Have GPS will travel but car broke down & cellphone won't work
Mon, 01/26/2009 - 12:07pm
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16 years
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There are places in this world where cellphone coverage isn't available. Suppose you're in one of these uncovered areas and your car broke down and all you have is your Garmin GPS unit. You know your co-ordinates, but how do you tell the civilized world where you are?
When you registered your new Garmin unit, you've told Garmin USA your e-mail address and certain personal information. Each Garmin unit receives signals from various orbiting satellites but GPS units do not transmit signals or do they? It would be the next step don't you think for the major GPS providers such as Garmin, Tom Tom and Magellan to incorporate a chip that transmits a signal in case you're stranded somewhere and your cellphone won't work?
Have GPS will travel
There are units that will provide the opportunity to send a message via satellite already available. I believe one is GeoSpot - or something similar. These are limited in their ability - essentially a canned text message or an emergency message with lat/long to a message center.
They use two satellite constellations, the GPS constellation to receive position data and one of the commercial networks like Iridium or InMarSat to send a message.
Currently I believe over 98% of our roads and highways have service. Some of the areas that do not have services are within park boundaries or truly remote areas that are also pretty void of people to help pay for installing a system in that area.
ɐ‾nsǝɹ Just one click away from the end of the Internet
Where?
There are places in this world where cellphone coverage isn't available.
What? Why, you'd have to live someplace like, oh, Canada not to have cell service everywhere! Oh wait
Actually your point is well taken but on most roads there's going to be some traffic, even if you're truly in a 'dead zone' so help isn't all that far away. Even if you're in one of those places where people refuse to stop (there are a few) raise the hood and eventually a cop or tow truck will roll by and stop.
Besides, what did we do just a decade or so ago before cell phones and GPS guidance and with far less reliable vehicles? We flagged down another car or hoofed it for help. Get movin' feet!
Nuvi 760 & 660, Streetpilot, GPS III, GPS 10X
It may be hard to believe
It may be hard to believe but there are places in North America where there's hardly a living soul in sight. (That's why some people buy off-road SUVs.) Your GPS unit tells you where you are, but are you willing to travel by feet to get back to civilization before your GPS unit's 2.5 hour battery life runs down?
And???
It may be hard to believe but there are places in North America where there's hardly a living soul in sight. (That's why some people buy off-road SUVs.) Your GPS unit tells you where you are, but are you willing to travel by feet to get back to civilization before your GPS unit's 2.5 hour battery life runs down?
And the point being???
If you are going to travel into these truly remote areas are you willing to pay for having a cell phone service? If you are expecting voice services, carry a sat phone. Most people I know that do this type of travel and work are prepared for these types of situations.
ɐ‾nsǝɹ Just one click away from the end of the Internet