Excuse my ignorance, as I’m not terribly tech savvy. I’ve searched through Garmin’s website and have come up empty handed.

Is there a way, or a model of GPS that would allow a plane to mark a waypoint, that would then simultaneously upload or sync to handheld GPS units on the ground, showing the marked waypoint?

Our current MO of waiting a couple hours until the plane’s done flying, then the plane giving all marked waypoints to the guys on the ground is terribly inefficient. I’m looking for a way to streamline this process, and figure that in the days of smartphones and even smarter GPS’s, there has to be a way a plane’s GPS can communicate in real-time with handheld units, right?

Nothing out of the box comes to mind. It's not a hard software solution though, but custom solutions are never cheap.

Most GPS will output NMEA format serial data in real time. You'll need a 3G/4G/LTE-equipped platform device (iOS, Android, etc), a serial interface between the GPS and the device, and a software application running to collect and send your NMEA data in some data file format.

Is this for survey work where lots of data is being shared? Or just single waypoints for buddies?

Gunner wrote:Is there a way, or a model of GPS that would allow a plane to mark a waypoint, that would then simultaneously upload or sync to handheld GPS units on the ground, showing the marked waypoint?

Our current MO of waiting a couple hours until the plane’s done flying, then the plane giving all marked waypoints to the guys on the ground is terribly inefficient. I’m looking for a way to streamline this process, and figure that in the days of smartphones and even smarter GPS’s, there has to be a way a plane’s GPS can communicate in real-time with handheld units, right?

Nope. The Garmin units can share between one another in a panel, but they have no facility for conveniently sharing with other devices.

I have been saving waypoints in foreflight and then disseminating from there. But that's just different, not better, than your system.

You could try a Spot or similar device. Have the pilot hit the message button then look on the shared page for coordinates. Slight delay tho.

foreflight - mark the waypoint in a flight plan in the air and rather than file it - email it to someone on the ground. Provided you have cell reception - you can either email or tweet it.

Of course not with a panel gps - but lots of "social" options with the mobile smartphones.

I don't know of any aviation. GPS that has that feature. Garmin makes radio/gps combination units that communicate to each other their location so you can look on the GPS screen and see where your buddies are that have their unit set up to communicate with yours. I don't know if they have a mark feature or how far they transmit. My snowmobiling buddies have them and they are awesome. Really nice when someone gets separated and stuck, you can just look at your screen and see where the guy is. I'd really like to get one.

whee wrote:I don't know of any aviation. GPS that has that feature. Garmin makes radio/gps combination units that communicate to each other their location so you can look on the GPS screen and see where your buddies are that have their unit set up to communicate with yours. I don't know if they have a mark feature or how far they transmit. My snowmobiling buddies have them and they are awesome. Really nice when someone gets separated and stuck, you can just look at your screen and see where the guy is. I'd really like to get one.

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/prod8523.html

They work great! I know a few of the guys in my sled crew that use them and love them.

I would suggest Spot or Spidertracks would be the most reliable way (satellite) provided your ground crew have Internet access. For Spidertracks at least the pilot can create a number of different 'mark' messages which will come up on the website with GPS location. Most other options would rely on cell coverage, UHF or wireless - all less than ideal if working in remote areas.

Zzz wrote:Is this for survey work where lots of data is being shared? Or just single waypoints for buddies?

Aerial hunting coyotes. The plane marks a waypoint over every coyote once a kill is confirmed. Then the ground crew retrieves them. Number of waypoints will vary from 2-80 depending on the day.

The issue I’m seeing is that from 100’ AGL to GL we don’t have much for cell service in these parts. So technology relying on internet access and cell coverage would render any such devices near useless in most operational areas. Not to mention that pilot and gunner have plenty going on while low, slow, heavy, multiple moving targets, loaded gun.. Keeping this simple for the sake of safety as well as efficiency is important.

Spidertracks and the Garmin Rino series looks promising. With the Rino units, can the airplane “Send Location” multiple times showing each waypoint, or does a new marked location update/overwrite the previous one?

I do a lot of this stuff for work (recovering aerially shot animals) Spidertracks would be simple for the pilot (or shooter) it's just a simple press of a 'mark' button each time an animal is shot and its done. I haven't ground truthed Spidertracks using this feature (I usually use a hand held GPS) but can't see why accuracy would be an issue if you're low and slow when the mark is pressed. Every mark comes up differently from your actual track pings on the website so would be easy to differentiate for ground crews. Failing that you may need to create your own wireless network in the area you are working (place a repeater out on a high point) and sync GPS devices over this? But more complexities and potential problems.
Spider tracks is simple and user friendly for the pilot and would be my pick.

EDIT: Assumes ground crew can get reliable Internet access

Yep, the Garmin Rino GPS. Pilot would say I'm over the target now and that would broadcast his coordinates to other hand held radio/GPS.

If it were me, I'd take my Garmin DC-50 dog tracking collar and strap it on the strut of the plane. Then give the Astro 320 handheld unit to the guy on the ground. At the moment of killing the coyote, I'd shout on the radio "coyote down." This would be the signal to the guy on the ground to mark my current location on the moving map of the handheld. He can mark as many spots on his map as I kill coyotes.

If I didn't have a radio in my plane, I'd fly a tight, quick circle around each dead coyote, and the guy on the ground who can see my continuous flight path on his handheld would know there's a dead coyote wherever he sees an "O" drawn on the map.

An airplane that is 50 feet in the air should have a signal range of several miles (and maybe a lot more) with the Astro.

Happy hunting!