On 18 Sep 2008, at 13:52, Denis Galvão wrote: > ... > Is this possible to use the actual GTA_02 hardware version to do: > - Compass ? > - Altimeter ?
This would be really cool for glider (hang-glider, paraglider) pilots. They usually carry a combined altimeter / variometer instrument (commonly called a "vario", short for vario-altimeter) which, as well as absolute height, indicates rate-of-climb with a (LCD) needle and an audible beep. It can be impossible at height to distinguish if you're going up or down, so pilots rely on this to find thermals in which to climb. It's been a few years since I got my feet off the ground, but back then combined GPS / altimeter units were not common at all - the first one or two models were only just being introduced and were still expensive. But such a combination does allow *accurate* calculation of the best speed to fly against a headwind (or with a tailwind), allowing the pilot to reach the next thermal "trigger point" (geographic feature which may be expected to kick off a thermal) with the best height and the best chances of catching lift there. Meanwhile all vario units were proprietary software and most premium models appeared to be identical hardware to the cheapest ones, so this would be an excellent opportunity for the Open-Source community to add features. Stroller. _______________________________________________ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
