pcplantdb

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        Re: [permaculture]mapping
Date:   Sat, 2 Apr 2005 22:11:26 -0500
From:   michael snow <msnow@mountainschool.org>
Reply-To:       permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
To:     permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
References:     <1e6.385c59f4.2f7ab19e@aol.com>



I did a fair amount of GIS work in college, even giving a serviceble lesson
during the mapping section of the pdc course I took.  The concept of GIS
(layers of information, manipulation of those layers and the associated
database) is great, and seems to make it a great tool for site designers.
Maybe this is what Tim uses.  Perhaps a Pc-minded GISer could script a
program more suited, or more simple, for this kind of design system.  Sounds
like a great independent project, master's thesis, perhaps even PhD thesis.

Then again, low-tech does have it's advantages.  I remember a work
assignment a professor did in Nicaragua.  He was working
with indigenous folks to map their traditional places, to be better able to
work with each other and more importantly the government, who
wanted as much of their land as possible.  Instead of taking the most
hi-tech stuff available, he took with him what he thought would work best -
some imprecise equipment that was either cheap or old.  This way, the
lines each individual and group drew were often vague, blurred,
overlapping.  So to get anywhere, the stakeholders had to sit down,
communicate, and work details out with each other.

Pretty nifty reminder that best equipment isn't always most hi-tech.

Mike Snow