bradapault Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 I have been reading the pages and noticed that some people use GPS in their work. What are some jobs and duties that you would do in a typical day? What are some applications? Thanks... from a newbie On to the next... Quote Link to comment
+Renegade Knight Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 One application I've discussed with our survey deparment is to put project boundaries in a handheld GPS so I could walk in the field and show people impacted about where the project would be. We do use them to help find benchmarks, designate areas for contractors to use in sources, deliniate wetlands, locate bridges, and RR crossings. plus a few other variouse things. Quote Link to comment
+johnnyspud Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 Identify and locate culvert locations, water and soil sampling locations.. Quote Link to comment
+GEO*Trailblazer 1 Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 I use it for our GIS mapping system, CERT(COMMUNITY EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM). Talked the Local Sheriff onto buying them for all the criusers and the first day in service they caught a guy running from them in a heavily wooded area and pinpointed the last known coordinate to the Helicopter and had him in just a few minutes. There are lots of unmapped trails and backroads here. The GPS Trackmaker is a valuable tool as well. Thts just skimming the iceburg. Quote Link to comment
+Smitherington Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 Finding caches. Oops, that is after work! Quote Link to comment
+Smitherington Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 Actually they use them for planting corn mazes, laying drainage tile in agricultural fields, road construction, surveying. Quote Link to comment
+Milbank Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 (edited) Service work in rural area's of South Dakota and Minnesota. I mark a waypoint for every house I have been to in the rural area's. I also use the Garmin maps on my Legend to help find the place if I had never been there before. Between my gps software and the 911 address for the rural area's it's much easier to find places. I use it daily at work. I think back 18 years ago when I started doing service work. It was such a pain to get directions from people. It would go something like "You go 15 south, then turn buy that big pine tree on the corner. Then turn right and go east (should be west) and drive until you see that old tracker in the field. We are just 2 miles up the road from there." It's funny how so many people don't have a clue as to were they live. If only I had a gps back then..... Edited January 7, 2005 by Milbank Quote Link to comment
+Milbank Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 Actually they use them for planting corn mazes, laying drainage tile in agricultural fields, road construction, surveying. Planting corn mazes, that sounds interesting. What type of gps are you using for that? I think a gps would be great for making crop circles too. Quote Link to comment
+NickL Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 I use it to mark areas of interest for site surveys, to mark locations for follow up while doing said site surveys, to mark the edge of delineated areas (such as wetlands and hazardous zones), to mark locations in sampling plans, to record locations of items, flags, stacks and other things that I want the survivors/engineers to plot on the site plot/map (the survivor that I usually work with uses a yellow etrex and my waypoints to make sure he gets everything I need). I also use it to help me stay within the zone/limits of the project, to have marked knows (don’t get paid to tell a client what they already know) and to identify planned actions. I also try to program into it and other important information that may be if value while doing a site survey, things like watershed boundaries, location of know nearby sampling sites, gauging stations. Needless to say I am using waypoint symbols for far different means than Garmin indicated and I use routes to create lines that I can view while in the field. I also carry a second unit with me to only record the track, I generally do program it as well but only as a backup, I mark a few/several/many waypoints on that unit as will and record that in my log book as well. Oh and I use it on the way back to the office to make sure I don't get lost as I tend to "autopilot" and miss turns way to often unless the GPS V on the dash beeps at me. Quote Link to comment
+Q2XL Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 Building trails, establishing timber sales, boundary work, locating property pipes, resolving encroachments, working with the local LE community (pot grows dumping meth labs treestands duckblinds etc) Quote Link to comment
+WxGuesser Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 I don't normally use mine for work but I was able to make our visibility markers more accurate using my gps. The visibility markers are for our weather observers. Quote Link to comment
+Medic005 Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 We use GPS for Search & Rescue operations. Quote Link to comment
+IV_Warrior Posted January 8, 2005 Share Posted January 8, 2005 Geocaching, of course. I also have a GPS tied to my laptop that I use for routing to customers. Quote Link to comment
+TotemLake Posted January 8, 2005 Share Posted January 8, 2005 I use mine to help me find my way to customers in unfamiliar territory. Plug in the address and away I go. Quote Link to comment
+evergreenhiker! Posted January 8, 2005 Share Posted January 8, 2005 I have somtimes used them to find job interview locations. Quote Link to comment
+BilboB Posted January 8, 2005 Share Posted January 8, 2005 I used mine thankfully on vacation last year to find the closest reststops on I95 going to Florida for my 2 young children. Quote Link to comment
+BilboB Posted January 8, 2005 Share Posted January 8, 2005 I am in the military and use my etrex Vista for just about anything I can think of. Positioning foxholes on the perimeter during exercises, rally points in the woods to fall back on, fuel points, retrans sites, ambush sites, mess tent, headquarters. I plot my position and take waypoints during convoys in case we get lost, at least you know where you have been...I have found it invaluable. Jessica Lynch's convoy commander had one they were following when they were ambushed during the first days of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was unsure of how to use it and was following roads that were the easiest to get from point A to point B, but unfortunately the GPSr didnt tell him (or the briefing that he recieved before he left) that that area there were in was controlled by the bad guys. Quote Link to comment
+wolves shepherd Posted January 8, 2005 Share Posted January 8, 2005 Hooah! I'm military as well. I use mine to track mileage/pace when I run and on foot marches. I use it to find units in the field, pinpoint infiltration routes for exercises, navigate training routes, etc. Quote Link to comment
+NightPilot Posted January 8, 2005 Share Posted January 8, 2005 I don't often use my handheld, but I use the GPS installed in the helicopter for navigation while flying, including flying instrument approaches. I carry a handheld for backup, but it stays in the bag. Quote Link to comment
+Capt.Picard Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 I use my legend to mark bouys on the intercoastal waterway here in n.j. it is not required but the maps are not all that accurate, so i wp them and then send to garmin as an update, also use it for emergencies, i love it Keith Quote Link to comment
+WxGuesser Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 I am in the military and use my etrex Vista for just about anything I can think of. Positioning foxholes on the perimeter during exercises, rally points in the woods to fall back on, fuel points, retrans sites, ambush sites, mess tent, headquarters. I plot my position and take waypoints during convoys in case we get lost, at least you know where you have been...I have found it invaluable. Jessica Lynch's convoy commander had one they were following when they were ambushed during the first days of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was unsure of how to use it and was following roads that were the easiest to get from point A to point B, but unfortunately the GPSr didnt tell him (or the briefing that he recieved before he left) that that area there were in was controlled by the bad guys. OPSEC.... JUST DON'T GET CAPTURED... I'm sure they'd love to have a GPS with exact cords... of your Command Post... Mess Tent.. etc.. Quote Link to comment
+Searching_ut Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 Many years ago now, I worked in an Air Force test squadron where we were validating GPS weapons guidance systems. It was interesting and fun. A couple years ago now, as a Civilian I was upgrading the navigation systems of USAF fighter aircraft to include GPS. Didn't really get to play with the systems much as the bulk of the time was spent doing the modifications, but hey, at least I made enough money toys to play with when I wasn't working. Quote Link to comment
+BilboB Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 Point taken WsGuesser. Quote Link to comment
Mighty Tiggers Posted January 18, 2005 Share Posted January 18, 2005 I use a Garmin 196 mounted on top of my instrument panel for flying and a Garmin 60CS for Geocaching. NightPilot's GPS is a bit more advanced than my handheld 196, but it still shows airspace, frequecies, groundspeed, and approach information for pilots. Some pilots use additional hardware/software for agricultural spaying (making precision runs using the GPS to help ensure proper coverage). The Garmin 196 has a marine and ground (automotive) mode, but I doubt it is any more accurate than the Garmin60CS. Besides, I like to see the topology maps on screen when Geocaching. I used to be in the military and still have lots of friends who still serve. Garmin can provide "special" maps to almost any part of the world for their off-the-shelf consumer products... they are heavily used in the desert as a backup to traditional navigation techniques (and the waypoints and tracks are usually deleted before going into places you may lose that data). For individual use, some of the SF units have provided a very basic eTrex to the guys on the ground... nice. Quote Link to comment
MisterT Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 Last summer my friend worked in a crew that fights forest fires in British Columbia. They were issued a yellow eTrex, given an area to cover to look for hot spots and would radio in their position every so often. Quote Link to comment
TahoeJoe Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 I'm a technology teacher at a middle school and we are involved in a Federal Grant we wrote in which we work with the Forest Service and other local agencies in creating GIS maps for various environmental projects using a Trimble GeoExplorer. We also have the students using Magellan Meridian Color GPSrs to map points where data is collected. Quote Link to comment
+Jeep_Dog Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 I get to the right spot, at the right time, zipping along over a couple hundred miles per hour using GPS. My profile photo would be self-evident as to why.... I've also used GPSr to determine square footage and get measurements of various terrain, ranging between how many vehicles can I get parked in a spot to how many tents can I get in a clearing. Quote Link to comment
rescue557 Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 Fire / EMS applications. It's a dream when your dispatch knows the location of your ambulance. It also helps you find those addresses that are way out. Quote Link to comment
+Greymane Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 I customize, reproject, reformat, and update maps. Just about anything that people need done with a map. I also test a lot of software for people I work with, so I use many different models of GPS and PDAs. It gives me a chance to play with most of the new toys. Quote Link to comment
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