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Geoinformatics-8-2008
article cessor the mobilemapper cx has shown itself to be particularly good even under tree canopies where one would normally expect to lose lock at least some of the time, says jacek pietruczanis, magellan product marketing manager, gis solutions. the mobilemapper cx is so productive under foliage thanks to its ability to set the snr (signal to noise ratio) mask in the receiver. the forester can adjust this level to obtain position data even in very dense foliage. for example, setting the snr number to the lowest possible level means the mobilemapper cx will only reject very noisy signals. this setting should be used only when a position is absolutely required even with the possibility of some error. the mobilemapper cx is consistently productive under foliage. but in rare instances, when very dense foliage causes accuracy to fall outside the sub-meter range, an optional external antenna can easily improve results to submeter quality. during a recent test conducted by the jrc (joint research centre european commission), mobilemapper cx was tested and demonstrated in difficult environments, where the conditions of measurements (visibility of satellites) were unstable for the parcel borders due to forest trees, and even on parcels covered completely by forest. in both cases mobilemapper cx was achieving surprisingly good results which were below the maximum threshold buffer allowed by the eu regulation says pietruczanis. overseas in another example of the growing popularity of the new gps/gis units, this one on the other side of the atlantic, the latvian state forest service (sfs) has just outfitted its entire mobile workforce with mobilemapper cx handhelds. in latvia these new digital gps positioning devices are replacing measuring tapes and survey compasses. the sfs purchased 124 magellan mobilemapper cx handheld gps/gis units, which were distributed to foresters in 11 state-managed forests and 113 local forest jurisdictions. the mobile- mobilemapper cx forest fire measurements, game cadastre management, game supervision, and biotope studies, including bird nesting studies and animal counts. according to juris zarins, gis division head for sfs, the mobilemapper cx is delivering the one-meter accuracy required for marking forest cutting boundaries and the twometer accuracy that they require for other tasks. the units run esri arcpad 7.1, a gis and field mapping software, and are loaded with the state forest service and orthophoto background maps. sfs chose the mobilemapper cx for its convenience, simplicity and combination gps receiver and gis data collector in a single unit. since the units would be used by field foresters skilled in analog cartography and surveying methods, but not digital equipment, it was important that the new digital equipment be easy to use. sfs considered buying separate pocket pc and gps devices connected by bluetooth, but the rugged allin-one quality of the mobilemapper cx was significantly more appealing. the sfs is a state-administered civil institution within the latvia ministry of agriculture, responsible for pursuing a unified forest policy, controlling observance of the provisions of statutory acts, implementing support programs, and ensuring the use of sustainable forest management practices in all of latvia s forests. zarins says, we are still in the beginning phase of rolling out the mobilemapper cxs. what we like best now is the device s mobility and the convenience of having a gps and handheld pc in one device. its performance is quite acceptable for our work, particularly since we are able to take into the field large amounts of necessary data, including raster data, and use it together with the esri arcpad application . robert wick, robertwick@verizon.net writes about the latest gps and gis technologies. for more information, have a look at http://pro.magellangps.com mappers are loaded with forest digital background maps in 1:10000 scale, showing forest, road and river information, and forest inventory data base information. the mobilemapper cxs are used for a wide variety of tasks, including navigating to the forest properties, boundary cutting measurements, subscribe to the digital geoinformatics, free of charge !! digital latest news? visit www.geoinformatics.com 29 december 2008
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