2oldman
Winchester WA
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Joined: 04/15/2001
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I have to touch the signal strength meter (upper left) to see mine.
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tatest
Oklahoma Green Country
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Joined: 05/14/2005
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My GPSMap 60C and Nuvi will display a number for elevation. It is based on satellite timing, and may be nowhere near the number you will get from a precision pressure altimeter that is calibrated for barometric pressure.
There are other recreational CPS models (in the era of mine, 60CS or any GPSMap model number ending in S) that contained compass and barometer. The barometer could be used as an uncorrected altimeter. This is also what you have in a smart phone with a barometer/altimeter feature.
Tom Test
Itasca Spirit 29B
2001 Ranger Edge
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creeper
Deep South
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Joined: 12/22/2003
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All my Garmins had the feature, look at the satellite data it's usually there.
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Dave-Sparky
Woodinville, Washington
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I have the Garmin 1390 and the display of elevation is in the window right next to the back button. Just touch it and select it for display.
However, the accuracy leaves much to be desired. I have been parked at home and been anywhere from 100 to 500 feet. The contour maps I have say we are at about 350 feet.
For fun I took it with me sailing once. Must have been a submarine as we werer everywhere from 150 ASL to -90.
Dave
Dave and Colleen
Colleen's Beach House
1991 Dutchman TT 24FK
2002 GMC Safari AWD
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2oldman
Winchester WA
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Dave-Sparky wrote:However, the accuracy leaves much to be desired. My Garmin 660 elevation is accurate to 16 feet. If the GPS can tell me where I am to within a few tens of feet, why would the altimeter be any less accurate?
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fcooper
Richmond Hill, Georgia
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Joined: 09/23/2003
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2oldman wrote:Dave-Sparky wrote:However, the accuracy leaves much to be desired. My Garmin 660 elevation is accurate to 16 feet. If the GPS can tell me where I am to within a few tens of feet, why would the altimeter be any less accurate?
For several reasons, the altitude is the least accurate position displayed on any gps. I flew a private aircraft for about 10 years, and often compared gps derived altitude to actual altimeter altitude. I don't think I've ever seen it be more than 300 feet different.
Fred
Fred & Vicki
Richmond Hill, Ga
2000 Holiday Rambler Endeavor/Freightliner/330 Cat
2000 Honda Odyssey toad w SMI Silent Partner braking system
Tire Sentry monitoring system
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SCVJeff
Santa Clarita, CA.
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SCVJeff wrote:Unless something has changed, the vertical resolution error is 3x the horizontal error. See Up
Jeff - WA6EQU
'06 Itasca Meridian 34H, CAT C7/350
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tatest
Oklahoma Green Country
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2oldman wrote:Dave-Sparky wrote:However, the accuracy leaves much to be desired. My Garmin 660 elevation is accurate to 16 feet. If the GPS can tell me where I am to within a few tens of feet, why would the altimeter be any less accurate?
Because the difference in altitude among the group of 4 satellites the GPS chose for making the timing measurement is several orders of magnitude less than the difference in their horizontal positions relative to your location.
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elkhornsun
Monterey
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All GPS units will provide elevation. It is a fundamental part of how they operate as they calculate the distance to multiple satellites high above the earth and use this to calculate position in terms of latitude and longitude and elevation.
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pulsar
Lewisville, NC
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Joined: 12/30/2001
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elkhornsun wrote:All GPS units will provide elevation. It is a fundamental part of how they operate as they calculate the distance to multiple satellites high above the earth and use this to calculate position in terms of latitude and longitude and elevation.
You may be correct, but it is not a given that a GPS device must calculate an elevation. To find its latitude and longitude a GPS device needs access to only three satellites. To get the elevation, it needs a fourth satellite and the calculation is more complex. (To find elevation, the device needs to find the intersection of 4 spheres; to find latitude and longitude, it needs to find the intersection of three spheres.)
Tom
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