CAMP BOFFIN

We’ve got it in our cars or an app on our phones and it helps us get from one place to another. But how did we get here and is it all legal?.

Not everyone has a map book in their vehicle these days, because GPS devices have gained much popularity over the last 20 years or so. These can either be the removable units that mount on your windscreen or dashboard, or already built into the infotainment systems of more expensive cars.

That being said, it’s not as though you can mount your iPad to the windscreen or dashboard and watch highlights of the game while driving and then pretend you’re using the screen as a navigational tool should you get pulled over. And a good road map is still a handy backup.

A brief history

Maps have been around since the ancient world, and have served its purpose not only for military conquests, but also to satisfy the human thirst for adventure and knowledge, whether that’s knowing what’s just over the mountain in the distance or where the continent ends.

There were many different early cartographic pioneers who used different projections to map the earth, but what made difference in terms of how modern GPS systems work, was being able to accurately determine longitude. Latitude was already widely understood by the mid-18th century as a specific point north or south of the equator, and was relatively easy to work out if you knew how to calculate the angle of the sun, and stars and constellations of the night sky.

But accurately measuring longitude had eluded the world’s naval superpower at the time, Britain, who established an Official Board of Longitude to accurately determine the date of arrival of ships in foreign ports across its empire.

The Royal Observatory in Greenwich Park, London was established as the prime meridian (this explains the Greenwich Meridian Time, or GMT that we still use to this day to tell the

time in different cities around the world), with an imaginary curve that passed through it from the North Pole to the South Pole. Rudimentary watches of the time could lose or gain up to 15 minutes per day, but all that changed when clockmaker John Harrison began designing a chronometer that could keep time, losing only three seconds per day. In 1761, the Chronometer No 4 allowed Harrison’s son William to accurately predict the arrival of the HMS Deptford at Madeira en route to Jamaica. And two months later in Jamaica, the device was found to be accurate to within five seconds.

But what does it all mean?

That all paved the way for modern devices to tell you where you are. Originally launched for use by the US military in 1978, the Global Positioning System (GPS) was available for civilian use free of charge by the year 2000.

It uses a system of 32 solarpowered satellites that orbit the earth all day, every day and have to keep perfect time to as to accurately determine exactly where you are, and how long it’s going to take you to get to your favourite campsite.

They do this by carrying multiple atomic clocks, which use the atomic oscillations of atoms to maintain precise time. Unfortunately, they cost between R800 000 and R1,6 million so are way too expensive for the average Joe. Another issue is that, thanks to Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity, we know that time moves faster for objects far from the earth’s gravitational field. This means that the clocks in space get 38 microseconds (millionths of a second) faster than the clocks on the earth’s surface. If we left it at that then our measurements would be up to 10 km out.

The distance between a satellite and receiver must be known, and therefore we must know exactly where the satellite is first. Thankfully, the space boffins have them on a predictable flight path or orbit. There are variations here and there, but that’s why there are satellite ground stations capable of sending updated locations to your receiver.

There are four elements a GPS receiver calculates at any given moment: latitude, longitude, altitude and time, and because of this your receiver would need to lock onto at least four satellites to be able to give it enough information. Thanks to the method of trilateration, the four spheres created by the distance between your receiver and four different satellites can accurately pinpoint your location.

How does that tie in with us?

Knowing where we are still doesn’t tell us where there’s an available filling station or where there’s a viewing point on a pass or general points of interest.

This is where GPS ties in with cartography and aerial photography as well as information services such as Google that knows almost everything worth knowing.

These all tie in to create

a seamless package that helps us know all about the journey ahead, from where there are fixed-speed cameras to traffic congestion. That’s why, even though you don’t need mobile or internet connectivity to use your GPS, it helps when you are connected.

GPS receiver manufacturer Garmin has a local product that seemingly caters exactly for the camping and off-road market: the Overlander. The product receives signals not only from the USA’s GPS satellites, the Russian GLONASS and the European Galileo systems, but you can also add satellite imagery through its 64 GB onboard storage.

Map and trail services such as Tracks 4 Africa allow you to add specific regions for a yearly subscription with access to updates. A specialist company like this is also able to list a lot more campsites and lesser known trails. The problem with the Overlander is its immense size: its 20 cm length and height of 12 cm takes up quite a bit of space.

What says the law?

Your device might raise eyebrows depending on where you are. We called upon the services of legal eagle Alta Swanepoel, who has specialised in road legislation for more than 20 years, to clear up the confusion around the mounting of GPS devices.

Alta pointed out two provisions in the National Road Traffic Act deal with this, regulations 204 and 308.

Reg 204. Driving view to be obstructed

(1) No person shall operate on

a public road a motor vehicle

(a) Which is not so constructed and maintained as to afford the driver thereof a full and clear view of the roadway ahead and to his or her right and left when the vehicle is in use;

Reg 308. General duties of driver or passenger of vehicle on public road

(1) No person driving or having a vehicle on a public road shall –

(b) When driving such vehicle, occupy such position that he or she does not have complete control over the vehicle or

Even if your vehicle is standing still at a traffic light; as long as the engine is running, you’re regarded as driving it

does not have a full view of the roadway and the traffic ahead of such vehicle

As GPS devices tend to vary in size, we asked Alta about just how big a device would be so as to obstruct the driver. “There is no specific measurement and I know that in some overseas countries, drivers are prosecuted if they have bulky equipment mounted on the windscreen,” Alta explains.

If you’re going to be crossing the border, make sure you know the exact rules regarding the use of these devices and where they’re mounted.

Although Alta admits that these regulations are open to interpretation from one official to the next, you can take the matter further. “You may find one officer deeming a GPS as obstructing the view and another not. I always advise people to take a picture and make representations to a prosecutor if they do get a notice.”

Apps that help us find our way around

You could also just use the GPS receiver built into your mobile. The joy of the smartphone is that we have numerous options to suit budget, taste and style. The most popular is the alwaysreliable Google Maps that is sort of the pioneer in this space and all-round reliable. It’s also available on iOS devices, so Apple users can take advantage of its awesomeness as well.

But there are many others. Think Waze, MAPS.Me, and TomTomGO that often include options to share to social media, dashcams and detailed 3D maps that help you get around even easier. You might be asked to pay a subscription, though, or buy maps as you explore more.

The danger of distractions

According to a traffic offense survey conducted by the Road Traffic Management Corporation, 13 371 people were caught between February 2015 and September 2016 driving with their mobile phone being held in at least one hand. But we suspect that number may have increased in recent years. Law enforcement officers used to be exempt as long as they used these devices in carrying out their duties, but that’s no longer the case.

This is a criminal offense, subject to your device being impounded and a fine. It doesn’t matter if you weren’t texting or reading status updates and may have been trying to find a way out of Friday afternoon gridlock. Even if your vehicle is standing still at a traffic light; as long as the engine is running, you’re regarded as driving it.

Driving distractions are not just limited to the use of cellphones however, as many of the older built-in GPS screens were mounted low in a vehicle’s dashboard. You’d not only need to turn your eyes away from the road to be able to follow the navigation, but your head as well.