Using GPS to record your route
I have recently started using a Garmin Edge305 GPS to record my route whilst orienteering. This unit has an advanced SiRFStarIII chip that allows it to lock onto satellites quicker & keep them. Trees have always been a problem in the past, so unless the area was open you could not rely on getting a fix. The new chip seems to have solved this problem. Garmin produces 2 different styles of this unit aimed at cyclists of runners. I chose the cycling model as the display is larger and has more options.
I used it for the first time at the Inverawe event in September and it coped quite well. Rewell Wood on the South coast was its next outing, you can view it on the Southdowns RouteGadget site (M45L).
The Southern Navigators event at Long Valley produced a new way of looking at the results. I use SportTracks software to analyse my performance (the 305 also records your heart rate) and it has the option of overlaying your route onto a Google aerial photo. The image of Long Valley is at a high resolution so you can see a lot of detail. The planner, Steve McKinley was kind enough to add the course to the photo as well.
You can see that on a few occasions the track does not go to the control exactly (click photo to enlarge). There is also a copy of the map with the route marked on. The problems of lining up all the composite parts probably allows a few errors to creep in, but it’s good enough to help remind you of where you really went.
My memory is really bad, but analysing the route after the event can be very good as a training aid. So GPS is helpful to people like me. I also think that a planner can get useful feedback on their courses compared to where they thought runners would go. So the use of RouteGadget can only result in a win/win situation all round. RouteGadget allows runners to upload their GPS track as well as plot their route manually. It needs a bit of tweaking to get it right, but it is not that difficult.
In case people think I can cheat, I have been wearing my 305 under a wide sweatband, which is under my control descriptions, out of sight. But I plan to make a small pouch that I can pin to the back of my ‘O’ top between the shoulders. This should also improve its ability to track satellites.
Paul Frost
Update:
Image from Chobham Common event 29th Oct. Click to enlarge (278kb).
