reception quality may vary during the course of your rowing. On the Yarkon in Tel Aviv I get mostly green, frequent yellow and sometimes red - when going under bridges. In theory, if you are only interested in the time/speed over a pre-set distance and you were going in a straight line, calculations based on the two GPS coordinates at the beginning and at the end will get you quite an accurate figure with possibly 1-2 seconds error range. Currently, however, Talos Rowing does not have such measuring mode and if you have distance marks along the rowing course you are better-off with a stop-watch anyway. Sadly, the GPS 2-4 meter positioning error range is quite significant for slow moving rowing shells.

Thanks.

After futzing around with the phone and talking to the people at Best Buy who called the regional sales rep/technical guy for Verizon, I managed to get the phone to receive a GPS signal.

I have a question though. At the lake, where I row, I get a yellow bar, which I know means that the reception isn’t ideal.

But is this constant? That is, I don’t need to know the precise time for five hundred meters, just a comparative time. I want to see just how much control of the slide, or just how much letting the boat run will increase speed. This is hard to judge from the boat.

So, can I depend NOT on the absolute time for five hundred meters, but on a comparative time for two five hundred meter pieces. One rowed, say with a little longer slide, and one rowed with a faster slide. Or one rowed with a hard catch and one rowed with a soft, slower catch?

In a nutshell, does a less than ideal signal give a constant, if not precisely accurate, reading?

By the way, another app, GPS Status, says the error is 4 meters at University Lake, where I row. Do you think this error is also constant? Do you have this app?

Well, whatever you think would be appreciated.

By the way, I wonder where the rowing app gets a green bar. As I said before, I row in Chapel Hill, where the GPS reception should be pretty good.

Anyway, thanks.

Craig