RobiNZ Personal Blog

Project Virgle, Ben Elton's "Stark" becomes a reality?

When I saw this post I first thought of the date it was posted, 1 April, but soon after Ben Elton’s novel Stark : Australian billionaire, Sly Morgan is invited to join the Stark Conspiracy, a gr... Read more →

1575 km in 3 days in an Uno

I can’t pretend the drive (red map route) to Wellington for the Pat Metheny Trio concert was an economy run but I had the Etrex GPS running all the time so it was interesting to see how the numbers added up. I matched the traffic flow, running at the speed limit where possible, managing a moving average of 79.8 km/h over the 1575km distance. Given that included getting in & out of Auckland, a couple of commuter type trips around Wellington and a slow crawl through Waikanae, 5km took about an hour thanks to a traffic jam caused by a... Read more →

Supercar Heaven on Google Earth

Looking for an Italian Supercar? Google Earth Hacks has the Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini factory locations for download. Maranello - Ferrari Factory Maserati Factory Lamborghini Factory Read more →

Garmin goes cycling with an Edge

While the Garmin GPS’s can be used for cycling, my Legend does many km’s on the handlebar mount, they now have a model aimed specifically at cycling. In addition to the usual GPS things like position, speed they can also measure things like heart rate & cadence then export data to the new Training Center software for analysis. If you’re training for that big ride looks like a nice accessory to have. Garmin Edge Press Release Garmin Edge 205, Edge 305HR and Edge 305CAD – a new line of integrated personal training systems focusing on the needs of recreational and... Read more →

My first Google Earth Hacks upload was accepted!

I sent a location to Google Earth Hacks and it’s been accepted. It’s the track for the Race to the Sky (Snow Farm) at Cardrona, New Zealand. This is used for an hill-climb event similar to the Pikes Peak Event in the US and also manufacturer tire and vehicle testing. Google Earth Hacks - File Downloads - Sports Venues: Auto Racing and Test Tracks - Race to the Sky - Cardrona - New Zealand Read more →

Google Earth 2005 Formula 1 Circuits

Google Earth Hacks have a collection with all 19 2005 Formula 1 circuit locations for Google Earth. The example shown here is Silverstone in all it’s glory (Click on the thumbnail to see full size). Quality of the images varies a little but will only get better as Google develop content. Google Earth Hacks - File Downloads - Sports Venues: Auto Racing - 2005 Formula 1 Circuits If you have Google Earth installed, you can double-click on the “.kmz” placemark file and it will fly you to a location. If not, you will need to install Google Earth first (available... Read more →

GPS Dreams 2 Text

A new GPS Blog has some interesting ideas combining GPS, Images and blogging. Dreams 2 Text Read more →

TUMONZ - Updated to Version 2.08 + 2005 Tide data

TUMONZ has another update to support High Resolution Photos of Auckland. Unfortunately only Auckland City boundary (they commissioned the photo’s) so don’t cover the Waitakere City where I live If you have TUMONZ the 2005 Tide Data is available. It’s probably been there for a while but I haven’t needed it until now as summer only started on Sunday! The tide feature in TUMONZ is great, click anywhere on the sea and you get Tide and Moon Phase data for the nearest measurement point. The “flow” is shown as a wave but can point at any time/spot to get precise... Read more →

Elvis's Birthday and Lawn Bowling?

Elvis died 27 years ago, aged 42. If not would he have spent his 70th birthday Lawn Bowling? Strange combination you might think? I was cycling today and went through Tui Glen Park. Its an old holiday camp/park by the river that is being re-developed into a public park. Its usually not busy but today was very crowded as there was an “Elvis in the Park” event run by the Memories of Elvis Fan Club NZ with classic cars, other displays and a sound system blasting out Elvis music (some dancing from what I saw from the bike path). Then... Read more →

Garmin MapSource Updated to Version 6.5

If you own Garmin's MapSource there is a new update available to version 6.5. Details of all the changes are listed on the download page but some are: Updated the default document format to the new GDB version 2 format. Added the capability to import GPX documents that use both versions 1.0 and 1.1 of the GPX schema and export GPX documents using version 1.1 of the schema. (NOTE: GPX is also used by TUMONZ GPS Manager) Added the ability to batch-edit certain properties of user waypoints. Added category and sub category classifications to property pages for map features. This... Read more →