Many of us check the weather before heading out for the day — we want to know if we’re dressed (or equipped) properly to handle what Mother Nature has planned for us. This is even more important if you’re going out hiking, because you’re going to be out in a more rugged environment. To aid in this regard, [Mukesh Sankhla] built a tool called Enhiker.
The concept is simple; it’s intended to tell you everything you need to know about current and pending conditions before heading out on a hike. It’s based around Unihiker, a single-board computer which also conveniently features a 2.8-inch touch screen. It’s a quad-core ARM device that runs Debian and has WiFi and Bluetooth built in, too. The device is able to query its GPS/GNSS receiver for location information, and then uses this to get accurate weather data online from OpenWeatherMap. It makes some basic analysis, too. For example, it can tell you if it’s a good time to go out, or if there’s a storm likely rolling in, or if the conditions are hot enough to make heat stroke a concern.
It’s a nifty little gadget, and it’s neat to have all the relevant information displayed on one compact device. We’d love to see it upgraded further with cellular connectivity in addition to WiFi; this would make it more capable when out and about.
We’ve seen some other neat hiking hacks before, too, like this antenna built with a hiking pole. Meanwhile, if you’ve got your own neat hacks for when you’re out on the trail, don’t hesitate to let us know!
and you can’t lookup the weather beforehand on your phone ?
[Klingon voice] Today… Is a GOOD day to hike
You do know that the weather channel has a smartphone app that literally does all this
And works with lte internet too
The case is nice and documentation looks ok. It’s a bit unfortunate that this project is a solution looking for a problem.
The device has gps and is has enough processing power. Off-line map navigation might be a more suitable application.
Wonderful. Too bad you cannot phone with it or surf internet, no ?
How to say you don’t go hiking at all, nicely done. This device doesn’t rely on Internet access.
seems like it would have been better as a cellphone app :)
I have something that tells me if it’s a good day to take a hike, it’s a “NO!” sign.
the article seems to have missed one of the main focuses of this device, which is to do ongoing weather monitoring, forecasting, and logging of environmental data using a suite of onboard sensors without internet access. Not to mention it also keeps a GPS track of your journey and functions as an emergency power bank. it’s not just loading forecasts from the internet.
(and alas, but perhaps unsurprisingly, most of the critiques in other comments are from people who didn’t realize this either)
that said, one could certainly still debate whether it’s a sensible, practical device, and whether or not it could’ve been implemented on much simpler and cheaper hardware…
The data-logging does seem like a very useful feature especially if you are somewhere you low cell service