Results tagged “mapping” from EcoMap Costa Rica

We returned late last night from our hike to Arenal to see the volcano and lava.   This morning we got up at 5:30am to go out with the bird group and help them plot their points and set waypoints for future use in our GPS system. After breakfast, we will pick up the HOBO sensors from the  one spring we placed them in yesterday.  The HOBO should have recorded time and temperature data every 15 minutes for the last 18 hours.  Once the data is uploaded, we plan to place one sensor in our supposed hot spring, and one in a nearby cold spring, to evaluate the validity of our supposition.

So far, everything is going well, but we have one problem. Because of dubious reasons, our data corrections cannot be completed here seemingly. This will increase our accuracy error from 1m to 6m and will not provide the opportunity to readjust our GPS lines.

-Mapping. Noah, Sam, and Adaire

The main page now offers a link under the Reference section containing an annotated bibliography for the project.  The bibliography was compiled by the students in BIO 3416 as they researched background material on mapping techniques and the flora/fauna of Costa Rica.  It is important to have a broad overview of what this research will entail by looking at what others have conducted in the field.  We hope to add to this bibliography with even more detailed citations and additional references after we return from Costa Rica.

We added a new piece of equipment to the range of tools available for the project, a Trimble GeoXM handheld field computer with integrated GPS and Bluetooth wireless:


Photo from Trimble, www.trimble.com

The Trimble unit is the essential item to have not only for obtaining our GPS data on specific points, but for allowing us to collect a wide range of data attributes, visualize our data using GIS, and download our information for analysis on-site and back in Dallas.  This particular unit will be able to resolve features within 1-3 meters, which for our purposes should be enough to enable a fairly accurate view of the features of our reforestation site.  The unit retails for about $4,500, which includes the software for both the XM and our own computers for post-processing.

Many thanks go to Cody Cantrell, Western Data Systems, for spending several hours with us yesterday helping to set up the unit and work on collecting a few field points for practice in using the XM.  Cody has extensive experience working with Trimble, and helped us get through a few glitches due to computer difficulties (from our network, not from the unit) to have us in the field collecting data just a short time after the unit arrived.  He also created his own tutorial for the XM, which we'll be able to provide to Samantha, Noah, and Adaire who will be working on the mapping part of the project. 

Cody works for Western Data Systems in Southlake, TX, so if you have a need for tools for a similar application, give him a call (972-245-4337).

Hello,

We are the mapping group!

We have three members, who are:

Samantha B: 3rd year Biology major
Adaire C: 4th year Biology major.
Noah J: 2nd year English major.

We are very excited to learn the terrain of CR and to assist with the reforestation project there.  We are even more excited to work with Dr. Brown in this project.