GPS receivers have an information page that lists all the waypoints that you’ve created and stored. (Again, check your user manual for information on how to access and use this list.) The waypoints can be listed by name or those closest to your current location. By selecting a waypoint, no matter where you are, you can find your way to it.
- The distance to the waypoint, such as a parking lot or trailhead.
- The compass direction in degrees that you’ll need to head to get to the waypoint.
Any of the waypoints in the list can be deleted or edited. See your user manual for specific instructions.
If you roam around the Internet searching for information about GPS, you’ll come across handy collections of waypoints that you can enter into your GPS receiver. There are all manner of waypoint lists, from fishing spots to pubs in England. If you’re planning a vacation, consider doing a Web search ahead of time to see whether there are any waypoints associated with your destination. Then bring your GPS receiver along with you as a personal tour guide. GPS receivers designed for outdoor use always assume a straight line as the route between two points. That might be convenient for airplanes and boats, but it doesn’t take into account cliffs, rivers, streams, fences, and other obstacles on land. GPS receivers designed for automobile navigation are a bit smarter, having built-in databases of road information that’s used in suggesting and measuring appropriate routes from Point A to Point B. Depending on the GPS receiver model, other waypoint-related information that you may be able to display includes
If you roam around the Internet searching for information about GPS, you’ll come across handy collections of waypoints that you can enter into your GPS receiver. There are all manner of waypoint lists, from fishing spots to pubs in England. If you’re planning a vacation, consider doing a Web search ahead of time to see whether there are any waypoints associated with your destination. Then bring your GPS receiver along with you as a personal tour guide. GPS receivers designed for outdoor use always assume a straight line as the route between two points. That might be convenient for airplanes and boats, but it doesn’t take into account cliffs, rivers, streams, fences, and other obstacles on land. GPS receivers designed for automobile navigation are a bit smarter, having built-in databases of road information that’s used in suggesting and measuring appropriate routes from Point A to Point B. Depending on the GPS receiver model, other waypoint-related information that you may be able to display includes
- Travel time: The amount of time it will take you to reach the waypoint based on your current speed.
- Compass: A picture of a compass that displays the waypoint direction heading.
- Directional arrow: An arrow that points in the correct direction that you should be heading.
- Navigational hints: A picture of a road that moves as you travel. If the road is centered onscreen, your destination is straight ahead. If the road veers to the right or the left, you need to correct your course so that the road is centered. A symbol associated with the waypoint will grow larger as you get closer to it.
Some GPS receivers come with databases of cities, highways, airports, landmarks, and other geographic features. These are just waypoints stored in memory that you can’t edit or delete to free up memory for new waypoints.
Most GPS receivers support mapping. At the very least, a GPS receiver has a simple plot display, a map page that shows waypoints, tracks (see the upcoming section, “Making Tracks”), and your current position. More advanced (and expensive) GPS receivers support more sophisticated maps; your waypoints and tracks appear along with roads, rivers, bodies of water, and whatever built-in features the map has. When the map page is displayed, you can zoom in, zoom out, and move around the map with an onscreen cursor that you control with buttons on the GPS receiver.
A map page can be orientated two ways: so either the top of the screen always faces north or the top of the screen faces the direction you’re traveling. Orientating the screen to the north is probably the easiest if you’re used to working with maps, which usually are orientated with their tops to the north.
Most GPS receivers support mapping. At the very least, a GPS receiver has a simple plot display, a map page that shows waypoints, tracks (see the upcoming section, “Making Tracks”), and your current position. More advanced (and expensive) GPS receivers support more sophisticated maps; your waypoints and tracks appear along with roads, rivers, bodies of water, and whatever built-in features the map has. When the map page is displayed, you can zoom in, zoom out, and move around the map with an onscreen cursor that you control with buttons on the GPS receiver.
A map page can be orientated two ways: so either the top of the screen always faces north or the top of the screen faces the direction you’re traveling. Orientating the screen to the north is probably the easiest if you’re used to working with maps, which usually are orientated with their tops to the north.
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