The geology department of a small college in western Canada is planning a summer field trip for undergraduate students to a remote area of northern Vancouver Island. Before departing they must decide on what equipment and resources they should bring. Needless to say, maps showing surface geology and geomorphological features are essential. Unfortunately most of the available maps are old and have, judging by their condition, made many previous trips to inhospitable locations. Because they will be visiting an area to which none of the students of faculty have ever traveled, they will need a GPS navigation system. After considering the options they decide on PC-based mapping software as they will already have a laptop computer for recording their field observations.
Solution:
With its integrated voice-controlled routing and navigation functionality, XMap 5.0 Professional provides a set of mapping tools that are ideally suited for field work such as this. Instead of writing notes in a text file, observations and measurements can be recorded right on the map. XMap even includes a tool for automatically attaching digital photographs to the location at which they were taken. Unlike some other navigation tools that they considered, XMap 5.0 Professional supports MrSID files and GeoTIFFs so that readily available aerial imagery can be displayed instead of, or in conjunction with the digital road and street map for the U.S. and Canada. XMap 5.0 Professional is part of DeLorme’s GIS suite and it can therefore be used as a field GIS viewer, so GIS layers displaying the necessary geological data can be processed before leaving and loaded onto the laptop. Because it integrates navigation and GIS viewing functionality, the group decides that XMap 5.0 Professional is an ideal tool to bring on their trip. As they drive they are able to see from the on-screen GPS track, the geological characteristics of the surrounding area and decide to make several impromptu research stops along the way.
Built With:
XMap 5.0 Professional
BaseMap:
XMap USA Street Network 2007 (includes Canadian street-level detail)
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