High-tech help for intrepid hill-walkers

“Gary the concept is great if it is going to lead to a greater appreciation of our hills and areas of natural beauty. I hope it is aimed at the more low level routes than the high fells. Most mobiles don't seem suited to rugged usage. My concern is that more and more people are venturing onto the hills without the basic knowledge and skills as mountain rescue reports show. Too many think that a mobile phone equates with safety. You will be only too well aware of how weather conditions on such as Great Dunn Fell can deteriorate. Give me a Wainwright over a 4" screen any day plus trying to listen to a mobile with the Helm whistling round you. Yes I am an old fuddy duddy but I have survived caving, climbing and mountaineering without incident and trained many youngsters to do the same. The high hills can be very unforgiving.”

“Ted

We see a lot of this sort of navigation with 4X4's, there are two distinct groups which are those of using maps and those totally reliant upon technology which can often be wrong, out of date, or not updated quickly enough. Although we do try to teach map reading skills many youngsters simply can't be bothered to learn, and this is where we have found the problems.”

“Thanks for the additional information, Gary P. Very informative. As for people using it as a sole means of navigation, Smshogun, I suspect you may be right. People are so used to relying on satnav technology these days, they may well use this app in the same way. However, if it is made clear that this is a navigation aid to be used alongside maps, it's their problem.”

“Enhancement.”

“Can't beat a good map, we use them when off road driving and they do display much more appropriate data than modern electronic aids, unfortunately many youngsters rely upon electronic aids and are unable to map read.

While I have taken on board Gary P's comment about it being an anhancement to a map I feel many will use it solely as a means of navigation.”

“The points about battery life and signal on mobile phones are important, and that is partly why the app is only an experimental part of this project. I am part of the team developing the audio walk and app and we have tested it twice on Great Dunn Fell so far. The mobile signal was actually OK but because we have worked in other parts of upland Cumbria where it is not, we chose to store the information at waypoints on the phone itself, so having a good mobile signal wasn't essential. Battery life wasn't too good on the phones, and again that is something we wanted to test, as the Great Dunn fell route is far longer than most of the 'Discovering Britain' walks.

One point to stress is that the app isn't intended as a navigation aid to replace a map, it is intended to be used alongside a map. The walks created by the 'Discovering Britain' project at the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) provide maps of a route along with printed sheets and mp3 audio recordings relevant to key points along the route. With the app we are trying to gauge whether the information from the printed sheets and audio could be delivered automatically at those key points along with other graphics so people could learn a little more about the history of the landscape around them. With this particular app people would however be expected to use the paper map for navigation (along with some 'Pennine Way' route markers in the case of part of this walk!).

The audio walk and experimental app have been developed as part of an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) project called 'Weather Walks' led by a team based at the School of Geography, University of Nottingham, http://tinyurl.com/cz5yo4r (Georgina Endfield, Lucy Veale, Sam Meek and Gary Priestnall, with collaboration from Simon Naylor, based in Geography at the University of Exeter). The focus of the project is on the history of the local weather recording station led by Professor Gordon Manley and the study of the 'Helm Wind'.”

“Wow, the Stubai Alps! That's serious hiking, Bill. I just do local county circular walks of between 6-12 miles. I agree GPS can be dangerous if you put all of your trust in it. I use it as an aid along with maps and guide books.”

“Ted, practiced using GPS in the Stubai Alps and found it could be dangerous in poor visibility. Still got my Silva and map as a necessary back up. By the way got all four of Conn's books and found them great, waiting for the next one when it comes out in May, thanks for the tip.”

“I used to be a purist like you Bill but I got a GPS for Christmas and it encouraged me to get out walking again. One of its drawbacks is that it directs you to each way-mark point as the crow flies so a map and compass are also advisable. It's just a bit of fun really.”

“I think I would stick to an OS map and a Wainwright guide. They don't rely on a battery and a signal.”