iPhone apps for paragliding

Misk · Post by **Misk** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 7:02 pm

If the way it switches its vertical display to a horizontal one is any demonstration of it sensitivity I'll stick to my purpose designed instrument and just go flying. The iphone is a decent web browser and an average phone but if you want to plot your flights on one you find you'll have no battery to arrange your retrieve once you've spiraled down to the pub.......

But if you prefer to play with your phone then who's to stop you it's a free world, but a ring lasor gyro accelerometer it ain't

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 10:47 am

I bought an iPhone earlier on this year and have been mucking about with it's GPS for some time now (not for flying unfortunately - but I've discovered www.openstreetmap.org and have been contributing based on GPS traces of my bike rides into work).

When I did fly a couple of years ago I used to use a Pocket PC with Memory map and a standalone GPS receiver hooked in by bluetooth. It worked well but the interface was a bit clunky.

From all the riding about, and research on the iPhones capabilities, it's clear that the GPS chip is not all that accurate. Compared to most modern GPS chipsets, it takes longer to lock on and has overall less accuracy. On a good day I get about +/- 30 meters, on a bad day, according to the trace, I'm biking in the houses on the side of the road. It also has a very dubious record on elevation which is more important for flying.

Of the two apps mentioned already, Trails and MotionxGPS, I've got both. I find the Trails app is nice and I like that you can push your trace up to a website with a single button. However, the motionXGPS is functionally much richer and I think has a better user interface.

The logging frequency of the apps on the iPhone is not super quick but they don't really have to be. Typically, they look for a change in your position before logging a point. When the accuracy is low, then this can be some distance away and not many data points are being recorded.

All in all, I've found that for the OpenStreetMap stuff that I am better with my old Pocket PC and standalone GPS receiver (+/- 10 m accuracy, logging every second) - but the traces have to be super accurate for road layouts.

However, where the iPhone apps really score is in the quality of the user interface. Compared to my Memory Map set up with OS maps, they both absolutely knock the socks off it and I can't wait to go flying with it instead of the Pocket PC. I am fine with the lack of accuracy because up in the air I am going to have the best reception possible and +/- 30 m for a paraglider is not a big deal. I can also listen to music! - joking.

Both applications have a sleep mode which will conserve battery power (I got 3.5 hours on a long bike ride once) whilst recording but this is going against the whole point of having the maps front and centre in front of you. So I found and bought this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0398909015

This case has an extended battery pack in it and fully charged I get about 5-6 hours heavy continuous use out of the phone. I've removed the clip off the back and will attach velcro pads so I can secure it to my flight deck (when I finally get my feet off the ground).

The accelerometer in the iPhone is sensitive but only measures relative changes in speed (acceleration), so it can't be used as a vario. It might be able to tell you when you enter a thermal but not your constant rate of climb. I'll be sticking with my vario for a while yet.

GlennP · Post by **GlennP** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 9:20 pm

I do love the level of knowledge of people who don't actually own a device or use one but proport to be the oracle. And they call me a muppet?

Constant rate of climb argument is a red herring.

If you are moved at all a force has been applied since force = mass x accelareation if the mass ain't changed then an initial acceleration has been applied and measured. Newtons other laws state that a body will continue at rest or at constant velocity unless acted upon by a force. So the accelerometer isn't recording a signal the unit calculates that it is travelling at a constant velocity until it monitors a further acceleration. So confused it is not.

The gps chipsets in the iPhone are not the most sensitive as mikey said. Mine displays an accuracy of 15m at best but having used several gps units with os maps they were all out by several metres even with waas.

The user interface is top notch as mikey says. Far superior than anything the vario or gps makers have got.

Aye miskin the mems pid aren't laser ring gyros but there again none of the appollo missions had them and they went a bit furtherthan torremolinos.

But the spirit level is pretty good!

Post by **gary stenhouse** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 9:43 pm

i phone 500 cheep vario 70-100 and thats solar job done ore even better check my flight to the coast from tp and a nice solar vario there for free. better still check my flight from tailbridge to malastang in 2006 there is a garmin 60csx with full topo maps still never found to my knowledge and yes there is a trace for each device. good treasure hunt.

Fingers · Post by **Fingers** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 10:03 pm

Just dont get this Iphone bollocks.

The notion that this "telephone" is going to replace the tools that manufactures have been in the business of developing for years, is frankly, a little wild.

It is just a grossly over priced telephone with a few silly bells and whistles thrown in to make the people who are spending more money than they really should be, feel superior to the people who don't have one.

It is no more of an accessory than a chiwawa in a little dress getting carried round in a handbag. But hey, that's the privileged for you eh?.

But hey if you have £500 sheet just hanging out your back pocket, there was one lad in the pub who entertained us greatly for 5 seconds with the spirit level, the pint glass, oh and the fart apps. My attention then turned to his little dog.

PS

Good to see someone getting all passionate about something though, maybe Glen might be right and some day our phones will be an all encompassing life attachment that turns into a car and back again?

2050 an IPhone odyssey

GlennP · Post by **GlennP** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 10:05 pm

iPhone £500 Gary? They saw you coming mate!!!!

If you can let me know where to get the £70 varios from I'd appreciate it.

iPhone Free on a 24 month contract. £100 or less by Xmas for loadsa minutes ( 1200)
and free web browsing.

Before you get carried away try V cockpit lite and motion x.

Post by **colin keightley** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 11:03 pm

glenn if you want the phone on its own its £500

after having it on contract how much do you think you would have paid at the end after your initial £100 layout,

lets say around twice that price

ron freeman · Post by **ron freeman** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 6:57 pm

I'm a bit confused now.. Glenn how much will the total cost be after 24 months ?

Post by **colin keightley** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 7:34 pm

to get the 3GS for £100 you have to get a 24 month contract at £44 a month total cost £1156 with O2

milleboy · Post by **milleboy** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 8:41 pm

£44 a month!

Jesus wept!

Do people really spend that much on mobiles? Think £44 would last me 3 months.....I am a tight arsed technophobe with no mates though!

ron freeman · Post by **ron freeman** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 11:34 pm

Thanks for the info ''BLOODY HELL'' Glen, why do people call you a muppet

Post by **chrisfozz** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 6:19 am

I’m more of a Border Terrier type of bloke meself, but these do require something form the larger end of the missus’s Goochi collection.

Jim Bittlestone · Post by **Jim Bittlestone** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 8:39 pm

Glad to be back, the banter is relentless.
I've got a BT phone at the end of my street so dont bother with any of this privelidge crap. I did think about getting a mobile once but the guy on the gable end normally takes the call and i get it eventually.
Once upon a time we`were`happy with the pony express, bloody paragliders and their new fangled ways. Now looking for a rucksack big enuf for me springer spaniel.

GlennP · Post by **GlennP** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 10:27 pm

Nhpc........... Where the world is flat.

I pay £1 a month more than my last phone contract so over 18 months that's er a massive £18! More. Almost enough to buy an all singing all dancing vArio/gps.

and I get to check the winds en route so I don't do a 140 mile rond trip for a bit of ground handling.

thanks for the picture chris! It's lovely! never knew you cared so much to spendall that time and effort on it and get up at 6am to post it for me. Touching!

Just to keep you Luddites up to date I tied the vario app briefly yesterday. The guy hasn't got the vertical speed right. Needs some work. The sampling rateis too low and it hangs on climbs/ descents of +\- 6. The tracking and log book are good though. Your right Steve brauniger et al won't be too worried at the moment.

Sounds like Alicante was cracking Jim.

ron freeman · Post by **ron freeman** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 11:49 pm

Glen, Colin has mentioned £44 per month is this right ?

GlennP · Post by **GlennP** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 7:43 pm

Prices started at £25/ month when I was sattalking to the rep for O2. Now orange and vodaphone both have the iPhone and the 3GS now available the 3g phones will come down below that price point. I also get a 30% discount on phones. So I m afraid £44/ month is way off the mark Ron.

Tried the vario again today and it's not great! But apart from that the phoneis a good bit of kit. I can browse google earth before going over the back check the weather onroute and post a gpx or kmz track file when I ve landed and have the inflight pics onfacebook before the retrieve gets to me. And I can straight to the forum how nice the flying is at model.

Still a brilliant bit of kit. I wrote to the makers of motionx and asked if they would make an add on barometer. They were interested asmost of their staff are into sailing. So maybe.......

Post by **colin keightley** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 7:54 pm

yeah you get a 30% discount through work we are talking what its going to cost us and that is O2's price at the moment im not a mind reader i cant tell you what they are going to be in a week or a month

ron freeman · Post by **ron freeman** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 12:10 am

£44 quid pm is spot on the mark because I or we don't get 30% discount...

Talk about via Australia to get too East hill

Post by **colin keightley** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 8:03 am

I can post what its like at model aswell with my phone, its called the wife, i give her a ring and she puts what i want on the board, simple and only costs me about 10p

GlennP · Post by **GlennP** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 9:07 am

A Christmas price battle between Orange and O2 could cut the cost of the iPhone
Richard Wray
guardian.co.uk Blogposts Mon 28 Sep 2009 16:26 BST
Orange's move into the iPhone market - possibly to be joined by Vodafone - is good news for UK consumers

Orange's success in breaking into O2's exclusive deal to stock the iPhone is expected to lead to a Christmas price war with the cost of the Apple handset coming down for UK consumers.
It is also likely to be available from at least one more mobile phone operator, with Vodafone also understood to be close to signing a deal with Apple, though it may not have the device in time for Christmas. Executives at Vodafone, which stocks the iPhone in just under a dozen countries, have long maintained that they would like to get their hands on it in the UK.
T-Mobile, which had been holding on-off talks with Apple for some months, is understood to have dropped out of the race.
Orange earlier announced that it will stock the latest version of the iPhone – the 3GS – in time for Christmas. It has refused to give any detail on pricing, but the Orange deal is understood to be less complicated than the one O2 signed in the summer of 2007 to gain its status as exclusive UK partner, and it is expected to undercut the current hefty price of the phone.
Under O2's deal the network had to share some of the revenues it made from customers using the iPhone, with Apple. The Orange deal, in contrast, does not have any revenue-sharing component and as a result the company, owned by France Telecom, is expected to offer the iPhone at a cheaper price than O2.
The basic 8GB version of the handset currently costs £96.89 for a customer willing to pay £29.38 a month under an 18-month contract, but is free for anyone willing to spend £44.05 a month for the same period. The largest 32GB device is £274.23 at £29.38 a month over 18 months and free only for someone willing to pay £73.41 a month over two years. This makes the total cost of the phones between £625.73 and £792.90 for the basic phone over 18 months, and between £803.07 and £1,761.84 for the 32GB phone over 18 months.
Losing its exclusive grip on the iPhone is a blow to O2, which has used the phone to cement its position as the market leader in the UK over the past two years with its rivals consistently blaming the "iPhone effect" for the brand's success. O2 has 20.7 million UK customers and has sold an estimated 1.7 million iPhones in the UK.
It has also provided a boost to Carphone Warehouse, which has been O2's exclusive independent retail partner. The company, Europe's largest independent mobile phone retailer, will also stock the iPhone for Orange. But in a note to staff this morning, Orange UK chief executive Tom Alexander suggested that more independent retailers may also get the phone.
"It'll be available in all of our Orange shops, online, and will also be available through some of our specially selected partner stores," he said.
It remains unlcear, however, whether Orange's use of a two-year break clause in O2's five-year deal with Apple, originally revealed by the Guardian more than a year ago, has allowed the company to renegotiate its own terms and therefore retaliate in a Christmas price war.
In other countries where Apple has released the iPhone to more than one network, its partners have not had to sign away some of the ongoing revenues they make from customers so it is unlikely that O2 is being kept to its original terms. Part of the reason for the change in tack at the Californian company is that the Apple iTunes store has been so successful in selling applications to iPhone users that these revenues are starting to replace revenues from the mobile networks.
Certainly O2 insiders maintain that the company has been preparing for an end to its exclusive hold for some time. It has already grabbed another hotly anticipated handset under an exclusive deal for the Christmas market, but the hefty price tag it has placed on that device – the Palm Pre – may put off many users.
The breaking of O2's exclusive deal in the UK leaves the US as the only one of the original four markets in which Apple launched with just one operator after legal issues led to the German and French markets having to be opened up.

Cheapest deal ( before price war and any discounts) £29/month so wait till father Xmas comes and you might get one for nowt!

crook_101 · Post by **crook_101** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 12:27 am

Or buy a second hand one, unlock it and put your own SIM in it...

Bradleisure · Post by **Bradleisure** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 2:24 pm

Another one for the mix!

http://www.freethinker.com/iphone/livet ... index.html

You'll need a big battery pack as it only seems to work with iPhone ON!!!

GlennP · Post by **GlennP** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 5:19 pm

£3.49to make those watching you flying at work jealous. It s a small price to pay............ Until your battery runs out

Mike Brown · Post by **Mike Brown** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 5:35 pm

Hey thats a great App Glen. Was watching a guy this afternoon climbing up thru 1700mts somewhere in the old Yugo land!! Even watched meself walking round a roundabout!! Rock n Roll or what!!
Cheers
Mike

Iphone £38 mth
700mins
Free internet
unlimited txts
free calls any o2 mobile any time
free calls to 12 land lines any time
Oh and free iphone!!
Great!!

GlennP · Post by **GlennP** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 5:42 pm

I was paying £22/month with Orange before. Crap phone, No 3G and average camera for a suposed 5Mp job and I STILL had to pay £50 for the phone. Bills always came in at around £35/month even with free calls between me and my missus and all the free minutes/txts.

My last bill with O2 was £32 and I get unlimited Internet, almost unlimited free calls, free txts, free email, free calls via skype overseas, free WIFI, GPS with logger, tide calculator, ebay, facebook, sat finder, wind meter, ATC, OS grid point finder, flight planner, flight logbook, google maps, XCWeather,Metcheck,camera and an 8GB IPlayer etc etc etc.

And I can still call for a retrieve since I now have a battery monitor to tell me exactly how much time i've got left on the battery. Battery life aint great but you'd be hard pressed to find a battery that small to power a unit with as much processing power as this for a long time. |Minor problem though.

If you are on Facebook I post my GPS logged flights directly to my wall withing minutes of landing along with my photos on the flight. Had no probs logging 2+hour flights with Iphone.

Still impressed with it after 2 months but just wishing to get the IVario thats works on a leg strap with the OtterBox. That would be cool.

Post by **colin keightley** » Sun Nov 01, 2009 12:08 pm

for someone like me who spent £60 on me phone and only makes around 60 texts a month and very rarely makes any calls like about 5 mins a week an iphone would be a very expensive buy. not everyone have expensive contracts ok for some of you stepping up to the iphone isnt very expensive but the rest of us its a big leap in expense. some of us dont spend half our lives using a mobile

ron freeman · Post by **ron freeman** » Sun Nov 01, 2009 7:17 pm

Why do they say you get the phone for free when you clearly don't...

At the moment they are a very expensive gadget

RonDon · Post by **RonDon** » Sun Nov 01, 2009 9:46 pm

Chris you forgot about the 12 volt car battery in your back pack.

GlennP · Post by **GlennP** » Fri Nov 06, 2009 10:12 pm

Try tracklog or skylogger on apps store. Igc compatible. My friend fron the sunsoar cp course just posted his Moroccan flight on facebook. Pics too.

NHPC Private and Public Forum

iPhone apps for paragliding

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Apps

Apps

Bit confused...

Thanks for that

dogs

Appy times

Why..

Apps

so...

Muppetry

Apps

apps

Free phone....

Papps