Rough surveys with GPS-equipped PDA

[WATSANman]

Hi

I am working in a mostly uncharted region of the Sahel in West Africa running a borehole and well digging project. I am on a very limited budget, but would like to be able to start performing simple local topographical surveys on a GPS-enabled PDA such as the Garmin iQue M5. I don't require great accuracy. Can anyone recommend some suitable (ie cheap) software with which I could perform surveys then create simple maps on my desktop? Most PDA software seems to be designed for navigation.

Thanks, Ben Price.

Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.

 

[ctbailey]

You might be better off taking waypoints with a handheld GPS, and then creating a topo map the old fashioned way.

plot each waypoint (northing,easting,elevation) on a sheet of paper. then draw triangulation lines between each coordinate, and then draw the contour lines which would intersect the triangulation (TIN) lines perpendicularly.

Note, you'll need to download corpscon to convert the lat-lon-height to coordinates.

Get corpscon from the US Army Corps of Engineers website. (You can alos find it at the US National Geodetic Survey website.


good luck.

___
Craig T. Bailey, PE

http://www.bailey-associates.com

 

[ctbailey]

Hi Ben:

Sorry, but Corpscon appears to only work in the US and US Territories.

I guess I'm out of advice.

Sorry to not be of help.

Craig

___
Craig T. Bailey, PE

http://www.bailey-associates.com

 

[RDK]

I have a Hp Ipaq with the Navman Bluetooth GPS.

I use the Navman software as well as a shareware product called Digital Dash.

Don’t recommend either for this application because the Navman software product is a road navigation package and the digital dash isn’t accurate enough to be of much value. Don’t know if that is a limit for the software or hardware.

I’d try a standalone GPS, most accurate one you can find with the ability to store as many waypoints to get a rough topo layout.

Get the one (whichever one that is) that all the Geocashers are drooling over this week.


Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion

http://www.kitsonengineering.com