Smartphones and tablets have changed everything, and not the least the way we navigate through our lives to get where we want to go. Google maps will route you and give you options whether you are driving , walking or on horseback. And it is all based on the ability of the phone or tablet to know where the phone is at any given moment by using GPS and the triangulation of cell towers. For marine navigation, you have to rely on GPS in the phone or tablet of through an add on GPS receiver. The question is, then, how well do these GPS connections work in modern phone and tablets. Canadian Yachting’s columnist Owen Hurst takes an in-depth look.
“Last year when this column launched a good deal of time was spent understanding global satellite navigation systems and which systems Apple and Android devices were able to connect to. This was vital to understanding the functionality of marine navigation apps for smart devices. We identified last summer in Going iPad or Android for Marine Navigation that iPad had the ability to connect to GPS (American) and GLONASS (Russian) satellite navigation systems. We also identified that devices such as the Samsung Galaxy had the ability to connect to GPS, GLONASS and BDS (Chinese) satellite navigation systems. “ Read more.
