Digital Mapping.Pdf
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Digital Mapping Methods The UC Berkeley field camp in Wise River, Montana uses digital mapping methods exclusively. All students enrolled have previously completed an earlier course in the Berkeley-Oakland Hills entitled: Field Geology and Digital Mapping (Earth and Planetary Science 101). In the earlier course (EPS 101), all students learn geological mapping on topographic base maps using colored pencils, then transition to complete digital mapping using pen tablets. They arrive at our summer field course ready to undertake project level digital mapping. This class is the Advanced Field Course (Earth and Planetary Science 118) and all mapping is done using pen tablet PC computers and GeoMapper software developed at UC Berkeley by Brimhall and Vanegas. Any choice of computers and software entail tradeoffs. We have chosen to use powerful PC pen tablet platforms with 40 gigabyte hard drives sufficiently large to store all the digital maps we need in the field. Also, full PC computers support GeoMapper as a comprehensive GIS mapping system sufficient to complete all mapping requirements in the field without having to export data into other programs to complete the task. GeoMapper on tablet PC’s is a full mapping system, not a data collection system. Data collection systems, while less expensive, are usually run on palm units and are sufficient to make basic measurement sin the field with GPS support. However, they do not have the storage space nor capabilities to complete mapping without relying on other GIS programs and hardware sufficient to run it. Our choice of using full PC pen tablets is based on the desire to integrate digital base maps as each user deems fit as a project evolves and an evolving map pattern guides the scientist. With up to four different type of base maps used simultaneously, each mapper can spatially correlate geology with a host of geophysical maps (eg. gravity, magnetics) , earthquake epicenters, and whatever other maps could contribute useful knowledge in the field where decisions are made at every step. .