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first published week of: 01/19/2015
Building on past field investigations where I studied the spatial accuracy of GPS receivers and smartphone location apps, I recently compared the spatial accuracy of two location apps on a smartphone. My goals were twofold: (1) To determine which of two location apps was more spatially accurate in varied terrain and conditions; and (2) To model a field activity that integrates geography, science, and mathematics that students can engage in easily and effectively.
On a hike in the chaparral hills of Southern California, I used my smartphone to collect my tracks using two apps–Motion X GPS and RunKeeper–at the same time. Once the hike was done, I then exported the track lines and points as GPX files and uploaded them into ArcGIS Online. The results, shown below, indicate that the two tracks were quite similar; within 1 meter of each other. I was pleased with the spatial accuracy of both, despite the very steep terrain and considering that the phone was in my pocket most of the time rather than held up high to capture a theoretically stronger set of GPS and cell tower signals. continued…