Fieldwork guide for robots (and humans)

In the future, all our fieldwork will be done by robots while we play around on our hover-boards. In anticipation of this, I have written a program for the robots to follow.  Until that day arrives, it is also a handy checklist for human beings.  It assumes that future robot programming languages will look a lot like English, and pays special attention to notebook layout and how to geotag photos.

def fieldworkPlan():

• Before you go:
  • makeSureYouHaveTheRightKit()
  • prepareYourKit()
• For each day in the field:
  • Write the date and the day’s aims in your notebook
  • For each locality visited:
    • dataCollectingRoutine()
  • endOfDayRoutine()
• postTripRoutine()

def makeSureYouHaveTheRightKit():

• Notebook
  # I like the Rite in the Rain with Metric Grid.
  # They’re not cheap, but they are really tough and, with a pencil, you can literally write through rain drops.
  # The metric grid pattern is handy for lining up logs, but easily ignored for sketches.
• Fieldwork gear:
  • Sample bags
  • Marker pen
  • Hand lens
  • Ruler / tape measure
  • Hammer (+ glasses) / spade / trowel
• Camera
  # I like to have a waterproof/dustproof compact that I don’t need to worry about getting wet or dirty.
  # I decided that built-in GPS was an unnecessary expense.
  # The Panasonic DMC-FT25 is a pretty good example, and not too expensive these days.
  # It lets you take pictures like this in geothermal pools…
• GPS (with cable)
  # The most basic Garmin eTrex is ideal, as I only want the GPS for two purposes.
  # (1) To record waypoints at each location I make observations.
  # (2) To record time-stamped track of where I go.
  # I then correlate this with the timestamp of my photos, which lets me geotag (embed the photo’s location into the file).
  # The most important thing is that you can easily get the data onto a computer.
  # You can also use smartphones with software such as MyTracks (on Android) or Strava that can exports tracks as .gpx files.
  # I find this uses the phone’s battery very quickly.
• Software:
  • gpsbabel
    # This is open source software that reads data from your GPS and can convert it between various formats
  • GpsPrune
    # This is open source software for editing GPS data.
    # We will use it to geotag our photos.
    # To do this, gpsbabel and exiftools also need to be installed.
    # It also lets you view geotagged photos by location.
  • Photo cataloguing software
    # e.g. Shotwell, Picasa, iPhoto.
    # These are very useful because you can browse photos across folders based on their dates.
    # You can also tag photos e.g. ‘notebook’, ‘logged section’.
    # Some allow you to view geotagged photos on a map.
• Suitable field clothing
  # See my Volcano suit / What to wear in Iceland post.

def prepareYourKit():

• Notebook
  # Write contact details in the front in case you lose it.
  # Write useful notes for reference in the back, such as grain size definitions for logging or a key for different symbols in logs.
• Camera
  # Synchronise the clock with your GPS
• GPS
  # Set the coordinate system to whatever system your maps use.
  # It doesn’t matter if this is something quite rare, because they are all stored as Lat/Lon within the GPS anyway.
• Software
  # Practice geotagging photos using GPS track timestamps.

def dataCollectingRoutine():

• Mark GPS waypoint; leave GPS running to record track.
  # I usually take the automatically suggested waypoint number, rather than fiddling with renaming it each time.
• Prepare outcrop for logging/sampling
• Take photographs of:
  • General outcrop context
  • Logged/sampled section
  • Features of interest
• Note the last three digits of each photo’s file name and, if necessary, make a note of what it shows.
• Record data
  # The following is an example of how I like to lay out my notebook.
  # Make observations before interpretations.
  

  Example notebook layout. Click to enlarge.

• Collect samples
  # Write the sample number at least 3 times on the bag
• Clean up the site
• Take photographs of the notebook pages that you have just written
  # This not only acts as a backup, but, because the GPS is running and you can geotag them, you can also access them via links on your GIS maps (see below)
• Switch off GPS

def endOfDayRoutine():

• Make a note of any thoughts or wider interpretations that you had
• If you have a laptop in the field:
  • Download photos and GPS tracks
  • Geotag your photos with GpsPrune
  • Backup data to external hard disk
• Pack your samples safely
• Type up spreadsheet(s) with all your localities, samples and measurements.

Other tips

• Use GpsPrune to geotag the photographs of the logs from your notebooks. Then you can find them quickly by location.
• You can view them in your QGIS maps using the “Geotag and Import Photos” and “eVis” plugins:

• You can Easily change coordinate projection systems in Python with pyproj.
• On Unix-type systems (e.g. Linux, Mac) you can download your photos and GPS data very quickly and without the fuss of a mouse and GUI with two simple terminal commands

  $ cp -urn /media/camera/ ~/Pictures/Iceland2014/
  $ gpsbabel -tw -i garmin -f /dev/ttyUSB0 -o gpx -F ~/Iceland2014/GPS_data/2014-06-05_gpsdata.gpx