Generally speaking I'd have to agree that GPS is not the best source of altitude data for exactly the reasons you mentioned... it's pretty useless without really good satellite coverage, it's generally pretty complex to compute (especially given how accurate the datum is), and the common commercial-grade general-purpose algorithms aren't really optimized for it... and adding motion to this further amplifies those problems.
If it means anything, most general aviation aircraft (at least until fairly recently) rely on good old-fashioned sensitive barometers for determining altitude. Of course that assumes a priori knowledge of accurate barometric pressure at ground level - and what altitude the ground is - where you are. So maybe not an ideal situation either. :P
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2019-12-10 05:01 am (UTC)Generally speaking I'd have to agree that GPS is not the best source of altitude data for exactly the reasons you mentioned... it's pretty useless without really good satellite coverage, it's generally pretty complex to compute (especially given how accurate the datum is), and the common commercial-grade general-purpose algorithms aren't really optimized for it... and adding motion to this further amplifies those problems.
If it means anything, most general aviation aircraft (at least until fairly recently) rely on good old-fashioned sensitive barometers for determining altitude. Of course that assumes a priori knowledge of accurate barometric pressure at ground level - and what altitude the ground is - where you are. So maybe not an ideal situation either. :P