DigGeog » fieldwork

iPhone GPS and the ideal classroom hand-held learning tool

Noel Jenkins — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 23:42:37 +0000

The aim of this review is to compare four different GPS applications for the iPhone. I selected them on the basis of generally positive reviews in the App Store, potential as an educational tool, and value for money. Over the course of preparing this piece, I had the opportunity to reflect on the perfect neo-geography iPhone application, and the ideal handheld learning device…

The applications on test are..

Each application was tested on a short bike ride around my block. I live in a rural part of the South West and phone reception is patchy – though actually O2 is the only carrier that works properly in my area. There’s no wifi or 3G reception and part of my route takes me through a GPS blackspot consisting of a lane with high banks and overhung with trees. I recorded a track and then uploaded it to the relevant web site. If the application permitted, I tookÂ photographs and recorded waypoints.

The first application to be tested was My Moving Map website / iTunes

This is a simple application that transmits your position to a website from which others can view your location, simply by entering your email address. It was extremely simple to set up and use. In operation, one merely taps the screen to broadcast the location of the device, which can also be seen on a Google map. The My Moving Map website not only offers a real-time map showing your location, that can be embedded in a blog (not WordPress I found) but also allows tracks to be downloaded as a csv file and KML for viewing in Google Earth. Here’s a map showing a recent walk during which My Moving Map constantly pinged my location.

Without the ability to create waypoints, the application is limited, but could be fun for certain classroom situations. You could envisage giving your phone to chosen students to go on various missions around the school while their progress is being tracked on the interactive white board. The application is is missing a software lock (necessary for all GPS applications on the iPhone) It didn’t seem to work well in my jacket pocket either. For what is does though this is a great application and well worth Â£1.19.

Next I tested RunKeeper. website / iTunes

RunKeeper is a free application and simply records a track that is uploaded to an excellent website where it can be viewed on a Google Map and speed evaluated against altitude. The RunKeeper site also logs your trips. The track data is very accurate, but there’s no export option which is a shame as it precludes the use of sites such as Magnalox and GPS Visualiser. A software lock works well.

RunKeeper is very highly recommended and I’ll be using it frequently. I’m not convinced that there’s much value to the geographical curriculum though for a collaboration with the PE department it would be excellent. Ollie Bray has also reviewed this application and seems to be impressed. It would be my first choice for monitoring runs and bike rides.

Next up was EveryTrail website / iTunes

This is a really useful application for geotagging photos. Just walk around and use the camera. At the end of the trip, upload the details to the EveryTrail website where it can be analyzed and viewed in a mumber of ways. The EveryTrail website is a popular resource among the geotagging community. See the details of my test here.

The GPS track was very accurate, the application has a software lock and is extremely easy and reliable to use.Â The trail can be exported to Google Earth or as a GPX file. A great little application and definitely worth the Â£1.79. There is a real niche for this kind of application for fieldwork. I’d love to be able to add notes and recordings as well. The only other limitation is the notoriously poor iPhone camera!

Finally I looked at iTrail website / iTunes

I really wanted to like iTrail, having chosen to review it ahead of the more expensive GPS Kit. Like RunKeeper, iTrail is a tracking application; it’s USP is that it also records waypoints. In practice I found it difficult to use. iTrail crashed on several occasions, and I was unable to complete a journey without experiencing a problem. I’ve had several attempts, but each have ended up in frustration. The programmer mentions on his site that iTrail is in constant development, which is encouraging news. There are two modes – Quick Trail – which you’d use if you just wished to monitor a walk or run (though RunKeeper would be a free alternative). In Trail Mode you can add waypoints (though not photos). I found the lock button worked sporadically, more often than not resulting in the selection of Quick Mode, after which it was confusing to regain Trail Mode. The application crashed several times when entering waypoint information. I’d like to see the lock button moved to a different part of the screen, and a button to toggle between the modes. When it worked, the GPS track was accurate, and the program does give you an indication of GPS strength. A strong point is the ability to export KML and GPX data formats direct to a computer (rather than a third party web site) I’m going to watch out for updates to iTrail, though at the minute I wouldn’t rely on it. I’d like to think that out of the four applications, this one has the most potential for further development.

Summary of features:

Conclusion: The best GPS applications on the iPhone are the simplest. There’s little point in pretending that the iPhone, in it’s current incarnation could possibly replace a specialized GPS device for serious navigation or field studies. Poor battery life and cost are just two of the constraints. (Hence this is a rather futile post, despite the hours spent in preparation!)Â However researching the post has helped me draw up a specification for the ideal neo-geography iPhone application which would…

Record a GPS track
Display a live view in Google Maps (similar to the free Maps app)
Have a screen lock and dimmer to preserve battery life
Create waypoints
Able to annotate waypoints with short written notes
Able to annotate waypoints with audio recordings
Add photos to waypoints
Geotag photos
Export in KML format and GPX format
Offer tools for analysis of performance, speed, altitude etc

I’m looking forward to seeing which developer gets there first!

Although I’m really conscious of the fact that I’m in the fortunate position of owning an iPhone (though it’s on PAYG) the era of widespread adoption of handheld devices as learning tools in schools is clearly arriving. I don’t think that the web-book type devices currently popular in some schools are quite mature enough yet for really immersive geographical fieldwork. However I’m sure that altruistic Apple developers are working away to create the ideal classroom computer, in the form of a slightly enlarged iPhone/tablet device featuring the same touchscreen interface, a better camera (and video recording) and a long life battery. The device would incorporate all the functions of the iPhone and also suport Flash, Google Docs, Google Earth and optimized versions of iWork and iLife. Not much to ask for…

Fieldwork with Google Earth, GPS and video – some thoughts

Noel Jenkins — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 12:20:33 +0000

I’ve written up a short investigation on Juicy Geography’s Google Earth blog

Teaching with GPS

Noel Jenkins — Sun, 30 Apr 2006 21:46:23 +0000

I have written an article about teaching with GPS, which can be found at Juicy Geography. The page includes links to some Google Maps I prepared that show how GPS Visualizer can be used to plot fieldwork data.
GPS Visualizer seems to grow new features each week and is a brilliant application for displaying yourGPS data.. The other essential utility featured is Easy GPS. I hadn’t realized until recently that it now manages GPS tracks as well as routes and waypoints. Both these programs are free.

Juicy Geography mobile

Noel Jenkins — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 21:13:34 +0000

I have added the first of my Yellow Arrows to two locations in North Devon that are important to me. The others will be used in a Geography/Art collaboration
project.

This is the very first arrow:

There are lots of surf shops in North Devon, the arrow is placed on the window of the only shop manufacturing surfboards locally. If you’re in Braunton, text the code on the arrow to the SMS number provided, for a personal message!

This arrow has been placed somewhere on a beach. I’m not saying which beach, or where the arrow is located, but it’s not hard to find!

There’s a message for weekend / London surfers to be discovered.

Tomorrow I will be moblogging directly from a GCSE fieldtrip on Exmoor, (providing there’s an Orange signal!) I will also be testing some handheld GPS units and Phone2GEarth as well. The idea is to use the the phone to locate and photograph the fieldwork sites. The phone images will be geotagged in the evening.

The moblog link is here

The handheld GPS units will be used in conjunction with a traditional gun clinometer to measure the gradient of the river bed and the valley sides. The results will be available on this site in .gpx format so that they can be viewed in GPS Visualizer. It will be interesting to evaluate the accuracy of the traditional method compared to the modern.

Phone2GEarth

Noel Jenkins — Mon, 17 Apr 2006 08:30:45 +0000

I’ve tried out a little mobile phone application called “Phone 2 Google Earth” The program communicates with a bluetooth GPS and records your position at regular intervals for as long as required. You can also record placemarks. The data is saved as a KML file, which can be transferred from the phone to a PC. Here is an example google earth file .

click to enlarge

The llamas featured as a placemark can be seen on my moblog.

The colour and opacity of the track can be modified once it has been imported to Google Earth via the advanced tab. It would be nice if there was an option to output the data as a GPX file which would preserve other aspects of the GPS log, such as speed and altitude, giving you the choice as to whether to use Google Earth or GPS Visualizer to view the data. As a basic tracking program however, Phone2GEarth works very well, and I’ll use it for fieldwork.

Experiments in moblogging

Noel Jenkins — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 22:22:33 +0000

I’m having a break from this blog for a few days while I investigate the potential of moblogging for geography fieldwork.

I have set up a sandbox moblog here, and I’m using a Blogger site to post about my progress. When you think about it, the ability to travel somewhere, take a picture and write a few words, then in seconds, publish on the internet is pretty amazing. Well it is to me anyway!

Yellow Arrow

Noel Jenkins — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 22:55:32 +0000

Since moving away from London, I’d forgottten about the Yellow Arrow project. Although the concept was born in 2004, it is still very much part of the zeitgeist, and a recent investigation into Semipedia see post, together with my impending smart phone purchase (this week!) prompted a quick post.
Yellow Arrow describes itself as a “Massively Authored Artistic Production” or MAAP, according to the website. It’s a spatial anotation project, the aim being to tag features of interest with a yellow arrow sticker bearing a unique code. When someone finds the arrow, they text the code and receive back a message, about that location. In some cities, the yellow arrows form an unconventional tour through parts of the landscape that would be hidden from non-locals – creating a geographical adventure by text.

photo by Stillben
Potentially, Yellow Arrow would make a unique local study. Where would students place the arrows? What would the messages be?

A subversive, graffitti-based local place study, linking the virtual and human environment? It really sounds like my next fieldwork project! No seriously…