iPod touch iOS and GPS

[bevhoward]

fwiw, after a decade of using (and supporting) Magellan handheld mapping gps devices, I am in the process of migrating over to using GPS on an Apple iTouch to meet my handheld GPS needs.

The last several weeks of searching has shown that there are no easily "discoverable" iOS GPS related peer to peer user forums out there and I have not had a great deal of success on this and other iOS forums with GPS tech questions.

As a result, I have started an iPhone/iOS GPS yahoo forum located at;
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/iphonegps

I've learned a huge part of what I know about GPS, GPS devices and GPS software from a number of GPS user forums such as this one and I am hoping that this will be a productive and helpful forum for owners of iOS devices including those who are simply considering diving into the Apple mobile swimming pool.

Beverly Howard

 

[old-wiz]

The iPod Touch does NOT have a GPS chip. In order to use true GPS on the iPod touch you need an add on cradle for the iPod to get GPS signals.

A standalone GPS is superior to trying to cobble together some sort of GPS hookup for an iPod Touch.

 

[bevhoward]

>> In order to use true GPS on the iPod touch... <<

Things are changing rapidly... GPS on the iTouch is easy, accurate and inexpensive... cradles = cobbling, true, but bluetooth simplifies the equation radically.

>> A standalone GPS is superior to trying to cobble together some sort of GPS hookup for an iPod Touch. <<

With three decades of GPS use and a decade of using handheld mapping gps units together with my minimal experience with GPS on the iTouch, I respectfully disagree.

However, as posted, finding accurate and current information on the subject is not easy.

Please Consider joining the iphonegps forum.

Beverly Howard

 

[03 Hodag]

http://bad-elf.com/products/gps/

Mine works great on my iPod Touch 4g. Great little unit.

 

[bevhoward]

>> http://bad-elf.com/products/gps/ <<

Thanks for the link. I looked at the elf as part of my research and ended up going with the Dual for a couple of reasons.

First, it's bluetooth plus it's iOS compatible bluetooth with a hardware switch that allows it to toggle back to "standard" bluetooth gps so that it can also be used on other computers and mobile devices.

Since it doesn't physically connect to the device, there's far less chance of damage and it can be kept in a pocket when in use.

It took only a few seconds to pair with the itouch on the initial contact and it's simply been there on all subsequent uses. The battery is supposed to be good for over five hours and initial use has not indicated any perceptible battery drain on the itouch... apple has significantly improved the iOS BT stack both for solid reoccurring connections and where battery life using the original BT incarnation was terrible, iOS BT now seems to have no serious impact on battery life.

Finally, the price is the same as the elf.

Beverly Howard