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Waypoints and routesA waypoint is a physical location in space expressed on a GPS as a standard set of coordinates (two for land and three for air or space). A route is a navigated line between one or more waypoints such as between a starting point and ending destination. -
GPS satelliteWaypoints are calculated with an accuracy of 3 m or less by combining information from U.S. Department of Defense satellites and the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), which uses commercial satellites. As such, a GPS needs a clear line of sight to the sky to calculate waypoints correctly. - You can enter and display waypoints as a latitude and longtitude (i.e. 40°44′25″N 74°00′25″W) or more usefully as an address (335 Melody Lane, New York, New York). On a GPS, a waypoint is typically identified and indexed with a familiar name such as "Mom's House" or "Demand Studios."
- To make them easier to understand, waypoints are often displayed as points on a map. This is especially helpful when visualizing a route or trying to find the closest destination to your current location.
- Though a GPS can store waypoints simply for reference, they are most often used to calculate the shortest or fastest route between a user's current location and his intended destination.
- The Google Maps site offers way an easy way to create and manage waypoints through the use of a keyboard and mouse. However, its coordinate system needs to be converted to GPX format, the default for GPS units. Use GMapToGPX to transfer from Google to GPS, and GPS Visualizer to transfer from GPS to Google (see Resources).
