[trailcrew] Ventana GPS'ed

[David Knapp]

Dave, I think that is a great idea, but I'm not sure if there are any legal
obligations that we'd need to take into consideration before we post that
kind of information.  At a minimum, I'd want to have some kind of policy in
place as to how the information was obtained and verified, and some kind of
disclaimer.

At some point I think it will be helpful to supplement our trail condition
list with a camp condition list - where we can list the camps, and people
can report on their condition and pros and cons of each camp.  It makes
sense to me that one of the headings or categories can be coordinates for
each camp.

Another potential issue is that different GPS receivers have different error
ranges - this site tested two models and came up with a 3 - 15 ft average
error.  When talking about camps though, I would think that a + or - 50 ft
shouldn't be a big deal.  I would guess that some camps are going to have to
be approximated due to located and vegetation.  I'm not sure that I could
get a lock at Frenso camp for example - high trees and deep canyon.


dbk


On 12/2/06, dave nelson <dirtroad at redshift.net> wrote:
>
> All-
> A few years ago I found a lost person in the Ventana and was surprised
> to see the MoCo sheriff office have little clue how to find anything in
> the wilderness. The rescue helicopter had GPS capability but no
> coordinates for the lost camper location - south fork camp.
>
> The deputy at the incident sounded amenable to passing on such
> information to the 'right place'. I talked to a few VWA folks about the
> idea of collecting reliable lats and longs of Ventana and Silver pk
> camps but I didn't follow through. Perhaps this forum is a place to
> take the idea further.
>
> Topo software gives fairly close coordinates sometimes but everybody
> has a GPS these days. I think if you get 4 or more satellites, you've
> got pretty good accuracy. Someone with more knowledge about this can
> comment? The dispatcher looking at a computer screen when you call 911
> needs these data connected to a place name.
>
> Dave Nelson
>
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>
> People can be divided into three groups: those who make things happen,
> those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened. Showing
> up is 80 percent of life.
>
> -Woody Allen
>
>
>
>


-- 
dbk
David Knapp
805-471-9456
dknapp1 at gmail.com
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