GPS Information

GPS stands for Global Positioning System and was developed by the US military in the 1970s. With the help of 24 satellites, this technology is used to determine locations around the world. A GPS device receives signals from the satellites and calculates its own position. In recent years, other nations have added their own satellite navigation systems and most modern GPS receivers can take advantage of more than one system.

Over the last two decades, the use of GPS (Global Positioning System) devices has become common to aid navigation on roads, the sea and in the hills, whilst over the last couple of years many Smartphones equipped with GPS technology have been used for the same purpose.

(Adapted from walkhighlands.co.uk)

Both stand-alone GPS devices, and smartphones with GPS technology, work by receiving signals from a series of satellites. The GPS receiver in your mobile device compares the very precise time signals it receives from the satellites with its internal clock. Knowing the location of the satellites, the speed the radio signal travels at (speed of light) and when the signals were sent and received, your device can calculate your distance from each satellite, and thereby determine your  longitude, latitude and altitude.

(Adapted from walkhighlands.co.uk)

There are a range of GPS devices and smartphone apps that have widely different functionality. At the more basic end, the GPS device or app may give you your current coordinates or grid reference so you can then use this to help to navigate with your paper map. Many devices will let you pre-plot a route using mapping software on your PC (such as Memory Map etc.), or download a prepared route from elsewhere. The line of the pre-planned route is then often shown on the screen. 

At the top of the range are GPS devices and smartphone apps that allow you to purchase high quality maps (for example Ordnance Survey maps 1:25 000 or 1:50 000) which are then stored so they can be shown on your device (overlaid with any pre-planned route), with your current position marked.

(Adapted from walkhighlands.co.uk)

No. There is some confusion in that, if a mobile signal is available to them, Smartphones may use something called Assisted GPS to gain the approximate location from the phone signal. The mobile signal is then used to speed up the calculation of the position fix from the GPS satellites. However, the availability of a phone signal has no effect on the eventual accuracy of GPS readings once a device has fixed its position; the purpose of a mobile signal is simply to get a fix faster when the GPS functionality is switched on. There are some apps that do require an internet signal to show mapping and navigation, and so are not likely to work in remote areas. However, there are many navigational apps which now offer offline access to maps etc.

(Adapted from walkhighlands.co.uk)

The first generation of consumer GPS devices gave an accuracy of around 15m, and often had difficulties getting a position fix in narrow valleys or where there was forestry cover. More recent devices and smartphones tend to now use High Sensitivity GPS which is much more effective in forestry, and can be accurate to around 4m once the device has established a good fix with a number of satellites.

We carefully calculate distances and daily ascents, using our recorded hikes in conjunction with advanced GPS and GIS tools. If you measure your hikes and get different values from the ones stated in the Route Notes, it is likely caused by the inherent inaccuracy of pedometers and recreational GPS devices. 

Recreational GPS devices are not precision tools and no GPS is 100% accurate. Most newer recreational GPS devices and GPS-enabled smartphones are typically accurate to within a 3 m (10 ft) radius under open sky.  But if there are any obstructions to the sky, such as a dense forest canopy, heavy clouds, high canyon walls or tall downtown buildings, these can scatter the GPS signals or cause them to bounce and lead to extra error in the GPS positioning accuracy. This can sometimes lead to GPS accuracies 30m (100 ft), or sometimes even worse than 100m (300ft).

Since the GPS device calculates distances in intervals it may measure shorter or longer distances if the measured points are not 100% on the trail. These little errors can add up to larger discrepancies over longer distances. Imagine if every other GPS point taken is a few metres or feet off to the left or right of your actual position. That can add up to a lot of distance.

Add to this the fact that you are usually not walking in the ideal straight line for a route and might take little detours and the ideal distance given for a hike might be 10% or more off from what you measure with your smartphone.

Should you wish to use our GPS data with other navigational apps or devices of your choice, you can do so by downloading the GPS data from HiiKER as a GPX file. To do so tap ‘Back’ in the ‘Trail Stages’ view and then swipe to the left on the tiles, where you see ‘Stages’ until you can see ‘Export’. Tap this to save the tour data as a single gpx file. To return to your ‘Trail Stages’ view tap on ‘Stages’.

Disclaimer: Please note that we can’t guarantee that the tracks will load correctly on other applications & devices as this is often determined by how an application / device reads the file. For example, most problems with GPX file incompatibility are due to various software providers adding additional information that is not compatible with all devices and programs that can use GPX files i.e. other devices / programs cannot open a GPX file where there is additional information it doesn’t know how to read.

Currently, we do not advise using Google Maps for off-road navigation. While Google Maps has improved in the last number of years for off-road hiking use, we cannot recommend it yet for navigation on our trails.

For example, Google Maps may occasionally not show you existing paths or tracks that we suggest for navigation. Google Maps just haven’t added those routes to their maps yet. Therefore, it is best to choose a mapping application that provides access to more detailed maps which have been designed for off-road hiking.

Before using GPS to navigate on a hike, it is important to know that satellite reception can be disturbed. Fog, deep forests or mountain ranges can all mean that the determination of your position becomes less precise, fails or takes longer.

Please also note that when using GPS, the power consumption of a GPS receiver or smartphone can be relatively high. It is advisable to always have spare batteries or a power bank with you and / or to keep an eye on the battery indicator as you hike.