permaculture

[neshura <neshura@gmail.com>]

Technobot alert received and acknowledged. The GPS receiver
triangulates against four satellites. It works quite poorly under tree
cover and indoors, for this reason. The system depends on incredibly
precise timing -- hence, you can set your watch by your GPS. I believe
the amount of time it takes to receive the signals is also used to
calculate elevation. I'm not sure of its accuracy.

All you have to do is walk around, stand still on your desired spot,
and take a reading. The cheaper GPS receivers are not much use for
this (I have one), but better ones will let you download the waypoint
into a laptop or PDA. As a note, it is standard practice in geocaching
to take multiple readings and combine them (http://www.geocaching.com)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Positioning_System
At the end of this page are abundant links to software, including free
and open source packages.


On 3/24/06, darren <darren@permaculture.biz> wrote:
> G'day Frank,
>
> All is well. As flat as a lizard drinking!!!
>
> The Garmin Etrex Vista C GPS I have is USD$321. Mapinfo is PC only
> unfortunately. It is perhaps the easiest of the GIS packages to use - hence
> my use of it. I can teach people to use it for farm planning in 1/2 a day.
>
> One of the technobots out there will be able to provide us with a erudite
> explanation as to the workings of a GPS. I just concern myself with the
> "visibles" and therefore the operation side of things. The GPS is
> breathtakingly easy to use and when used in conjunction with software like
> mapinfo is especially functional for all sorts of things. They are certainly
> as easy to use as a digital camera. Bit of a toy really....
>
> Hope the farm is going well. We had a good day yesterday: milled our first
> trees that we planted back in 1998 on the farm. We used a Lucas mill and
> then a Logosol M7 chainsaw mill to turn into timber 1.5m3 of Acacia
> dealbata. Very exciting. Ended up buying a Logosol mill by the the end of it
> 'cause we have another 20 ha of forestry left on the farm and lots of
> thinning to do.
>
> If you need any more help drop us a line.
>
> Ciao Daz
>
> FranksFarm@aol.com writes:
>
> > g'day darren,
> >
> > Good to hear from you too.
> >
> > Hope all is well. Wow, that GPS you have sounds real handy for land 
> > mapping
> > etc.
> >
> > How much did it cost? Is Map Info a commercial package? Or does it come 
> > with
> > the GPS system? Does it work on a Macintosh?
> >
> > How do you actually DO all those things? Point it at different spots and 
> > the
> > GPS somehow gives you coordinates where you are by triangulation? How 
> > does it
> > tell your elevation?
> >
> > Like I said I'm a bit in awe of these things. If it seems too complex it
> > sits. I have a new digital camera I hardly used because I'm not exactly 
> > sure how
> > to use all the controls! Probably take an experienced user just a few 
> > minutes
> > to show me how it works:)
> >
> > All the best. Frank
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