Lake GPS ???

sweet addiction

Petty Officer 1st Class
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Feb 5, 2012
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Re: Lake GPS ???

I have a Garmin Nuvi 265 that I bought primarily for road use. I can switch mine to "off-road" use and do use it on the lake (as well as in the airplane a little bit - not for NAV). On the lake, I can mark the places I want to get to and even put in waypoints but I don't get NAV data (depth, channel markers, etc.). I wouldn't wanna' do big water this way, but for the typical stuff I do on our lakes and rivers it works.

Garmin does have some lake maps that I think you can download for the Nuvi, but I haven't bought them to try out.
I have the same unit. I downloaded the inland lake maps($99) for my region directly from Garmin onto a SD card which I put in my NUVI. It does not give you the same detailed info that a chart plotter does, but it is still nice to have.
 

jhebert

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Re: Lake GPS ???

Understood. Most (probably all the current stuff) GPS chart plotters have the capability of measuring depth using SONAR

Not really. There are many multi-function displays which include a chart plotter and a depth sounder. Both of these are distinct from the Global Positioning System. A GPS receiver only provides a position. It does not plot that position on an electronic chart. An electronic chart plotter does that.

Neither a GPS receiver or an electronic chart plotter measure depth. A SONAR does that.

It is common that one display acts as a multi-function display and provides an electronic chart plotter and a raster display for echograms from a SONAR. That is a multi-function display.

It is also common that electronic chart plotters have a library of electronic maps or charts of various areas. But those electronic maps are not part of the Global Positioning System. They are just electronic representations of land and sea. They can have indications of depth on them. They are published by all sorts of people, not by the people that run the GPS.

It seems like the term "GPS" means many things to some people. GPS is the name for the U.S. Air Force NAVSTAR global positioning system. By the way, there are other global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) in use now, called GLONASS and GALILEO. Modern geo-navigation receivers or GNSS receivers can receive the signals from these other systems. So a modern GNSS includes GPS, GLONASS, and GALILEO satellites in its position solution.

The notion that all of these components:

--GNSS receiver
--electronic chart plotter
--SONAR
--multi-function display
--library of electronic charts

would be called "a GPS" is confusing, because none of them is the Global Positioning System. The Global Positioning System is a trillion-dollar satellite system. It is not something on your boat dashboard. But it seems a lot people are confused about this and keep calling their $50 to $5,000 gizmo "a GPS."
 

bruceb58

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Re: Lake GPS ???

I have memory cards for my "GPS" which allows the display to show depth on the chart. It's very useful for finding drop offs for fishing. I have not seen a lake chart ever have depths displayed, at least for the lakes I boat on.
 
Joined
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2,906
Re: Lake GPS ???

my gps/fish finder is a cheaper model but the important thing is that it can track my path so i can return the same way i went out. this might not be all that important on some lakes but on the grassy side of big-O in florida with lots of little paths that lead no where its a must have. i like the idea of having preloaded depth charts i know there not accurate as the water level changes but its nice to know that theres a low spot ahead. nothing will upset you more than the depth finder alarm going off after you hit the bottom
 

jhebert

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Re: Lake GPS ???

Jhebert...really? :facepalm:

Yes, really. The notion that "GPS" means whatever someone wants it to mean is just plain crazy. If "GPS" means SONAR, if "GPS" mean "electronic chart plotter," if GPS means "electronic chart cartography," then "GPS" means nothing. You might as well say "gizmo" instead of "GPS" if that is what you mean.
 

bruceb58

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Re: Lake GPS ???

LOL...Really? :facepalm::facepalm::facepalm:

You really can't cut someone some slack for calling it a GPS? You would correct someone for that in real life? Wow!

What's funny is that you can go on Amazon and see the titles of products like "GPS Case". Maybe you should start writing them some emails to correct them too! I mean really...how are you going to fit the Global Positioning System in a case for God's sake.
 

jhebert

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Re: Lake GPS ???

LOL...Really? :facepalm::facepalm::facepalm:

You really can't cut someone some slack for calling it a GPS? You would correct someone for that in real life? Wow!

Complicated systems are easier to understand if you use consistent names for the components. If you use the same name, "GPS", for all the components of a complicated system, it becomes hard to understand how the system works. Calling every component of the systems individually and collectively by the name "GPS" really does nothing but create confusion. If someone already knows how the system works, understands that there are five or six different components, and is comfortable calling all of them by one name, which is a wrong name, that does not really help someone who does not understand how the individual devices work to gain knowledge of how the system works. That is why I prefer to use accurate names for the components. I don't really care what you call your multi-function chart plotter, SONAR, electronic chart library, and GNSS receiver, but when I explain how things work, I call them by their accurate names. I do that because it helps people to understand how the devices work.

You can clearly see how there was confusion about how the devices work in the initial question. No one that understood how the various elements of the system work would have asked the question. I suspect that the confusion was a result of a misunderstanding on what functions were being provided by the various components of the system. That confusion was likely engendered by poor terminology.

In any case, you have taken the discussion far away from its topic. My personal interaction with people is not the topic of discussion. I am trying to help a fellow boater understand technology that is available to him. If you want to begin a discussion in which you make me the topic of the discussion, please start a new thread. I am only interested in sharing information about boat electronics. I don't get into the armchair personality analysis of other participants. If I have given someone bad advice, you are welcome to offer a correction. If you want to post your opinion of other participants, you probably should consider that is not a boating topic and probably not that interesting for people who want to read about boating electronics, not your personal opinion of other participants.
 

bruceb58

Supreme Mariner
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Re: Lake GPS ???

LOL...I am glad that is over with.

I am going to use my GPS to see how traffic is on the way home now! :lol:
 

jhebert

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Re: Lake GPS ???

What's funny is that you can go on Amazon and see the titles of products like "GPS Case".

I don't depend on random advertised products seen in on-line advertising to set the standard for language usage. If you want to propose that Amazon is the standard for English language usage in America, you might want to take that up in another forum.

In suggesting that GPS means Global Positioning System and specifically the U.S. Air Force NAVSTAR system, I think I am on rather good agreement with a lot of other people. If you have some new definition for "GPS" you might want to write it out for us to see. It might be interesting to see just what you think "GPS" means.
 

bruceb58

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Re: Lake GPS ???

Guess it wasn't over!:grumpy:

If you have some new definition for "GPS" you might want to write it out for us to see. It might be interesting to see just what you think "GPS" means.
I will let Merriam Webster do it for me ok? :laugh:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gps

definition in Merriam Webster defines GPS as:

: a navigational system using satellite signals to fix the location of a radio receiver on or above the earth's surface; also : the radio receiver so used
 

NYBo

Admiral
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Re: Lake GPS ???

The Global Positioning System measures altitude, not depth. It can tell your elevation, but not the depth of water below you. The signals from the satellites cannot penetrate water.
:facepalm:You are being obtuse. No one here has said a chartplotter MEASURES depth, just that it INDICATES depth if the chart includes this information.
 
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Re: Lake GPS ???

:facepalm: No one here has said a chartplotter MEASURES depth, just that it INDICATES depth if the chart includes this information.

back on subject.......are the chartplotters smart enoght to take the gps data and adjust the depth indicated for season adjustments?
 
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Re: Lake GPS ???

Not for depths taken from chart data. These data are static.

i was hoping that once located it could adjust the depth. i guess i could just check the paper chart i have and compair the depth finder on the boat to the chart then add or minus the the diffrence to the chart. some passes are marked as 3-4' deep so the 2' seasonal diffrence can be a guessing game depending on the time of year
 

southkogs

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Re: Lake GPS ???

... wow.

The OP said he had a depth finder already, so kinda' a non-issue. Hope we didn't scare the dude off.
 

james__12345

Petty Officer 2nd Class
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Jun 26, 2012
Messages
196
Re: Lake GPS ???

It's really a LOT!!!!! more simple than some people here are making it. A "lake gps" as you are calling it, would have a map of the lake, much like a "car gps" has maps of the roads. Some of those maps will have approximate depths on them, depending on the source of the maps, that will really be unit specific though. My unit actually shows the old road and building locations before dale hollow lake was created along with the depths.

Technically, the map isn't part of the gps system it self, but since the only gps units most people have ever seen include maps, very few people (only one that I have ever known of) distinguish between the two.
 

jhebert

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Re: Lake GPS ???

Guess it wasn't over!:grumpy:


I will let Merriam Webster do it for me ok? :laugh:
Gps - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary

definition in Merriam Webster defines GPS as:

: a navigational system using satellite signals to fix the location of a radio receiver on or above the earth's surface; also : the radio receiver so used

I don't have a problem using GPS to mean GPS receiver, even though that is an out of date usage now, because most of the present day devices are GNSS receivers, that is, they receive GPS, GLONASS and other signals.
 

jhebert

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Re: Lake GPS ???

...the only gps units most people have ever seen include maps...

I don't agree. I'd say it's the exact opposite. Most GPS receivers have no charts included with them. That is why a GPS receiver only costs about $40 or less. Electronic charts are much more expensive. And you need an electronic chart plotter to use them.

Here is a GNSS receiver for $30

http://www.semsons.com/glbuusbgpsre2.html

Here is a fancier GNSS receiver adapted for marine use, with a network interface, and it includes a heading sensor:

http://www.lowrance.com/en-US/Products/NMEA-2000/Point-1-en-us.aspx

It is $200, but the heading sensor is a really nice addition, since a GPS cannot tell heading.
 

sweet addiction

Petty Officer 1st Class
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Re: Lake GPS ???

I don't agree. I'd say it's the exact opposite. Most GPS receivers have no charts included with them. That is why a GPS receiver only costs about $40 or less. Electronic charts are much more expensive. And you need an electronic chart plotter to use them.

Here is a GNSS receiver for $30

GlobalSat ND-100S USB GPS Receiver - Cable / USB GPS Receiver

Here is a fancier GNSS receiver adapted for marine use, with a network interface, and it includes a heading sensor:

Lowrance Point-1 GPS Antenna - LOWRANCE | Marine Electronics

It is $200, but the heading sensor is a really nice addition, since a GPS cannot tell heading.

^^^Just for the sake of proving a point to you...JHEBERT, Have you ever called a hot tub a "Whirlpool"? If so then you are guilty of what you are arguing about. Whirlpool is a BRAND not a thing. Get my point? Everyone is guilty of doing such things. I think you kinda bastardized this thread by what some people see as you trying to prove your knowledge. It really was not necessary and didn't even fit the original topic.
 
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