Assignment 7- Development of a Field Navigation Map

Introduction

For this assignment, two maps needed to be created in order to complete a navigation activity in the next lab.  When navigating, one needs two sets of tools.  The first being the tools to complete the actual navigation, which cover the simple to the advanced, like the sun, a map, GPS, etc.  The second thing being some type of location system, like a coordinate system.  These systems are based on latitude and longitude, which isn't always the best method to use.  On a smaller scale, it is better to use a state plane or UTM system.  The two maps created for this assignment are using UTM and Geographic Coordinate System of Decimal Degrees.

Study Area

The maps that were created for this assignment are of the Priory, which is a University owned area with a dorm and children's nature preserve.  The area is about 3.4 miles away from the UW- Eau Claire campus. Figure 1 below shows the directions from campus to the priory.  Figure 2 shows that actual Priory study area.

Figure 1: Diretions to the study area (Google Maps).

Figure 2: Study area at the priory (Google Maps).

Methods

For these maps, a different coordinate system was used for each.  For the first map, the coordinate system is NAD 1983 UTM Zone 15N.  This is a common coordinate system which is catered to certain zones to produce an accurate representation of the land.  Figure 3 below shows the zones in the lower 48 states of the U.S.  The state of Wisconsin is broken up into zones 15 and 16.  The whole system is broken in 60 zones which are each 6 degrees of longitude wide.  The zones are also split into north and south at the equator.

Figure 3: UTM zones in the U.S. (http://i.stack.imgur.com/OD3g3.jpg)

For the second map, Geographic Coordinate System WGS 1984 was used.  This distorts the maps when it is used in a smaller scale like this assignment.  This coordinate system uses latitude and longitude to determine locations.  The location is stated in decimal degrees, but this can cause issues.  Decimal degrees are not good to use when measuring distance because it isn't truly a form of measurement.  Figure 4 displays how GCS is measured.

Figure 4: GCS system (http://help.arcgis.com/en/geodatabase/10.0/sdk/arcsde/images/coordsys01.jpg)

The final map for the UTM zones is shown below in Figure 5.  This map is overlayed with a grid which displays the critical number and the beginning number.  The contour layers used in this map have a 5 meter spacing to indicate changes in elevation.  This will help with navigation in the following assignment.  Because this map is a projected coordinate system, it means that it has a projection which is a transverse mercator.  The GCS map not have a projection because it is unprojected which is causing the distortion in the image.  The GCS map has the same contour intervals but are distorted along with the image.  The UTM map will most likely be more useful in the field when it comes to navigating.  However, the GCS map will most likely be used for navigation or something else as well.

Figure 5: UTM navigation map of the Priory.

Figure 6: GCS navigation map of the Priory.

Another aspect of this assignment was pace counting, which was not done.  This was due to bad weather the previous week.  Pace counting helps to determine how far you're going when navigating with a paper map.  Pace count is done by walking 100 meters and measuring the number of paces it takes to get to this distance.

Discussion

 This activity was very informative.  It was all rather new and should produce interesting results in the field, especially navigating with paper maps.  The maps should hopefully prove useful in the field.  Some aspects of the map may be off in some sort and may throw some things off when navigating, but these confusions or downfalls of the maps will be discussed in the following lab.  the two maps that were created for this assignment are similar in many ways while also being completely different.  Changing a coordinate system can create large changes, especially when the coordinate system is either projected or unprojected.  I would have been useful to measure out a pace count beforehand, but this can be done tomorrow during the lab.

Conclusion

These maps were challenging to create in some ways, but have provided a new insight into simple navigation.  Working with classmates and looking at previous blogs has helped to further knowledge on this subject.  However, actually working in the field and learning from personal mistakes will most likely create the greatest amount of learning.  There will most likely be changes that will be needed to make to the maps, bu this will be discussed in the following blog.