Introduction

            One of the most common characteristics of looking at the world from a human point of view is the idea of spatially relating objects to one another. Since we first stood up and began our bipedal journey across the face of the planet, we have agonized over determining our position in relation to resources, land, and other humans.     

            In our search for the perfect method of navigation, we have employed everything from landmarks to the stars themselves, but it wasn’t until the invention of GPS that we had the tools to conduct truly accurate (we’re talking sub-meter accuracy) measuring of position on the planet’s surface.

            This manual has been designed with a single-minded dedication to instructing you (the reader approaching this technology from a wide variety of academic disciplines) in a practical and quickly applicable method of instruction in using GPS. This manual is the result of several departments and personnel from across the University of Otago academic landscape coming together to respond to a common problem, namely, encouraging and educating each other to take full advantage of the technologies now widely available across the campus.

            Of course, equipment by itself creates nothing, nor does a rough understanding of this equipment. The secondary goal of this manual is to provide the reader with a true sense of the theories behind the technology, and current ideas about the most efficient manor of organizing the use of GPS (in other words, how do people order their projects and approaches to GPS technologies). All of this will be approached from an Otago point of view, to immediately benefit scholars on this campus.

            So, we will explore the basic conceptual science behind GPS, ways to make it more accurate (using DGPS to reach sub-meter accuracy), software applications used to manage the data collected, hands-on examples of actual GPS units available around the University of Otago, approaches to data collection using GPS from a variety of disciplines (found in the appendixes) and sources of additional New Zealand specific data to support your own data.

            There are several chapters to this manual. The first two chapters are mainly theory, and contain no real practical knowledge. They were written to help everyone understand and become comfortable with the technology behind the system. You may find it helpful to refer to these chapters if you ever wish to include GPS in a project that will require publishing of your results as part of your methods chapter.

            Finally, the staff who worked on this manual welcomes suggestions and comments for possible future editions. We feel that, as with any emerging technology, using GPS is best exemplified by a continuum, not a specific level or plateau of ability. Just as mapping has continued to grow, we believe that the uses of GPS will continue to grow as more academic disciplines begin to utilize it.