A interesting discussion took place the other day at the GPX discussion group

It was about the trkseg tag in a GPX feed, which is used to split a track up in segments. The problem is that track segments are not supported by all GPX exporters, including the popular open source project GPSbabel. GPSbabel and some other exporters parse every track segment into a new track, which can result in literally hundreds of new disjoint tracks! This is intensional by GPSbabel. I’m happy to read that many posters in the group agree with me on that track segments are a reasonable construct in the GPS schema and they should be supported by GPX exporters.

The GPX parser and exporter behind TopoShare.org supports track segments.

Here is GPS for your mountain bike.  It clips on your handlebars and gives you all the features of a sport GPS while you ride.  The units include measurement for speed, cadence, heart-rate, altitude.  It looks like you can buy it from REI or Amazon when its available. Via Garmin Blog

Its always a good idea to pack paper maps before going on an outdoor adventure and now TopoShare.org enables users to create high resolution paper maps with routes from the site. Click the Acrobat icon below the route map and the PDF generator screen appears. Here you can drag the map to the right position and change the scale and paper orientation. You can then select a base map. The base map is requested from the web service in high resolution and it can take a while to get (about 5-6 mb of data). When ready hit ‘Make pdf’ and shortly after the pdf is ready for download.

I’ve experienced that the browser return a blank page after clicking ‘Make PDF’. Just try to hit the reload button on your browser. I’ll try to fix this bug.

Before you complain about Big Brother tracking your every move with the new breed of GPS-enabled cell phones, consider the safety benefits. According to a story reported on the ABC-affiliate in Phoenix, a lost couple’s cell phone may have saved their lives after they got lost in the Sedona desert. The hikers made a call to 911 before activating the GPS in their phone. Rescuers were lead within 200 feet of their position—getting them out of the desert quickly. So, you might want to keep your cell phone with you on your next hike—as long as you are going to be within cell coverage.

From: ABC15.com

Do you want the good news first, or the bad news.  The bad news is that thunderstorms can disrupt GPS communication.  The good news is that this appears to only be a problem if you live near the equator (Amazon, Pacific Ocean, Congo River Valley, Taiwan).  So, according to Taiwanese researchers at National Cheng Kung University, if you live in the United States, it looks like you can expect your GPS to keep on ticking even during a thunderstorm!

Via  GPS Tracklog.

Here is a new technology to watch—Geotate from the new GE camera division. GeoTagging allows your camera to capture the GPS location at the same time you take a photo. The problem that has kept GPS out of cameras in the past is that putting a full GPS in a camera takes lots of battery power and increases the cost of the camera significantly. GE has figured out a way to capture the GPS signal, but not implement the hardware to process it. When you upload the photos to your computer, the Geotate software will calculate the location and tag the photos. This is definitely, something to keep an eye on.

Via Engadget

Have you ever wanted to take everyone with you on the adventure? Now you can capture it all on video and bring it back to your living room TV. This rugged, waterproof, helmet camera doesn’t even have any cables. The entire trip is captured on an SD card at 640×480 resolution.

See OregonScientific.com for more information.

If you aren’t convinced that strapping a brace to you leg is a good way to charge your gadgets in the outdoors (See Part I) does an electricity generating fabric sound better? Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a piezoelectric fabric that generates electricity when bent. So, put on your charging pants and plug in the GPS —we are going to the wilds.

Via Wired Blog

For those of us that can't wait for the next Garmin device, the NuviPhone has us all ears. Although the details are sketchy, the device is rumored to have a 3.5" screen and no buttons on the front. In addition to traditional GPS mapping, the device is a phone and internet browser as well with broadband (HSDPA) data download speeds. Alas, there is no talk of a rugged, waterproof device. Expect to see this device in Q3 2008. Via Engadget

Have you ever wondered if all the sweating you do while hiking could be put to better use? Well, the University of British Columbia has developed a leg brace that will charge your gadgets while you hike! Simply strap to your knee, plug in to your rechargeable device, and you will get up to 5 watts with, “Little additional physical effort”. I am not sure about the physical effort, but it sure would be great to have a way to charge up electronic devices in the field.

Via cnet