{"id":1235,"date":"2014-06-06T16:50:12","date_gmt":"2014-06-06T15:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/all-geo.org\/volcan01010\/?p=1235"},"modified":"2017-06-13T20:49:22","modified_gmt":"2017-06-13T19:49:22","slug":"a-robots-guide-to-fieldwork","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/all-geo.org\/volcan01010\/2014\/06\/a-robots-guide-to-fieldwork\/","title":{"rendered":"Fieldwork guide for robots (and humans)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left\">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.\u00a0 Until that day arrives, it is also a handy checklist for human beings.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><b>def<\/b> <span style=\"color: #339966\"><i>fieldworkPlan()<\/i>:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Before you go:\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #339966\"><i>makeSureYouHaveTheRightKit()<\/i><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #339966\"><i>prepareYourKit()<\/i><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>For<\/strong> each day in the field:\n<ul>\n<li>Write the date and the day&#8217;s aims in your notebook<\/li>\n<li><strong>For<\/strong> each locality visited:\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #339966\"><i>dataCollectingRoutine()<\/i><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #339966\"><i>endOfDayRoutine()<\/i><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #339966\"><i>postTripRoutine()<\/i><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p><b>def<\/b> <span style=\"color: #339966\"><i>makeSureYouHaveTheRightKit()<\/i>:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Notebook<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"># I like the <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.riteintherain.com\/inventoryD.asp?item_no=380F&amp;CatId={60B58BBA-9527-424C-9BA8-6F107949EE3B}\"><span style=\"color: #666699\">Rite in the Rain with Metric Grid<\/span><\/a><\/em>.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"> # They&#8217;re not cheap, but they are really tough and, with a pencil, you can literally write through rain drops.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"> # The metric grid pattern is handy for lining up logs, but easily ignored for sketches.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Fieldwork gear:\n<ul>\n<li>Sample bags<\/li>\n<li>Marker pen<\/li>\n<li>Hand lens<\/li>\n<li>Ruler \/ tape measure<\/li>\n<li>Hammer (+ glasses) \/ spade \/ trowel<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Camera<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"># I like to have a waterproof\/dustproof compact that I don&#8217;t need to worry about getting wet or dirty.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"> # I decided that built-in GPS was an unnecessary expense.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"> # The <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.panasonic.com\/uk\/consumer\/cameras-camcorders\/lumix-digital-cameras---point-and-shoot\/tough-compact-cameras\/dmc-ft25eb.html\"><span style=\"color: #666699\">Panasonic DMC-FT25<\/span><\/a><\/em> is a pretty good example, and not too expensive these days.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"> # It lets you take pictures like this in geothermal pools&#8230;<\/span><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1241\" src=\"http:\/\/all-geo.org\/volcan01010\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/waterproof_camera-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"waterproof_camera\" width=\"384\" height=\"288\" srcset=\"https:\/\/all-geo.org\/volcan01010\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/waterproof_camera-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/all-geo.org\/volcan01010\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/waterproof_camera-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/all-geo.org\/volcan01010\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/waterproof_camera.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px\" \/><\/li>\n<li>GPS (with cable)<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"># The most basic <em><a href=\"http:\/\/sites.garmin.com\/etrex\/\"><span style=\"color: #666699\">Garmin eTrex<\/span><\/a><\/em> is ideal, as I only want the GPS for two purposes.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"> # (1) To record waypoints at each location I make observations.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"> # (2) To record time-stamped track of where I go.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"> # I then correlate this with the timestamp of my photos, which lets me geotag (embed the photo&#8217;s location into the file).<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"> # The most important thing is that you can easily get the data onto a computer.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"> # You can also use smartphones with software such as MyTracks (on Android) or Strava that can exports tracks as .gpx files.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"> # I find this uses the phone&#8217;s battery very quickly.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Software:\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gpsbabel.org\/\"><em>gpsbabel<\/em><br \/>\n<\/a><span style=\"color: #666699\"># This is open source software that reads data from your GPS and can convert it between various formats<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/activityworkshop.net\/software\/gpsprune\/\"><em>GpsPrune<\/em><br \/>\n<\/a><span style=\"color: #666699\"># This is open source software for editing GPS data.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"> # We will use it to geotag our photos.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"> # To do this, gpsbabel and exiftools also need to be installed.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"> # It also lets you view geotagged photos by location.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Photo cataloguing software<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"># e.g. Shotwell, Picasa, iPhoto.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"> # These are very useful because you can browse photos across folders based on their dates.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"> # You can also tag photos e.g. &#8216;notebook&#8217;, &#8216;logged section&#8217;.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"> # Some allow you to view geotagged photos on a map.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Suitable field clothing<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"># See my <em><a href=\"http:\/\/all-geo.org\/volcan01010\/2013\/08\/volcano-suit-what-to-wear-in-iceland\/\"><span style=\"color: #666699\">Volcano suit \/ What to wear in Iceland<\/span><\/a><\/em> post.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p><b>def<\/b> <span style=\"color: #339966\"><i>prepareYourKit()<\/i>:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Notebook<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"># Write contact details in the front in case you lose it.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"> # Write useful notes for reference in the back, such as grain size definitions for logging or a key for different symbols in logs.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Camera<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"># Synchronise the clock with your GPS<\/span><\/li>\n<li>GPS<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"># Set the coordinate system to whatever system your maps use.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"> # It doesn&#8217;t matter if this is something quite rare, because they are all stored as Lat\/Lon within the GPS anyway.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Software<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"># Practice geotagging photos using GPS track timestamps.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p><b>def<\/b> <span style=\"color: #339966\"><i>dataCollectingRoutine()<\/i>:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Mark GPS waypoint; leave GPS running to record track.<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"># I usually take the automatically suggested waypoint number, rather than fiddling with renaming it each time.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Prepare outcrop for logging\/sampling<\/li>\n<li>Take photographs of:\n<ul>\n<li>General outcrop context<\/li>\n<li>Logged\/sampled section<\/li>\n<li>Features of interest<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Note the last three digits of each photo&#8217;s file name and, if necessary, make a note of what it shows.<\/li>\n<li>Record data<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"># The following is an example of how I like to lay out my notebook.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"> # Make observations before interpretations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><div id=\"attachment_1240\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/all-geo.org\/volcan01010\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/notebook_example_smaller.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1240\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1240 \" src=\"http:\/\/all-geo.org\/volcan01010\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/notebook_example600.png\" alt=\"notebook_example600\" width=\"600\" height=\"357\" srcset=\"https:\/\/all-geo.org\/volcan01010\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/notebook_example600.png 600w, https:\/\/all-geo.org\/volcan01010\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/notebook_example600-300x178.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1240\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Example notebook layout. Click to enlarge.<\/p><\/div><\/li>\n<li>Collect samples<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"># Write the sample number at least 3 times on the bag<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Clean up the site<\/li>\n<li>Take photographs of the notebook pages that you have just written<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666699\"># 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)<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Switch off GPS<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p><b>def<\/b> <span style=\"color: #339966\"><i>endOfDayRoutine()<\/i>:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Make a note of any thoughts or wider interpretations that you had<\/li>\n<li>If you have a laptop in the field:\n<ul>\n<li>Download photos and GPS tracks<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=SLRD9MDdIF8\">Geotag your photos with GpsPrune<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Backup data to external hard disk<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Pack your samples safely<\/li>\n<li>Type up spreadsheet(s) with all your localities, samples and measurements.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Other tips<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Use GpsPrune to geotag the photographs of the logs from your notebooks. Then you can find them quickly by location.<\/li>\n<li>You can view them in your QGIS maps using the &#8220;Geotag and Import Photos&#8221; and &#8220;eVis&#8221; plugins:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"QGIS How do I... Link geotagged photos to their locations on a map\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/K7NmUqfrn1U?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You can <a href=\"http:\/\/all-geo.org\/volcan01010\/2012\/11\/change-coordinates-with-pyproj\/\">Easily change coordinate projection systems in Python with pyproj<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>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\n<pre>$ cp -urn \/media\/camera\/ ~\/Pictures\/Iceland2014\/\r\n$ gpsbabel -tw -i garmin -f \/dev\/ttyUSB0 -o gpx -F ~\/Iceland2014\/GPS_data\/2014-06-05_gpsdata.gpx<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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.\u00a0 Until that day arrives, it is also a &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/all-geo.org\/volcan01010\/2014\/06\/a-robots-guide-to-fieldwork\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/all-geo.org\/volcan01010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/all-geo.org\/volcan01010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/all-geo.org\/volcan01010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/all-geo.org\/volcan01010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/all-geo.org\/volcan01010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1235"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/all-geo.org\/volcan01010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1590,"href":"https:\/\/all-geo.org\/volcan01010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1235\/revisions\/1590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/all-geo.org\/volcan01010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/all-geo.org\/volcan01010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/all-geo.org\/volcan01010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}