AP is reporting that FCC has reached a conclusion in favor of the GPS industry after National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), concluded that there’s no way to eliminate the risk of interference with GPS devices.

FCC now revoked LightSquared’s permit – after giving them a tentative approval last year. This is really bad news for LightSquared which had already spent about $4 billion on their network which planned to put about 40000 high power transmitters all around the U.S.

Also again, according to AP:

LightSquared is owned by Harbinger Capital Partners, a private-equity firm that made billions betting against subprime mortgages ahead of the collapse of the housing market.

In case this decision made you feel sorry about LightSquared, the above should take care of that

Brought to you by your GPS navigation site NaviGadget.

FCC wants to kill LightSquared’s planned network

Source: Navigadget
Read more here:FCC wants to kill LightSquared’s planned network

If you're headed to the Miami Boat Show this week or weekend, make sure you stop by Tiara Yachts, a Garmin OEM, to see their latest models – like the 4800 Convertible – equipped with full Garmin electronics packages. While you're there, don't miss out on your chance to enter to win one of the many Garmin products they'll be giving away throughout the show.

Each day of the show (Feb. 16 to Feb. 20, 2012) Tiara will draw two winners (one at 1PM ET and one at 4PM ET) for a number of Garmin prizes including an Approach S1 GPS golf watch, an Approach G3 pocket-sized golf GPS, a GTU 10 GPS tracker/locator, an Edge 200 GPS cycling computer and a Forerunner 110 GPS runner's watch. Winners must be present to win…good luck and see you at the show! 

Source: Garmin
Read more here:
Enter to win Garmin products with the Tiara Garmin Giveaway at MBS

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) wrote the FCC yesterday ( PDF ) saying they had concluded “that LightSquared’s proposed mobile broadband network will impact GPS services and that there is no practical way to mitigate the potential interference at this time.” Shortly thereafter, the FCC announced that they would “(1) vacate the Conditional Waiver Order, and (2) suspend indefinitely LightSquared’s Ancillary Terrestrial Component authority to an extent consistent with the NTIA letter.” The FCC announcement does not appear to have been posted to their website, but instead was delivered via an email to major news outlets. A TMF Associates post appears to reproduce the announcement , at least in part. So it seems that the GPS industry has won, at least for the time being. Yet the  vultures  are circling , and LightSquared’s valuable spectrum will undoubtedly be put to use at some point in the future. Barring reversal by the courts, the day of reckoning has likely been postponed for a number of years. But we do need more wireless broadband, and it will be interesting to see how the GPS industry handles the potential interference over the next few years, now that they’ve bought some time.

More:
FCC kills LightSquared

Garmin today announced BlueChart Mobile marine app for iPad and iPhone. With the new BlueChart app, captains can now make use of BlueChart data found in Garmin chartplotters.

The app also lets you connect to ActiveCaptain, a website community that provides content generated by mariners for mariners. You can also plan and create routes, view shaded depth contours and inter-tidal zones, search for a marine service point to find out the phone number, hours of operation, and information about amenities and services available.

Supposing you have internet connection on your iPad you can also get weather conditions, temperatures, dew points, wind direction and speed, radar and cloud cover – all overlaid on the chart data.

And if you happen to have a Garmin chartplotter on board you can wirelessly transfer routes, waypoints and tracks created from the BlueChart Mobile app. There’s also a cool feature where you can “follow the boat” by sharing the GPS capability on the charplotter even if your iPad don’t have this feature.

Brought to you by your GPS navigation site NaviGadget.

Garmin BlueChart Marine App for iPad

Source: Navigadget
Read more here:Garmin BlueChart Marine App for iPad

Lowrance, which specializes in marine GPS technology and chartplotters and fishfinder just recently introduced the Lowrance HDS-10 Gen2 Fishfinder/Chartplotter. It has a 10″ color screen and comes with either enhanced U.S. basemap, or intuitive, life-like Insight USA mapping, or Worldwide (non-Americas): Navionics world background map. Some other features include:

• Realtime StructureMap capability
• built-in Broadband Sounder
• internal GPS antenna
• High-bright, sunlight-viewable display with LED backlighting
• TrackBack feature to review sonar history and save waypoints on key locations
• NMEA 2000 and high-speed Ethernet networking options

Brought to you by your GPS navigation site NaviGadget.

Lowrance HDS-10 Gen2 Fishfinder/Chartplotter

Source: Navigadget
Read more here:Lowrance HDS-10 Gen2 Fishfinder/Chartplotter

One of my early experiences with GPS surprised me. I went out for a hike in Van Damme State Park , using my GPS to collect a track along the way. When I got home I transferred the track to my computer, opened it in a mapping program , and was surprised to find that my track was a lot more accurate than the USGS map of the trail. It turns out that this is more the rule than the exception. If you want to accurately locate a trail on your GPS or on a map, there is no substitute for a good track recorded by a high-sensitivity GPS receiver (which means just about any released in the last few years). Now if you’re the kind of person who goes to the same place over and over, no problem; you can collect your own track. But I’m an explorer. My best days on the trail are spent covering ground I’ve never traversed before. Lucky for folks like me, there are plenty of websites where you can download tracks of trails. Some even have a transfer button so that you can connect your GPS directly. For others, you’ll need to download a track file and transfer it your device. GPX track files The files you download will most likely come with a .gpx file extension. And while there are many mapping software programs that will open them, you can just drag and drop the files to most modern GPS receivers. With newer Garmin handhelds you put them in the Garmin/GPX folder. Nevertheless, it’s a good idea to preview the file in a mapping program first, and older receivers will likely require a program for transferring the track file. Finally, before we move on, be aware that .gpx files can contain waypoints , tracks AND/OR routes , so a file may contain more than just the track of the trail. Websites for downloading GPS tracks This is really tough. There are so many sites out there for this, so I’m only going to cover a few. Garmin Connect  (pictured above) – Massive user base but seems to be more for runners and road bikers than backcountry types; search functionality isn’t that great Trimble Outdoors – They also partner with Backpacker magazine, so you’ll often find longer trails here GPSies – I like the fact that this one tells you how many files they have per country; for the US it’s over 17,000 GoBreadcrumbs – This site has more trails in the US, followed by Europe and Canada (thanks to @atlascached for suggesting these last two) Google Don’t overlook the king of search. Try searching for a park or trail name and gpx. Regional and sport specific sites There may be a website that offers GPX downloads for trails in your area. Hiking club sites are a good place to check. For example, one of my favorites for the southern Appalachians is the Carolina Mountain Club . And there are sport-specific sites like MTBGuru.com . Heck there are even sport AND region specific sites . You’ll often have to look around  a bit for the .gpx download link – try doing CTRL-F (CMD-F on a Mac) and enter gpx to search the page. Take with a grain of salt There are a few caveats for using these in the field: As always with GPS, you should come equipped with a map and compass and know how to use them The downloaded tracks are representations of someone else’s experience, and may include a wildly inaccurate track, wrong turns, etc. Check to be sure that the downloaded track matches up to written trail descriptions Share your tracks If you take a trail that you can’t find online, consider uploading your own track file and sharing it with others. The Garmin advantage Newer Garmin units have a very cool feature . If you load a track file and select it for navigation, it will automatically create a route with any waypoints you have along the trail and even insert waypoints for high and low points along the track. Neat, huh?

Continued here: 
Handheld GPS 201: Using online tracks for trails