GPS - getting from here to there has never been easier

GPS, or Global Positioning System, the satellite navigation system developed and maintained by the US and incidentally, free for civilian use. :)

If you want to know more, you can get more information from Wikipedia or other online resources. There's also the online community at Malsingmaps.

My first GPS Receiver was the the Garmin Nuvi 300. This was a life-saver when driving through the unfamiliar city streets of KL, for example. Even with voice prompts, you still need to look at the screen from time to time. Thankfully, the Nuvi 300 has with a large, clear 3.5" screen which is easy to look at during the day as well as night.

One thing the Nuvi CANNOT do is record down tracks. This is when you go where no one has gone before. This feature enables you to record down that path travelled, and can be downloaded to PC later. Why do this? Well, tracks of new areas are very useful to the guys at Malsingmaps, as they can use this as reference to update the maps. A full contribution will typically include tracks of the uncharted area, plus any points of interests, road names, etc..

Unfortunately, driving around in a car with good tinting (specifically, Vkool), GPS reception was quite bad inside the car. Sometimes, it takes like half and hour to acquire enough satellites just to get a fix on your location. I've had to stop by the road side and wind down the window before, just so I can fix my location and start navigating to my final destination. Once you get a lock, you can drive around as normal, but I've temporarily lost the satellite signal on several occasions before.

Today, I got myself an SA-46 reradiating antenna, which I have not managed to try out yet. This is made up of an external receiver, which can be attached to the roof of the car (it's magnetic and water-proof). A cable runs into the car, where it connects with an internal transmitter. The transmitter itself has to be connected to the car's 12V supply via the cigarette lighter socket. I hope that this will make my navigating and tracking easier and more accurate.

Well, more on this soon!