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Invasive Species
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GPS

Lab Activities: GPS Exercises

These exercises are designed to be tackled after students have gone through the introduction section and are familiar with using a GPS.

GPS Exercise 1

The coordinates are in UTM format; you need to make the settings in the unit reflect the UTM/UPS position format before you enter the coordinates.

  1. Go to MENU/ SETUP/ UNITS according to the "Check/Adjust Settings" in the Introduction
  2. Highlight the "POSITION FRMT" box and select "UTM/UPS"
  3. The UTM format usually requires a unique datum called "NAD83," so highlight the "MAP DATUM" box and select "NAD83"
Create a Waypoint:
  1. From the MENU screen, choose "MARK"
  2. Scroll down until the reading at the bottom is highlighted, press ENTER
  3. Highlight each digit in the coordinate number by scrolling with the UP/DOWN button
  4. Press ENTER at the number you want to change
  5. Scroll up or down to the number you want to replace it with
  6. Press ENTER to change the number
  7. Scroll to the next number you want to change, and repeat steps 1-6
  8. Go through all of the numbers, changing those that you want to change
  9. Once finished, scroll down to OK
  10. Press ENTER when OK is highlighted - this will be your waypoint
  11. Write down the title of the waypoint that you created (the number next to the flag) so you can get back to it later
  12. When you are finished, simply exit the Edit Location screen by pressing PAGE
You've created a waypoint for your coordinates!

Tracking Back to an Existing Waypoint:
  1. Press the PAGE button to bring up the MENU page
  2. Highlight WAYPOINTS and press ENTER (this takes you to the waypoints page)
  3. Select a tab (using the UP/DOWN button) containing the number or first letters of the waypoint you are looking for and press ENTER
  4. Select the waypoint that you are looking for and press ENTER
  5. Press UP/DOWN button to select "GOTO" and press ENTER
  6. The compass page appears and you are now ready to be guided back to your starting location. The number of meters shown above the compass is the distance to your waypoint
The GPS compass will start moving when you move toward your waypoint, but it does not function in the same way that a conventional compass does. It is not sensitive enough to detect which direction you are facing initially. The arrow points in the appropriate cardinal direction but doesn't change with respect to the direction you are facing. For this reason, it is a good idea use an actual compass to tell you which direction is which before you begin.

Image Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; http://celebrating200years.noaa.gov/
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