DIGITAL FIELD WORK: EQUIPMENT, METHODS, AND OUR EXPERIENCE

This is a contribution to the Pardee Symposium entitled “Digital Geology Speed Dating.” At Table 1 we will demonstrate digital equipment and methods for geoscience data collection in the field. Presentations will encompass our experiences with the continuing evolution of digital field devices, from handheld GPS units, to PDAs and Trimbles, to Windows tablet PCs, to iPads. Hardware has reached a new level with the next generation of outdoor displays and we will have several devices on hand to demonstrate some of these technologies. We will incorporate discussions of the changing landscape of mapping and data collection software, including well-established options based on ArcPad and ArcGIS to developing applications based on the Open Source GIS program Quantum GIS and the high-end commercial package Move/Fieldmove. The recent popularity of the iPad and other tablets/slates with built in GPS has opened up a new, easy to use, option for field data collection. We will discuss the potential for the use of apps such as iGIS to collect field data in shapefiles and other standard GIS formats. We will share experiences in using these systems for field-focused geoscience research as well as in teaching field geology classes over the past few years.