kleake1
lvl.3
Flight distance : 1361040 ft
United States
Offline
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Guys, in iPads and many true laptops the GPS chip is on the cellular card, which make sense that if you have a wi-fi only ipad that the GPS is not included, although I sure do wish they would do it otherwise. You DO NOT need the cell service activated to use the GPS, you just need to have the cell card in the device. Many times I want to know where I am and have a cached map, or other location service that I want to use that does not require wi-fi service. The problem is Apple wouldn't get the $100 upgrades nearly as often if they included GPS on the wi-fi only version, so I'm sure that plays a part.
Now you can tether to your phone to get the maps and that works great, however there is still a function that you CANNOT use without GPS. You CANNOT set your home location to where you are standing. For example, I fly from my boat to film the kids skiing. When the battery gets low we stop and my home location has moved. So I then set my position as the home and the quad will fly back to me. Not a major issue, however what about when the "follow me" function is released? Without GPS, how is it going to be able to follow you? While some of you won't be using those features, MANY of you will. Just something to think about.
The only other solution on a wi-fi only ipad is to use a bluetooth GPS device. This will work, but is another device to charge and keep with you. |
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