GPS and Google Earth

I've never been a huge fan of GPS's. My friend, Rochus, says it stands for Generally Poor Senses. I've always felt that its primary use was to help get you through the maze of logging roads in the BC back country in hopes of getting you to the start of the hike where you would lock it in the glove box and start the adventure.

In the last few years I've been the recipient of two hand-me-down GPS units, thanks to Jeff Oh. I used the first one on a paddling trip where I took it out at the end of every day and looked at how far we traveled and how fast we went. I never used it for navigation, preferring the chart and compass option. After all, the compass never dies because of lack of battery juice.

The newer one sat on a shelf for three years before I changed the batteries and fired it up just last week. It has the ability to display maps, so I downloaded an opensource map set and took it along on a hike that Al and I did yesterday. We climbed Kings Pk, one of the higher mountains on Vancouver Island at 2060 meters. It's a relentlessly steep trail that gains all that altitude over 9KM. It was an amazing day in the hills but what was really amazing, though, was what I learned afterwards.

Elkhorn from the King's Pk Summit

The next morning I plugged the unit into my computer and started playing around with some of the features. I noticed there was the ability to plot the tracking data onto a Google Earth layer. "Have at it", I told the computer, and my jaw dropped to the floor in amazement when I saw the results. Google Earth has some really high resolution photos of Strathcona Park and it drew a three dimensional view of the mountain with a line representing our route. I was able to fly around the mountain at different altitudes, rotate a full 360 degrees, and zoom in to incredible detail. My mind was blown.

Al  descending the snowfield

At this point people like Mike Coyle and Jeff Oh are shaking their heads thinking, "How can someone who claims to be computer literate be so far behind the curve?". Well, its a good question and I can only chalk it up to an old foggie attitude of, "I just can't see what this new fangled machine can do that my old fashioned compass can't". Maybe an old dog CAN learn a few new things, even if it IS years after the kids have picked it up.

The screenshot that made me go, "Woah!"