Topographical Data!

It is embarrassing, really. I have spent a large amount of time and thought on how to obtain topographical data from the remote str

etches of Galan, Costa Rica. On a whim, I figured that carrying a GPS device would help, but I never new how exactly.

At the very least, I could extract each waypoint, which I knew to contain information regarding latitude, longitude, elevation, and time of day, but there are a lot of waypoints. I even hand-traced a map from the 1.5 in screen so that I would have some graphical information to go on. I downloaded all of the information off of the device onto my computer in every format that the device would allow in the hopes that I would figure it out once I got back. Google search after Google search left me with more questions and a growing feeling of defeat.

Finally, yesterday, I was using the old, crude satellite images from Google Earth to remember the paths and locations and correspond them with the existing data, when I found the GPS tool. There is an option within this tool, to import the .gdb files that I have been slaving over for months. Once imported, all of the tracks and way points were layered, providing me with exactly the sort of data that I was hoping for when systematically trekking around the site.