After nearly a year and a half since the prior meeting, the
MapInfo/Forestry Users Group met on March 4th 2005 at the offices
of Port Blakely Tree
Farms in Olympia, Washington. Nearly 20 participants,
from Oregon, Washington and Montana attended the meeting which lasted
more than 5 hours and was filled with several excellent presentations
and discussions.
After a brief welcome note, introductions and a few comments, long
time MapInfo user Mr. Tom
Curley, GIS Program Manager of the Suquamish Tribe, began the
meeting with a presentation on Using GPS with GIS. This
broad ranging discussion reviewed the variety of ways the Suquamish
Tribe implemented GPS with their MapInfo system. The examples
ranged from older, notebook based GPS systems employing Blue
Marble's Geographic Tracker software (included free with MapInfo
Pro) for field mapping, to procedures required for post processing,
differential corrections on Survey Grade GPS collected data. The
Suquamish tribe has used GPS technology at a variety of levels to map
cultural sites, locate property corners, identify shrimp harvest areas,
map fire boundaries, and navigate canoe journeys among other
things. Tom's presentation covered a wide variety of
creative uses of GPS technology.
Next, Tony Cooley , of
Data
Directions presented options and components of PDA based Mobile Mapping
alternatives for Foresters. The discussion presented
details and options as related to the hardware, software and data
requirements of PDA mapping systems. Two mapping programs were
reviewed. First, Tierra
Mapper from Geo-Information Solutions of Tucson, AZ was offered as
a low cost, MapInfo compatible solution. Tierra Mapper offers
built in GPS support with navigation and data collection
capabilities. Point data is read and written to a standard MS
Access database. The product also offers the collection and
display of GPS Tracks and free form, user drawn "red lines".
Included with Tierra Mapper is a utility to convert a MapInfo Map
Window into a Tierra Mapper compatible data file, ready for the
PDA. Second the moderately priced, yet powerful ArcPad
program, from ESRI was reviewed. ArcPad offers full field based
GIS capabilities including unlimited vector layer editing, and robust
GPS support. ArcPad may also be customized to add additional tool
bars and capabilities. PDA connected GPS hardware can be
configured with PDOP masks and to average point collection among other
settings. The MI2AP product from Avantra Geosystems was
discussed. MI2AP works from within MapInfo and converts an entire
MapInfo Workspace into an ArcPad compatible map. Unlike the
Universal Translator, the resulting Shape files retain their symbology
(color, shape, symbol, etc.) reducing set up and configuration time
significantly. MI2AP also provides for the creation of
ArcPad forms from within MapInfo Professional. Employing forms
for PDA based data collection and display greatly increases the
efficiency of PDA based field data collection. The talk was
concluded with a live demonstration of form based, point collection
within ArcPad and the integration of a Hot Linked digital photograph
also collected with the 1.2 mega pixel, camera equipped PDA.
Chuck Vopicka
database manager of the Forest
Biometrics Research Institute, followed the mobile mapping
presentation with the demonstration of the latest offering for the FPS
Forest Inventory System, MFPS (Mobile FPS). Developed using
VB.NET, MFPS operates on a standard Windows Mobile 2003 PDA and offers
foresters an efficient option for field data collection in a format
directly compatible with the desktop version of FPS. MFPS also
provides for a certain level of customization of presentation and data
collection forms.
Following Chuck's presentation Kevin Ceder, Forest
Technology Specialist with the Rural
Technology Initiative, presented a lively discussion on the
new, ever changing Landscape
Management System (LMS). Funded with help from the US Forest
Service, LMS is an extensive set of free software tools to assist with
natural resource management activities as related to landscapes.
LMS can bring together forest inventory data, growth models, GIS
analysis, and graphical display for a complete tool box for land
managers. Some of the free display components of LMS include the Stand Visualization
System for viewing Forest inventory data, and Envision
for lifelike 3D display with inventory integration of landscapes.
LMS is an open and growing project. Some discussion
was focused on the future integration of the FPS Growth Model to the
LMS program as well as the ability to utilize MapInfo based GIS
data.
Independent GIS developer, Phil
Woods, next discussed procedures and tools he's created for
the creation, maintenance and analysis of hydrologic data. Much
of the work Phil has performed was in support of the timber management
activities of Port Blakely Tree Farms where Phil was employed for more
than 8 years as their GIS Manager. Some of the discussions was
related to issues and concern of integrating and validating field
collected stream survey data.
Note: Some of the presentations from the meeting are available in digital format. If you wish to receive a digital version of one of the presentations above please send an email. Questions? call: (541) 345-4MAP.
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