rediguana

quote:Originally posted by bread:... but when checking the coordinates on a topo map it puts me 200-300 metres out of position Hi Bread. I know that to achieve the sort of translation you are talking about, on my 12XL I would have to enter the coordinates with the GPS set on LatLong/WGS84. Then you change the setup to NZMG/NZGD49 and the coordinates will be bang on. I assume for your Meridian you will need to enter in LatLong/WGS84, and then convert to your user grid. Another way would be to use software to translate from one projection to another. In the medium term, the best solution is going to be having the new topo maps come out under the NZGD2000 datum. This mirrors WGS-84 to within about 10cm Cheers Gav

Hi. I am travelling to Hawaii in July for a couple of weeks for a conference in Hilo, but am hoping to get out and hit a few caches as well. I will be travelling with others so won't be able to go full-out on the caching, but I am looking for some nice scenic or other interesting locations to go to. We will have about 5 days on Oahu, and about 10-12 on the Big Island. Are there any caches that you have done there that you would recommend to others??? Cheers Gav from New Zealand

Hi All. At last we have the process underway! We are currently looking for the first 15 members to incorporate the society. We have 8 signatures, and now require seven more. The membership fees are $10 p.a., or $16 for a family. More information can be found at http://gps.org.nz in the following topics... http://gps.org.nz/forums/viewtopic.php?t=230 http://gps.org.nz/forums/viewtopic.php?t=231 Cheers Gav PS Payment is not required immediately, that will follow once the society is incorporated and we can open a bank account.

Hi All. We are in the throws of setting up the society at last. The time has come to nominate people for management positions in the new society. If you are interested in expressing your views, please visit the NZ GPS Forums, and in particular the nominations thread. We are trying to get nominations in by Sunday, at which point we will create a poll if a vote is necessary on a position. By sometime next week we hope to have the positions assigned and get the creation of the society under way. There has been much discussion on the forums about the society, but many people have not had much to say. We hope that we can bring a lot to recreational GPS usage in New Zealand. Part of this will involve representing our members in discussions with DOC, but it will not be the only focus. Come along and have your input! Cheers Gav Society Forum http://gps.org.nz/forums/viewforum.php?f=11 Society Management Nominations http://gps.org.nz/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1606 [This message was edited by rediguana on May 21, 2003 at 05:10 AM.]

quote:Originally posted by Richard & Beth:What is the situation for cachers who do not wish to join the society. Are they allowed to place caches on DOC land? Well there is nothing formal or certain at this stage, but my take would be that independent cachers would have to approach DOC for permission to place caches on DOC land. Otherwise they would likely be removed. Because our society would have the Memorandum of Understanding in place, society members would be able to place caches on DOC land - with exceptions for certain places - as we will have mechanisms in place to assist DOC to manage the caches. Our relationship with DOC however would not be a monopoly, any other group of cachers could organise and go through a similar process to form their own relationship with DOC with their own conditions. I don't expect that DOC will work with individual cachers, they have to be organised. Individuals may not like this, but it entirely understandable from DOC's perspective. What organisation wants to deal with hundreds of individuals, when they can deal with a handful of organised groups... Cheers Gav

As one of the Kiwi's involved, I'd like to clarify a few points on the order of things, and how it has panned out to date. We had discussed approaching the Department of Conservation possibly a year before they approached us in the geocaching forums. We decided not to do anything until we needed to. DOC did not so much make an ultimatum, but started a dialog, and I have now had two meetings in Wellington with their representative. Their first position on geocaching on their land was forceful for reasons I cannot repeat. Suffice to say, as discussions continued, they came to realise our position and the issues, and have become much more flexible as they have been educated on geocaching and other GPS activities, and are happy with the way things are progressing. No, we have not yet set up the society, but that is the roadmap that we are taking and they are supportive of this approach. The key is that we will only represent the cachers that belong to the society, not all geocachers in New Zealand. And I wouldn't say that this is the only option that has been explored, but it seemed to be the most popular. Consideration was given to getting a commercial concession, or driving the activity underground as well. After much discussion with DOC and amongst interested Kiwi cachers, we decided that the Society was the best route. So the plan from here is three-fold. 1. Create a Society that represents its geocaching members and can form a relationship with DOC. We can't speak for cachers who aren't members, and DOC recognises this. They get the benefit in that it eases managing the relationshop between the two groups. 2. We are going to create a geocaching code of practive, or best practive guide, that incorporates guidelines worked out between DOC and the Society. Including basics such as safety in the outdoors. 3. We will form a Memorandum of Understanding which will formalise the relationship between our society of geocachers and DOC. So, we weren't forced directly to this position, but it is where we agreed to end up, and the path we are taking. There is still much work to be done, and I imagine it will take most of this year to complete, certainly the next 4-6 months. If you want more information, feel free to check out our forums at http://gps.org.nz Cheers Gav

I seem to remember not getting any answers from my 3 DC virtuals, so I've just been through and culled the logs. They were all cut and pastes of the same text that was mentioned earlier on this thread. If he really did visit, then he is welcome to log them more uniquely, and send me the answers this time. Cheers Gav

bump

Hi All. Well, after some private discussions and testing, we have created some forums for discussing issues wider than just geocaching as is allowed in this forum. I would like to invite everyone to http://gps.org.nz/forums which is their permanent home. I would like to thank BigNick and tgsnoopy for helping out, and agreeing to help me manage and moderate these forums. Please forgive us in advance if there are minor problems whilst we come to grips with the system. It is fairly similar to what is used now on geocaching.com so should be easy to transition to. The initial forums are (all specific to NZ): - * Recreational GPS - general recreational GPS discussions * geocaching * geodashing * minutewar * software/mapping * hardware * forum support We look forward to seeing you all there! Cheers Gav edited - changed URL [This message was edited by rediguana on January 22, 2003 at 12:23 PM.]

Hi All. Well, after some private discussions and testing, we have created some forums for discussing issues wider than just geocaching as is allowed in this forum. I would like to invite everyone to http://rediguana.co.nz/forums where they currently lie on a temporary basis. In the near future we will move them to a more permanent home. I would like to thank BigNick and tgsnoopy for helping out, and agreeing to help me manage and moderate these forums. Please forgive us in advance if there are minor problems whilst we come to grips with the system. It is fairly similar to what is used now on geocaching.com so should be easy to transition to. The initial forums are (all specific to NZ): - * Recreational GPS - general recreational GPS discussions * geocaching * geodashing * minutewar * software/mapping * hardware * forum support We look forward to seeing you all there! Cheers Gav

quote:Originally posted by Popsit & Sweets:Lots Well, it sounds like the time is finally here. As you may have gathered from tgsnoopy's post, thought has been given to this in the past, but the number of recreational gps users didn't seem to warrant or justify doing anything then. I really think we would have struggled to get the 15 individual members (or 5 companies as 1 company = 3 individual) required to incorporate a society. Why incorporate a society? Well then we have officially elected representatives of the society, who can be empowered to work on issues such as the DOC one, and sign MOU's. After all if a collection of people sign a MOU with DOC that is only valid for the people that sign it. This kind of neccessitates the incorporation of a society _before_ entering into talks with DOC. They are more likely to work with elected representatives of a society, than a group of individuals. So... 1. I am going to meet with my solicitor to find out more details on Incorporating a Society and writing a constitution. Probably week after next, and anyone in Chch who is around and interested in attending this meeting can - email me and I'll let you know when it is. For some more background on IS's - MED Inc Societies. 2. If you would be one of the initial 15 required to support the creation of a society, please record a message here - 1 message for each person. voting thread 3. Nick and I will create another forum in the very near future to discuss these issues further, as the society is more than just geocaching, and there are other recreational uses of GPS units. e.g. geodashing, minutewar and others... Umm, thats all from me for now. Be interested in your thoughts. Cheers Gav

I will Cheers Gav

Please don't reply to this thread unless you have read this one first. Thread : Let's keep on DOC's good side OK read it? If you will sign the document to support the creation of a recreational GPS users society, please reply to this thread. We need 15 signatures - I assume you also have to be over 18. If multiple people want to sign, please place a message for each one, we can then use the counter to see if we're on target or not. Cheers Gav

quote:Originally posted by brentc:I spoke with the very sanctimonious MapWorld Chch this morning and was informed that the datum would be GD49 as the new 2000 doesn't come into force for another 2 years. Hehe gotta love that! linz gd2000 fact sheet Well assuming they used a Garmin, and that they didn't change the default WGS-84 setting, they would have been using a system that is compatible with GD2000 (well within about 100mm anyway ) Of course they could have changed it, but if they were that smart they should have known to print what datum they were using. But by the sound of the randomness of errors - it was probably just bad readings Cheers Gav

quote:Originally posted by Nemesis:Copyright violations can be avoided by measuring the locations ourselves. Yes I have been having a discussion with BigNick about this. I also think that while we can't share the printed coordinates, there is nothing wrong with using those coordinates to find the spots, and then marking our own waypoints, which may well prove to be more accurate quote:I found that most of the locations mentioned in the LOTR Location Guidebook are highly inaccurate anyway. Do you think the coords may in fact be GD49 so as to work with topo maps? Congrats on placing the first rings cache! I have one in mind that I hope to place in a couple of weeks. And maybe even more to boot. But I have a little planning to do first Cheers Gav

quote:Originally posted by tgsnoopy:I'll wave a flag supporting this . Should we do this individually? Or write an open letter from the user community and attach as many signatures as we can collect, and then print it out and mail it to them? This would perhaps show better coordination and solidarity, than if we flooded then with a set of individual requests. Thoughts? Cheers Gav

Cheers Gav

Hey all. Off the wall thought here. It would be nice to have an open standard to exchange data files from whatever mapping software we use right? Well one exists and looks quite good. GPX - http://www.topografix.com/gpx.asp I have been making some export filters for a web site recently and currenting using GPX, TopoMap and NZMapped. And I must say frankly that the file format support of TopoMap and NZMapped is not that good. I was wondering if we should start nagging them to support GPX, possibly to the point of becoming their default file format as it is scaleable and can support simple to very complex data structures. Any thoughts? Cheers Gav

Looks like an interesting application of GPS tech. Very applicable to alpine/SAR. Don't think it would serve much purpose for USAR (urban) where most casualties are concentrated in clearly recognised areas. Only problems may be technical, ie poor GPS signal in ravine/gully or under dense canopy. But if the handler has a log and can plot it realtime, they should be able to have a good idea where the dog ended up. Perhaps they need to link it to a mapping handheld. Cheers Gav

quote:Originally posted by Steve & Ruth:No definite dates as yet, Ruth starts nightshift soon so will be out of action until around 7 January- possibly do the trip during the following week. Thats cool. That might fit in quite nicely with me. Hehe last time I drove over to Takaka, we couldn't see the top of the hill! And it was misty over the road pass as well! But I must say, I also had some fantastic weather for 4 days seakayaking early this year. Cheers Gav

quote:Originally posted by Steve & Ruth:Well January is almost upon us, has anyone come up with any dates or ideas yet. Man time has flown by! We'll probably organise an event here in Chch at some stage over summer. Haven't picked a location yet, but Nick and I have talked some over potential activities. I will be heading up to Ruby Bay a few times over summer, and would definitely be keen to do Paraparanoia. Have you any dates in mind?? Cheers Gav

Another method might be to find the point that offers the lowest Root Mean Squared (RMS) to a number of points placed around the country. The more placed, the more accurate the result. Then just iteratively try and solve it Of course none of these appear to factor into account the density of the rock, so is not a weighted centre, rather just a spatial centre. The DEM's would start to go down this path, by including volume, but probably wouldn't include the density of the rock. Cheers Gav

Now I'm back from up North, I'll see about getting some coordinates into loc format, and maybe csv. Give me a couple of days. Cheers Gav

quote:Originally posted by TeamHunterGatherer:In the FOTR... at the end. after they paddle past The Aragornath... they beach they're canoes... any ideas? Well, the book is back in Chch, and I'm on the road for a few days. The river shots leading up to it were down around Te Anau, near the Kepler Track, and I think the landing you are talking about was on the shores of the Mavora Lakes SSW of Queenstown. I went there last November and it certainly would fit the bill. I can confirm in 10 days or so. Cheers Gav

quote:Originally posted by BigNick:Apparently you have hidden two caches quite close to a filming area already. Turns out more even... Secret Swings is very close to three different LOTR locations. In the coming days I will enter all the coordinates into EasyGPS, and can email them in EasyGPS or TopoMap to people. At the least it will be interesting to go to these locations via mapping software and see where they are. I wonder if there are copyright issues with sharing this data?? Cheers Gav