Am i missing something?

Soni

Am i missing something?

I've got a great new phone, the Galaxy Note 2, has Sat Nav, i set it to walking the other day and came walking out of the tube station and it told me to head North along XXXX Road......

How the hell do you know which was is North?

I don't carry a compass around with me :roll:

Cleat Eastwood

You need an app for it. You can get a north app (which I've got), then you need to buy a south app etc - only 79p

Soni

Why can't it just tell me to turn left, or turn right, or is that just toooooo simple?

Surely its over complicating a perfectly simple thing, it knows which way i'm facing, it knows which way i need to go, therefore it must know which way is left and which way is right.

Don't get me wrong, its not a problem with this specific device, i believe every Sat Nav out there works the same way.

team47b

Assuming you wear a *watch, point the hour hand at the **sun South is half way between the hour and and the twelve.



*If you don't have a watch you can use your phone to see the time and draw the watch hands on your wrist with a biro.
**If you live in the UK try to find the brighter bit of grey sky and imagine a bright light.

alfablue

Soni wrote:

Why can't it just tell me to turn left, or turn right, or is that just toooooo simple?

Surely its over complicating a perfectly simple thing, it knows which way i'm facing, it knows which way i need to go, therefore it must know which way is left and which way is right.

It only knows which way you are facing when you are on the move, not when stationary, so it can't do as you wish.

daviesee

Head off in a random direction and if it is the wrong direction and it'll tell you to turn round. Won't it?

alfablue

walk backwards

amaferanga

Just remember never to make a phone call in public with one of those things

reformedfatty

Switch on the compass icon on the satnav?

Ouija

alfablue wrote:

Soni wrote:

Why can't it just tell me to turn left, or turn right, or is that just toooooo simple?

Surely its over complicating a perfectly simple thing, it knows which way i'm facing, it knows which way i need to go, therefore it must know which way is left and which way is right.

It only knows which way you are facing when you are on the move, not when stationary, so it can't do as you wish.

+1

It's a satnav, not a compass. It has no clue as to which direction your facing, only your geographic position on the face of the planet. As Alfablue says, it can only figure out direction by taking a reading of your current position, then another a few seconds later and drawing a straight line between the two points to see which direction your walking in relative to north. But when stationary it sees nothing but a latitude/longitude coordinate with no way of determining which way your facing.

bompington

The Note 2, like a lot of smartphones, does have a compass built in. But if it's anything like mine (original Galaxy S) it's not that accurate or reliable: and I don't know if it's actually used by the satnav app either.
It will tell you on the map which way north is, so you should be able to work it out...

Ben6899

Couldn't you see any landmarks? Given you just stepped out of a tube station... The Shard, St Paul's, Parliament?

Cleat Eastwood

Ben6899 wrote:

Couldn't you see any landmarks? Given you just stepped out of a tube station... The Shard, St Paul's Parliament?

He was too busy looking at his phone.

Cant you get an augmented reality app too that tells you direction based on the buildings around you - I may have just dreamed that one up.

mallorcajeff

Christ all this tech talk baffles me whats available now, here in Spain people still point at the moon and wonder what it is. jesus its behind out here!

team47b

mallorcajeff wrote:

Christ all this tech talk baffles me whats available now, here in Spain people still point at the moon and wonder what it is. jesus its behind out here!

We still point at the Spanish

pinno

WTF ?! The sun rises in the East and sets in the West. As long as you know whereabouts the sun came up, then you know roughly where Norf is. Sounds like the apps crap.

Soni

My work takes me all over London and therefore quite often end up stepping out of a tube station and not knowing which direction I need to head in.

This particular time was Clapham Junction, so no famous land marks to go on unfortunately.

This particular occasion I had my headphones on, punched the details into navigation, selected walking as the form of transport and off I went on my merry way until it told me to head North and the phone is now in my pocket with me enjoying my tunes.

Ive just checked and yes it does have a compass at the top left of navigation and just tested it but it remains pointing in the same direction when I turn the phone around.

Also, this isnt a great idea when your out walking with your phone in your pocket, the last thing i want to do is walk around Clapham showing my phone off to everybody.

Soni

team47b wrote:

Assuming you wear a *watch, point the hour hand at the **sun South is half way between the hour and and the twelve.



*If you don't have a watch you can use your phone to see the time and draw the watch hands on your wrist with a biro.
**If you live in the UK try to find the brighter bit of grey sky and imagine a bright light.

This isnt a wind up?

Sounds logical, so lets say i have a watch on and its 12:00hrs, if I point the hour hand which is pointing at the 12 towards the sun, then North will be half way between the 12 and the 12 I.e 6 ?

Soni

pinarello001 wrote:

WTF ?! The sun rises in the East and sets in the West. As long as you know whereabouts the sun came up, then you know roughly where Norf is. Sounds like the apps crap.

But I wasnt standing outside Clapham Junction tube station when the sun came up, therefore I have no idea which direction the sun rose from.

You would think with this day and age and having an app for everything a phone would be able to tell you to turn left or bloody right!

pinno

Okay okay. What you need is a Sextant. You also need some psychotherapy for walking around Clapham at silly hours of the day.
You can get your Sextant out on Clapham Common but careful you don't get approached by dodgy gay tory MP's for a spot of cottaging.

chrisaonabike

Soni wrote:

Ive just checked and yes it does have a compass at the top left of navigation and just tested it but it remains pointing in the same direction when I turn the phone around.

Doesn't the arrow in Google Maps point in more or less the right direction? It does on my Samsung GS3.

alihisgreat

Soni wrote:

Am i missing something?

I've got a great new phone, the Galaxy Note 2, has Sat Nav, i set it to walking the other day and came walking out of the tube station and it told me to head North along XXXX Road......

How the hell do you know which was is North?

I don't carry a compass around with me :roll:

which 'sat nav' app are you using?

If you use google maps then the map is orientated with north at the top by default -> there is also an on screen button in the top right to orient the map in the direction you are facing.

I also just checked the google navigation app and there is a compass indicator on screen there too.

Soni

pinarello001 wrote:

Okay okay. What you need is a Sextant. You also need some psychotherapy for walking around Clapham at silly hours of the day.
You can get your Sextant out on Clapham Common but careful you don't get approached by dodgy gay tory MP's for a spot of cottaging.

Whats a Sextant?

pinno

Sextant
From Wikipedia

A sextant

This article is about the Sextant as used for navigation. For the astronomer's sextant, see Sextant (astronomical).
For the history and development of the sextant see Reflecting instruments

A sextant is an instrument used to measure the angle between any two visible objects. Its primary use is to determine the angle between a celestial object and the horizon which is known as the object's altitude. Making this measurement is known as sighting the object, shooting the object, or taking a sight and it is an essential part of celestial navigation. The angle, and the time when it was measured, can be used to calculate a position line on a nautical or aeronautical chart. Common uses of the sextant include sighting the sun at solar noon and sighting Polaris at night, to find one's latitude (in northern latitudes). A sextant can also be held horizontally to measure the angle between any two landmarks which allows for calculation of a position on a chart. A sextant can also be used to measure the Lunar distance between the moon and another celestial object (e.g., star, planet) in order to determine Greenwich time which is important because it can then be used to determine the longitude.

The scale of a sextant has a length of ⅙ of a turn (60°); hence the sextant's name (sextāns, -antis is the Latin word for "one sixth"). An octant is a similar device with a shorter scale (⅛ turn, or 45°), whereas a quintant (⅕ turn, or 72°) and a quadrant (¼ turn, or 90°) have longer scales.

Sir Isaac Newton (1643–1727) invented the principle of the doubly reflecting navigation instrument (a reflecting quadrant—see Octant (instrument)), but never published it. Two men independently developed the octant around 1730: John Hadley (1682–1744), an English mathematician, and Thomas Godfrey (1704–1749), a glazier in Philadelphia. John Bird made the first sextant in 1757. The octant and later the sextant, replaced the Davis quadrant as the main instrument for navigation.

pinno

team47b

Soni wrote:

team47b wrote:

Assuming you wear a *watch, point the hour hand at the **sun South is half way between the hour and and the twelve.
*If you don't have a watch you can use your phone to see the time and draw the watch hands on your wrist with a biro.
**If you live in the UK try to find the brighter bit of grey sky and imagine a bright light.

This isnt a wind up?

Sounds logical, so lets say i have a watch on and its 12:00hrs, if I point the hour hand which is pointing at the 12 towards the sun, then North will be half way between the 12 and the 12 I.e 6 ?

Not a wind up (the method not the watch, although 'tis better if the watch is wound up!)

If it was 12 noon and you point the hands at the sun then this is south so yes North would be the opposite direction ie behind you.

Always point the hour hand at the sun and and south will always be positioned halfway between the hour hand and the number 12 on your watch.

(I think if you draw the watch on your hand with a biro you will be OK in Clapham)

Ben6899

Soni wrote:

team47b wrote:

Assuming you wear a *watch, point the hour hand at the **sun South is half way between the hour and and the twelve.



*If you don't have a watch you can use your phone to see the time and draw the watch hands on your wrist with a biro.
**If you live in the UK try to find the brighter bit of grey sky and imagine a bright light.

This isnt a wind up?

Sounds logical, so lets say i have a watch on and its 12:00hrs, if I point the hour hand which is pointing at the 12 towards the sun, then North will be half way between the 12 and the 12 I.e 6 ?

Yes. At midday, the sun is in the South. Whether you're wearing a watch or not.

wotnoshoeseh

Only if you are in the northern hemisphere though :P

team47b

Not been to Clapham for a while but I thought it was safe to assume it was still in the northern hemisphere

nevman

Clarks used to do a pair of shoes that had a compass in the heel-have a look on Ebay,buy a pair or even just one (but make sure its the right one) and take it off when you exit the Tube station.
You may need to bring a spare pair of shoes as well.HTH.