which USB GPS device should I buy?

[Richard Weait]

On Mon, Jan 4, 2010 at 5:18 PM, tug williams <tug.williams-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> Yup - something like hiking trails. Accuracy is more important than price.
>
> The GPSCorrelate screenshot implies sub meter accuracy in altitude
> measurements, which would be perfect - I want to map a sizable chunk of
> land, but being able to know where each photo was taken would be worth
> the cost and effort.

Sure.  Lots of the tools in OpenStreetMap can match up your photo
timestamps with your GPS track after the fact to add geopostion to the
photos.  Cameras with builtin GPS are still expensive from what I
hear.  As are the GPSes with the special camera cable.

You'll never[1] get a reliable sub-meter position with a
consumer-grade GPS.  Most current consumer devices will give you 3-5m
in good conditions.  You can't always tell if conditions are good
because atmospheric and sunspot issues will be invisible to you.  You
can see nearby buildings, overhead foliage, heavy rain but those are
only part of the story.

What you can get is some pretty good breadcrumb trails showing mostly
where you were.  As you do this you'll see that some trails are better
and some worse, and some will have entertaining excursions that you'll
look at and say, "I was not walking at 35 km/h!"

But you will have fun.

About devices.  Colin mentioned the USB-tethered receivers from
$20-ish.  There are also simple battery-powered track loggers with no
map display capability around $100. These can be the size of the deck
of cards.  And there are sport type with a colour or BW screen that
show your position on the map as well as save the tracks.  Around $200
and up.  About the size of your home cordless phone.  Most of these
can be switched on, placed in your backpack and forgotten until you
finish your trip.  Some will even give you 16 hours or more on a
charge.

Let me know if you need more info.

[1] well, not ever for some long period of time or without heroic measures.
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