measuring distance with gps on smartphone

[Nemmers]

Is the UDisc GPS accurate? Also, how accurate are the signs at blue ribbon pines?

I use UDisc all the time. I can't speak for certain as to the accuracy of it, but if the signal I get using my iPhone for Geocaching is any indication of how on point the GPS is, I'd say it's pretty close.

IMHO -- and I am in no way affiliated with UDisc or their distributors, nor am I a paid proponent -- UDisc is far and away the best DG app on the market. Best two-bucks you'll spend for disc golf.

 

[tonyroberts]

Udisc is a nice app, but your YMMV with regard to measuring shots with the phone's GPS. I find mine wildly inconsistent in that regard. Some days it seems pretty close, but I was skeptical the day it told me I had launched a 7,245-foot throw.

 

[John Hansen]

If you are in an open area you can get more accurate than that (and pretty easily) by using Google Maps' measuring tool* provided the area has high resolution satellite images.

* In settings-labs.....but it might not be in the newest version of Maps since Google stripped out lots of cool stuff a few months (scale, zoom buttons, labs) to make it "easier". I rolled my version back to the pre-installed version that came with my phone since I cannot safely/easily use Maps without them.

Thanks for sharing that information. It was very helpful :thmbup:

 

[Lewis]

The iPhone GPS is +/- 16 feet on each measurement. Thus, since you measure at the beginning and the end, the total measurement is +/- 32 feet. This will hold true with any iPhone, regardless of app.

EDIT: I don't know if this has improved for the iPhone 5. This is based off of the iPhone 4 and 4S.

GPS error is variable, and is affected by weather, obstacles, and atmospheric conditions. Your iPhone is probably just listing a typical margin of error in clear, unobstructed conditions, for simplicity's sake.

 

[Js_TechX]

Perhaps the Google Earth app might have better distance or "path" measurements & likely takes elevation into account too. I used this app method to measure a 530ft drive using satellite view as I could see the tee and landing spot on the fairway edge (BTW it was a downhill drive on a mountain course not that I consider myself a big thrower). The GE app only does the path measuring on the desktop versions not the mobile (at least not Android as of this writing).

All the GPS accuracy issues noted in previous posts are always in play though taking GPS-points and then importing to a GE-map with satellite view allows u to fine-tune the exact position and do as u need with them. I have created several "to scale" GPS-enabled maps using this as part of the methodology to get near accuracy for tee-box, obstacles, & basket locations as well as hole distance per preferred flight path. The idea for those maps is to show ur position on the map relative to the hole or course layout as opposed to precise location which is limited by the device.

 

[ThomasOrion]

uDisc man, use uDisc https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...=VXNwi-msoImbrsMyVRlBcQ&bvm=bv.58187178,d.b2I

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...=4azttNm5WPv5lVV0KGigGg&bvm=bv.58187178,d.b2I

 

[Js_TechX]

Hey ThomasOrion, I recently installed the uDisc app to try out. It does have some nice features tho I think the disc distance feature needs ability to touch/pinpoint the start & end points on the screen/map as opposed to rely on where u stand using a smartphone GPS w/ 10-50ft inaccuracy. Especially since u can often make out exact points per the satellite view shown. I think having a disc flight graphic to store w/ the disc detail wud be a nice feature too (see Inbounds disc golf for examples). I did have some crash issues in trying to open ("find a course") or download scorecards tho I expect this will be resolved in coming updates. Would also be interesting to support KMZ-files for GPS-enabled course maps (see following link example). I did send an email about this to the developer to solicit their interest.
Link to GPS-enabled course map example

 

[ndole]

I have measured this before, I had two that said over 500ft but they were probably around 420.

 

[ThomasOrion]

well my buddy makes the app so he's always updating and adding features...so. Yeah, I used it before winter and it was accurate as hell