GPS Introduction

During this lab I used My Tracks, the android application recommended for this assignment. After I downloaded, and familiarized myself with the app I began to drive around my neighborhood and track the locations of fire hydrants.

At each fire hydrant location, I used a waypoint marker to pinpoint each location and recorded its condition. My Tracks made this lab extremely easy, because it does all the work for you and is very user friendly. I would definitely recommend this application to anyone who would be doing similar assignments or activities. I actually plan on using it to pinpoint great fishing and hunting spots that I come across. For example, I want to be able to pinpoint how many fish I catch, as well as the species of fish that was caught; the amount of ducks I shot, the location, and during what season. I look forward to using this app again!

Lastly,  I wanted to quickly comment on the easiness of uploading the KML files to GE. You can actually download the GPX file directly from My Tracks, and then upload that file as a KML file into GE. It was so easy!

Cylindrical Projections

I wanted to do more research on Cylindrical Projections because they seem to be the most simple. A cylindrical projection can be imagined in its simplest form as a cylinder that has been wrapped around a globe at the equator.

I thought that the simplicity of this type of projection is what made it so interesting. As you can see in the image above, wrapping the Earth in a cylinder places horizontal and vertical lines that correspond with latitude and longitude.