Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Captain Obvious Says: Google Earth is useful

File this one under the hilariously obvious. I am preparing for a 2-day outing for some reconnaissance along the range front of the Wassuk Range near Walker Lake. The piedmont there is an amazing plexus of massive, bouldery debris flow fans, multiple shorelines, and multiple Quaternary fault strands. It is an exceptional place to check out in real life and in Google Earth. In preparing my crap for the field, it dawned on me that instead of stupidly taking my computer in the field with a bunch of cached data, I could just print out some key perspectives on the areas I planned to visit. Duh. Despite being obsessed with hi-tech devices, I really do not like carrying a computer in the field. Also, I have never been one to enjoy using a stereoscope in the field, so this is an obvious solution.

If you have Google Earth Pro, you can save some nice high-res images (there are others ways to get them...) and doctor them up a bit for clarity and contrast. Check out the image below:



Thus, I will use this as one of my base images while mapping in the field. Isn't this obvious? Doesn't it look like a cool area to get paid to hike around in?

I am sure you know that you can overlay high-res geotifs in Google Earth if the existing base imagery does not meet your needs.

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