APRS is a combination of Amateur Packet Radio, GPS, Internet, and mapping technology to provide a system of vehicle (or other object) tracking, messaging and other applications.
I started playing around with APRS for DOS soon after the time of its inception by Bob Bruninga WB4APR back in the late 1980's.
At that time there were not very many using it here in ZL, there were not many maps around, and many of the ones that had been generated turned out to be inaccurate.
With the advent of WinAPRS, and its ability to use georeferenced image files it became easier to get raster based maps into use. Also came the DCW format maps which could be read by WinAPRS and other tools to create new vector maps as well.
A number of us in Christchurch AREC started working with it with the intention of using it for Public Service activities, such as sporting events, Search and Rescue and Civil Defence. Most of us use WinAPRS, but we have seen many others around the region and the country use UI-View. We find the zoom and vector capabilities of WinAPRS maps a major advantage over UI-View, and other areas such as replayed tracks etc make it superior for the type of work we do with APRS for AREC.
I have also been using APRS-CE, which has even greater potential for portable public service applications.
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(Note that these versions have had the US Tiger Map data removed to reduce their size)
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