FishM:

Not so sure that Spot not being a nav tool answers it. In fact, it IS a nav tool in the sense that two of its functions are to get help to the exact location of the transmission. In those cases, the transmitted data HAs to be translated to better maps than Terrain. At least I would hope that any SAR coming for me is using something better. Spot is also a tracking tool, and its not my grandma who will be watching me but some pretty good map readers interested in more specific info about where I am than just what looks like a mountain. Like proximity to the planned route and resources, on-trail or off, relative position of key features like trailheads, trail junctions, ranger stations, summit Starbuck's, lotsa stuff that is either inconsistent or just isn't on Google Terrain. Oh sure, my friends can do it manually: transfer coordinates manually or by Gmap4 to USGS or MyTopos, it just seems they shouldn't have to. They put so much into it, just seems like the Spot folks could have gone the extra mile to provide automatically what Joseph has done open source.

Last edited by saltydog; 03/22/11 02:32 PM.

Wherever you go, there you are.
SPOTMe!