Leica V-LUX 20 GPS disabled?

[nippa]

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Over on another forum , a purchaser of the TZ10 has discovered that within China the camera's GPS is disabled.

Evidently the words " not available in this region" appear on screen.

 

I notice that the Leica version similarly disabled.

Shame

[andybarton]

Presumably, other GPS aware devices are also similarly affected.

 

That will be something you need to take up with the Chinese authorities, not Leica, or Panasonic.

[bill]

Over on another forum , a purchaser of the TZ10 has discovered that within China the camera's GPS is disabled.

Evidently the words " not available in this region" appear on screen.

 

I notice that the Leica version similarly disabled.

Shame

 

You actually sound genuinely surprised...

 

Regards,

 

Bill

[pop]

As far as my understanding of the GPS goes, it is all handled "between" the satellites and the mobile GPS device. Rather, the device locates the GPS satellites, decodes their timing signals and reckons its position within the volume covered by the satellites. No other installations are required, least of all ground based ones.

 

If that is indeed so, then the GPS device within the camera must be programmed not to display coordinates within that part of the world. That, again, can only be done by the manufacturer of the device.

[a.j.z]

This is not surprising as it is mentioned in the marketing material for the VLux 20 (although not explained)

[nippa]

I'd rather have the global GPS enabled in products bound for the UK/Euro/USA.

Other GPS devices like my Iphone and Garmin Nuvi work fine in Hong Kong so why should Panasonic adopt a different attitude?

[andybarton]

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Because the Chinese authorities want no GPS devices in their country? Hong Kong is different.

 

So, if you want to sell your GPS Leicas in China, disable the function.

[jankap]

This is not new.

Think of the area coding of DVDs.

Politics, commerce or security seem to need these kinds of measures.

Certain bands of the shortwave are/were suppressed in Germany (not outside Germany), my short wave radio dates from 1978. I think, because the police worked with these bands. The chip of my radio has a special pin for this feature. I did not disconnect it, honestly.

Jan

[nippa]

I don't think we have the answer.

 

GPS is available in mainland China and companies like TeleAtlas have set up operations there.

Even Garmin produce Chinese city and country maps for their Nuvi series and given the increasing tourism to China that makes sense.

 

So to make an assumption that China has an objection to GPS cameras might be wrong.

Perhaps the objections come from another source.

[mjh]

Foreigners using GPS face arrest in China | Telecom Asia

[nippa]

Thanks Michael I need to look into this a bit more.

We had no problem in HongKong even though there is some censorship but we have a stop over in Shanghai on our next cruise.

There seems to be some ambiguity about GPS in China with many encouraging its use.

Even Nikon cameras appear to allow GPS Logging within China

[dicko101]

Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. To a large extent, different rules apply. China no doubt wish to support the usage of their own positioning satellites because if war ever broke out, the US Government, as operators and maintainers of the GPS satellite system, could very well turn off the GPS system and switch it to a 'military' mode. Certain GPS devices still require US State Department approval.

No doubt China will cite national security concerns along with the protection of its own system.

[beewee]

...the GPS device within the camera must be programmed not to display coordinates within that part of the world.

 

That's 100% correct. I've had no problems at all using my GPS receiver in China just a couple weeks ago. I also do R&D on GPS receivers full time.

 

Keep in mind also that in certain countries such as Egypt (and Israel if I remember right), you need special written permission to bring a GPS receiver into the country, otherwise you could get arrested.