Morning Glory Cloud

Morning Glory Cloud
Morning Glory over Massacre Inlet (photo: Diane Davey)

Friday, August 27, 2010

New Gadget

I received my new SPOT tracker this week and started playing around with it. It is pretty amazing little device. SPOT is a mobile phone sized device that allows satellite tracking. You set it up online beforehand with contact details of who you want to send messages to. Then when you're on your journey, you can send messages with your GPS coordinates saying you're on track or whatever. The really cool bit is that it displays where you've sent the messages from on a map online. You can see how I drove from Melbourne to Wangaratta this morning on this image. The messages that get sent to your registered contacts include a link to this map. The map can also be displayed publicly to everyone, which is what I'll be doing on the trip. So you guys can track my progress along the way. How cool is that!
Other than being incredibly cool, it also includes a help button and and emergency button. I'll also be carrying an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Becon or EPIRB (thanks for the loan, Andrew!) so I'll be findable wherever I end up.  In case you're wondering why I don't you just use a mobile phone, have a look at your provider's coverage maps and compare to my route. Hint: coverage percentage relates to population, not to geography.  

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