Portable Marine GPS

A GPS is a global positioning system and perfect for navigating your course whether you are in a large or small marine craft of which the Garmin GPSMap 276C Portable,
Marine GPS, Automotive GPS Plotter is a prime example. The GPSMap 276C is an automatic navigator and chart plotter it has a built in auto route baseman that is made even better with Garmin’s marine cartography.

This portable marine GPS
unit supports external NMEA water depth, water temperature and water speed sources by means of two serial interfaces. The GPSMap 276C also has a CDI or course deviation indicator which is a tool that is normally found only on aircraft navigation systems. However, this works well in a marine environment and most especially if a boat has veered off its course.

The GPSMap 276C can also be used for navigation on roads and freeways as its Auto route baseman contains all the major routes, optional extras include map source city select software, data card, friction mount and 12 volt power adaptor. A speaker allows drivers to receive directions to addresses that are voice prompted turn by turn. The software on this unit is easily updated and has a fast USB PC interface; it is powered by rechargeable lithium battery packs or by a standard 230 volt AC plug. The battery offers five to fifteen hours of use depending on the settings of the backlight.

This unit has a 3.8 inch diagonal, 480x320 pixel, and 256-color TFT screen with an LED screen that is back lit. The dimensions of the GPSMap 276C are 5.7”wide x 3.2”H x 1.9” Deep with adjustable marine mounting brackets. This comes complete with adjustable quad helix receiving antenna with remote antenna capability. The built in base map allows for automatic routing and directions that are given turn by turn. The unit also provides separate serial and USB interfaces – and for easier viewing during the night a blue chart night mode – and a large numbers option for generally easier viewing. The unit accepts
Garmin GPS data cards as well as pre-programmed data cards. The GPSMap 276C also provides built in tide tables and celestial tables for sun and moon calculations for those who are interested.

Geo Whats? Monograms for Mountains

They are not created by space-beings or plasma vortexes. And no pranksters spent the entire night mashing corn stalks to create these designs. Rather, these are 'mountain monograms' and are a land-vanity marker of sorts that are quite common across the United States.

Can you guess what famous school this "M" represents? Spoiler

Also known as "geoglyphs" - there are thousands of these gigantic emblems carved into the country side. A leading resource for these monograms, Geoglyphs.org features hundreds of these features and the stories behind them. Geoglyphs.org has aerial photography, location maps, and latitude and longitude, should you care to visit the site.

The site currently features examples from the State of Montana and lists the geoglyphs in alphabetical order. The site is incredibly powered by not only javascript maps, but also Google Maps, Google Earth KML's, and Microsoft Virtual Earth to provide not only flexible platforms, but also excellent comparisons.

Social Networking Around the World

Until we actually start speaking to each other face to face, there will be social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook to do it for us. The popularity of these social sites across the globe is displayed on this great map. The story is in French for those of you bi-lingual geographers.

Every day Google Maps Streetview feature adds more and more locations. This video takes a look at just how advanced the service is getting!

Working with a real Lincoln Navigator Video...GPS systems are getting more and more advanced everyday :)