tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76207403542759976162024-03-14T03:41:40.298-04:00Northing & EastingMaking sure things are where they really are...Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11301078056782961841noreply@blogger.comBlogger112125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620740354275997616.post-41438896884068929172014-04-12T08:36:00.000-04:002014-04-12T08:36:28.628-04:00Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, It's Off To WordPress We Go!Folks, it's time for a change.<br />
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For almost five years I've been running this blog, and a sister blog, using Google's free blogging service. But for the past year or so I felt it was time for an upgrade. I'm not complaining about Google's offering - it has served my needs well and faithfully for many years and I certainly can't gripe about the price. However, 'free' means limited, and in this case limited functionality and options. I felt I needed more 'elbow room' to expand how I share out information and also to host my blog under a registered domain name.<br />
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So starting today this blog will go static (but it <i>won't</i> go away - yet) and my blogging activities will continue on my new site, <a href="http://www.oldtopographer.net/">www.oldtopographer.net</a>.<br />
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Over time much of the important content on this site will migrate over to my new site, but for now I'm just focused on building out the format and functionality. So hop on over, have a look around and let me know what you think!<br />
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Thanks,<br />
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BrianBrianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11301078056782961841noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620740354275997616.post-67540459299019571782014-04-05T07:55:00.000-04:002014-04-05T08:17:17.252-04:00William J. Huson's Brunton Pocket Transit History ArchivesFor a number of years the single best web resource for information about pocket transits was William J. Hudson's excellent website 'Brunton Pocket Transits'. Mr. Hudson's site was a wonderful compilation of pocket transit history, links and serial number data. I've provided links to his site a number of times in this blog and I've pointed any number of readers to the site for specific information about pocket transits they have in their possession.<br />
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Unfortunately, sometime in late 2012 Mr. Hudson's site went off-line. I didn't realize it until several readers contacted me to ask if I knew what happened to the site. After some feverish Google searches I found a few archived pages but was forced to admit that Mr. Hudson's site had gone dark and a wonderful resource was lost forever. But this is the world-wide web, and nothing is <i>really</i> lost forever! A few weeks ago one of my readers, Robert Leavesely, was able to find a <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20081120033555/http://brunton.williamjhudson.net/serial_numbers.html" target="_blank">full backup of the 'Brunton Pocket Transits' web pages</a> on the internet archive site, 'Wayback Machine'. Thanks Robert!</div>
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In the archived pages I found an email for Mr. Hudson and was able to make contact with him. It appears he's moved on to other interests and he graciously gave me full permission to use any of the data from his site.</div>
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So, in addition to providing the link found by Robert I decided to do two things. First, I've converted the archived web pages to Adobe PDF format and they are available for viewing and download from <a href="https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0Bz0ZKN4l6fZfQThvdnBpYTRWSVk&usp=sharing" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">this link</a>. The folder contents are a full copy of the archived material, and it appears everything from the original site is included. Some of the formatting is a little wonky due to the HTML-to-PDF conversion, but the info is all there.<br />
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Next, there's been a lot of interest among my readers about determining the age of their particular pocket transit based on Mr. Husdon's serial number listings. I realized that, more than anything else on the site, the serial number data should really be maintained and expanded. What I've done is moved all of the serial number data into a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet (Google Docs) is available for download from <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aj0ZKN4l6fZfdG9ua3JLamZZdGJzRUZTM0xXWEl5emc&usp=sharing" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">this link</a>. Additionally, I've made the spreadsheet available as a web view for those that just want to look at the data. Click the 'Master List' link to view the serial number data:<br />
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<iframe frameborder="2" height="800" src="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0Aj0ZKN4l6fZfdG9ua3JLamZZdGJzRUZTM0xXWEl5emc&output=html&widget=true" width="1100"></iframe><br />
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This spreadsheet view is a live link to the original spreadsheet, so as I add data to the spreadsheet or modify the layout the changes will be reflected in this web view.<br />
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Which brings us to the next step. If you have a pocket transit that you'd like to see added to this archive please send me the information! The goal is to develop a detailed listing of manufacturers, dates of manufacture and individual instrument characteristics as a resource for owners, collectors and buyers. You can forward your information to me at brian.haren (at) gmail.com.<br />
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Brian</div>
Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11301078056782961841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620740354275997616.post-71104829126683191342014-03-16T09:44:00.002-04:002014-03-16T09:54:27.626-04:00What's Happening in 1926?Why, it's the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesquicentennial_Exposition" target="_blank">Sesquicentennial International Exposition</a>!<br />
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The exposition was a bust, going bankrupt in 1927. But at least one Federal government agency got in on the celebration. The <a href="http://www.blm.gov/es/st/en/prog/glo.html" target="_blank">General Land Office</a> of the Department of the Interior issued this neat postcard:<br />
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I'm guessing the General Land Office had an exhibit in the 'U.S. Gov - Transportation, Machinery, Mines & Metallurgy' exhibit space near the south side of the exposition.<br />
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Land_Office" target="_blank">What was the General Land Office (GLO) and what did it do</a>? The GLO was formed in 1812 with the mission of selling federal lands to private individuals. But the GLO was more than just a sales agency. They first had to survey and subdivide federal lands into logical and easy to identify and register parcels. Using the township & range system first used in 1785 by Thomas Hutchins to lay out the <a href="http://northingeasting.blogspot.com/2011/09/ohio-is-such-mess.html" target="_blank">Seven Ranges area of eastern Ohio</a>, the GLO conducted the largest land survey program in history, surveying, registering and selling billions of acres of public land stretching from the Ohio border to Washington State.<br />
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In 1946 the GLO was merged with other Department of the Interior agencies to for the Bureau of Land Management. The BLM still conducts extensive land surveys, but certainly nothing like what took place during the heyday of the General Land Office in the late 1800s. <br />
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By the way, the popular saying 'land office business', which that indicates a flurry of business activity (<i>"He's doing a land-office business!"</i>), popped up in the mid-1800s and refers to the often frenetic activity that surrounded local GLO offices as settlers scrambled to register and pay for their land claims. Selling land was a booming business in the 1800's, and nobody sold more of it than the GLO!<br />
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BrianBrianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11301078056782961841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620740354275997616.post-48631400756009279712014-03-01T06:00:00.000-05:002014-03-01T06:00:03.717-05:00March 1st, 1861<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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On this day in 1861...</div>
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Who was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_E._Twiggs" target="_blank">David E. Twiggs</a>? Twiggs was a son of Georgia, born in Richmond County, and a veteran of the Mexican-American War, the Seminole War and the Blackhawk War. In 1861 he was serving as a brevet Major General in the US Army and in command of the Army's Department of Texas. On 18 February 1861 Twiggs surrendered his entire command to the Confederates. This included all military stores kept in the sanctuary of the old mission church in San Antonio - the Alamo.<br />
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A talented topographer and lieutenant colonel named Robert E. Lee happened to be part of Twigg's command and was in San Antonio at the time of the surrender. He is reported to have said, <i>"So it has come so quickly to this?"</i><br />
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In fairness it looks like Twiggs repeatedly asked for guidance from the War Department as to what actions he should take if Texas seceded from the Union, but got no reply from his superior, General Winfield Scott. Key Federal strongpoints and depots in Texas had been besieged by Confederate militias and Twigg's forces were badly out-numbered at all locations. General Twiggs apparently felt he had little choice but to negotiate an honorable surrender He insisted on fair terms for the Union soldiers in his command. They were afforded safe passage out of Texas and were allowed to retain their personal arms and unit colors.<br />
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Twiggs, a long serving soldier of great distinction, was apparently devastated by his dismissal from the US Army. It's not hard to imagine the shame he felt at seeing the notice of his dismissal published in the War Department's General Orders for March 1st, 1861. Although over 70 at the time, he accepted a commission as a major general in the Confederate Army. But his military career was effectively over. He died in Augusta, Georgia in the summer of 1862.Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11301078056782961841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620740354275997616.post-14577465956573570312014-02-20T05:30:00.000-05:002014-02-20T05:30:04.893-05:00A Survey ProblemOr maybe not. Here's an interesting postcard I recently picked up -<br />
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It's unused, so there's no postmark on the back that I can use to nail down the date, but we can glean a few clues from the photo itself. First, quite obviously it's a WWII-era photo. Probably early WWII because the rifles at stack arms are the M1903 Springfield. Since Camp Roberts opened in March, 1941 and the US Army had effectively replaced the venerable '03 Springfield with the new M1 Garand by early 1942 I'll date this photo to mid-to-late 1941.<br />
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Next, I don't think these Soldiers are 'surveying'. Since Camp Roberts was primarily an Infantry and Artillery training center my guess is that these are soldiers taking a class in Field Artillery plotting using plane tables. Plane tables were a common item in Field Artillery battery TOEs, intended to be used as a field expedient plotting table. I have one in my collection with the case stenciled 'HQ FDC' - Headquarters Fire Direction Center. I have no idea which headquarters or which fire direction center, but clearly it was a piece of Field Artillery equipment (and identical to the plane tables used by Engineer survey units). Another clue that this is a Field Artillery class is the use of large artillery plotting protractors. You can just make them out on the plane tables in the foreground - large semi-circular protractors with a rotating plotting ruler mounted at the center. Plus, there are no alidades visible, a key piece of equipment for any survey plane table work.<br />
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Yup, these are Field Artillery soldiers learning how to plot artillery fire. But I will forgive the publisher's gaffe because it's still a neat picture of Army training in early WWII. The stacked rifles, the ammunition belts with canteens hanging from the tree, the Soldiers working the problems at the plotting boards while their classmates sit behind them studying their manuals. I love how the plane tables are arrayed in an arc to best utilize the shade from the tree. Looking at aerial photos of Camp Roberts on Google I'm guessing these guys found one of the very few shade trees available in this part of California.Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11301078056782961841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620740354275997616.post-39984650143963690212014-02-14T22:12:00.000-05:002014-02-20T11:13:08.020-05:00Send Out The Map Makers!<br />
It's 1908. The Regimental Commander says "Hitch up the mules, we're going on maneuvers!" <br />
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The Adjutant asks "Where, sir?"<br />
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The Commander points off to the horizon, "Why, out there of course!"<br />
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The Adjutant turns to the Regimental Engineer and asks, "Do we have any maps of 'out there'?"<br />
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The Engineer says, "No, but we soon will!"<br />
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The Engineer turns to his assistant and says, "Send out the map makers!"<br />
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And so it was!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">GP Medium tent, duckboard flooring, folding cots, trenches to divert the rainwater and mud everywhere.<br />
Looks a lot like the 1st Cav Warfighter, Fort Hood, 1997.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If these guys are west of Yadkin Road without TA-50 there'll be hell to pay!<br />
(Hat tip to old Fort Bragg hands.)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Are you making fun of our big stick?"</td></tr>
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I can't say for sure where these photos were taken. Two of the cards were postmarked at Fort Leavenworth so it's possible the photos document classes taught as part of the Army Service Schools at Fort Leavenworth. The Engineer portion of these courses included heavy emphasis on field survey and sketching. The photographer, Waldon Fawcett, did a lot of photography for the US government right after the turn of the 20th century. The Library of Congress has a number of his photos available online. The fellow certainly was prolific - <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/related/?fi=name&q=Fawcett%2C%20Waldon" target="_blank">he seems to have captured a lot of governmental agencies at work</a> during the Theodore Roosevelt administration, including <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2013649577/" target="_blank">Teddy himself</a>. It is possible that Fawcett was contracted to document the activities of the Fort Leavenworth schools and made postcards from some of the photos.</div>
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Someone was sweet on Miss Anna Williams. Two of the cards were addressed to her. Her sweetheart must have decided that sending her pictures of muddy soldiers holding big sticks was the perfect way to win her heart.</div>
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<br />Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11301078056782961841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620740354275997616.post-64715185403384597632014-02-09T11:11:00.000-05:002014-02-11T05:57:41.310-05:00The Origins of Army Map Reading - 1938It's 1938 and the world is about to erupt in flames. <br />
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Having taken all they want in China, the Japanese are making plans to move into Southeast Asia and Indochina in order to secure the raw materials - mainly oil - that their military and civilian economy so desperately needs. America still supplies much of Japan's raw material, particularly oil and steel, but the American public has turned against Japan, appalled at its conduct in places like Nanking. The relationship is getting shaky.<br />
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Adolf Hitler rules much of western Europe and his appetite is growing. He's reoccupied the Rhineland, annexed Austria and the Czech Sudetenland and he's now making noises about Danzig and a Polish corridor. France and England are keeping a nervous watch. War preparations are underway but each party is hoping negotiations will settle things down. The classic French offensive spirit so frequently displayed during WWI has been flushed from the psyche of the government and military. France sets its faith in its defensive strength as demonstrated by the Maginot Line. A few isolated voices within the French Army, such as a young colonel named Charles DeGaulle, cry <i>'attack!'</i> but to no avail. In England there is a strong undercurrent of pro-fascist sentiment among the upper class. Hitler may be a crude chap, but at least he knows how to knock heads together and get things done. In the salons of London there's a lot of admiration for how the Nazis have restored order, fixed their economy, eliminated labor problems and unified the German people. Only Winston Churchill, still in political exile, isn't fooled. He knows Hitler can't be trusted. Events are about to prove him right.<br />
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In the United States the President, his senior military staff and a minority of political and business leaders are increasingly concerned. America can look out from both shores and see growing threats. Roosevelt still hopes America can avoid war wherever it starts. He also knows that after two decades of neglect both the Army and Navy are in sorry shape and if war does come the nation will be unprepared. The <a href="http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/malincra.htm" target="_blank">Army Chief of Staff General Malin Craig</a> and his new deputy, the fast rising <a href="http://northingeasting.blogspot.com/2010/12/man-for-all-seasons.html" target="_blank">Brigadier General George C. Marshall</a>, are convinced war is coming. Marshall can feel it in his bones. His experience tells him that the US will have at least a peripheral role in events, but more likely will end up leading the effort if France collapses and England finds herself under siege. If France and England both collapse he knows America will be western civilization's only hope. Marshall also knows his Army is not ready for war. Too few Soldiers, too little equipment, too little training and worst of all, not enough funding. Congress as a group still has its isolationist head buried in the sand. Most view expanding the Army and the Navy as bellicose actions that will just invite trouble. Marshall knows we don't need to invite trouble - it is already headed our way.<br />
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Still, the Army does what it can with what it has. Much of the activity in the Army that takes place in the late 1930s right through 1941 can be categorized as 'laying the groundwork'. Under the steady hands of both Malin Craig and then his hand picked successor Marshall the Army is reinventing itself. It casts off almost a century of old doctrine and force structure and emerges as a more agile, adaptable fighting force that emphasizes speed, firepower and flexibility. By leveraging modern advances in mechanization, radio communications and weaponry the US Army will step onto the battlefield in North Africa in 1942 as a lethal fighting force and in less than two years will be ready to take on the mighty German Wehrmacht on its home turf.<br />
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Part of this 'laying the groundwork' involves revamping virtually all the training the common Soldier will receive. General Marshall has great faith in the American fighting man; he knows that the average American youth had the smarts, the initiative and the aggressive spirit necessary to defeat any enemy. He just has to be properly trained. The Army launches on a program of training development that dramatically changes how most topics are presented. The emphasis is on fundamentals and simplification. The Army is developing the new methods necessary to quickly and effectively train up millions of draftees and in less than a year launch them across the oceans ready to fight. Everything from close order drill to aircraft maintenance gets a revamp.<br />
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One of the many topics that gets a dramatic make-over is map reading. Prior to 1938 map reading and land navigation were viewed as highly technical topics that were best left to officers or exceptionally bright non-commissioned officers. Surely the average enlisted man was too dull to grasp the complex concepts of magnetic declination, interpreting landforms from contour lines, plotting coordinates and determining scale. Best to leave these tasks to the better educated officer class. But the new Army emerging in 1938 is much different. Newly minted small unit leaders - all the way down to the squad leader level - are entrusted with much greater responsibility and freedom of action. In the newly mobile, hard hitting modern Army even the lowly Corporal will have the authority to plan operations, call in supporting fires, lead reconnaissance teams and conduct movements to contact. This means that every common Soldier must be taught the map reading skills necessary to get the job done right. <br />
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The problem is, the Army has no standardized map reading and land navigation texts. Prior to 1938 there are no standard Army publications for the common Soldier that deals specifically with these two subjects. Yes the Army teaches map reading, but the techniques are usually covered in adopted civilian texts, as school publications and lecture notes, or rolled up into more complex topics like field sketching, surveying and reconnaissance. Map reading and land navigation are considered 'included' tasks, not separate skills. One of the key Engineer publications of the inter-war years, the '<b><i>Engineer Field Manual, Parts I - VII</i>'</b> (1917), covers the process of map reading in a single paragraph:<br />
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<i>"Map reading is essentially the reverse of map making. In the latter process the ground is measured and studied with a view of forming a mental picture of how a map of it will look. In the former - map reading - a map is measured and studied for the purpose of forming a mental purpose of how the ground itself looks. All rules and principles heretofore stated as to the relations between ground and map are to be used in studying the relations of map to ground."</i><br />
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That's it. That's all an experienced and educated Engineer officer needs to know.<br />
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Starting in the early 1900's and carrying on right up to just before WWI a number of private publications appear that deal specifically with military map reading, land navigation and field sketching. In this period field sketching is considered as important as map reading, and for good reason - military maps as we think of them do not yet exist and a unit has to quite literally map its own way to battle. Titles such as '<b><i>Military Map Reading; Field, Outpost and Road Sketching</i></b>' (1908) by Major William Beach, '<b><i>Elements of Military Sketching and Map Reading</i></b>' (1917) by Captain John Barnes and '<i><b><a href="https://archive.org/details/militarymapread01shergoog" target="_blank">Military Map Reading</a></b></i>' (1909) by Captain C.O. Sherrill seem to have filled a recognized need for a dedicated map reading manual. In fact, Sherrill's book was adopted by the Army Service Schools at Fort Leavenworth as a standard instructional text. I'm sure copies of these books found their way into the haversacks of hundreds of Regular Army, National Guard and state militia officers.<br />
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Between the wars the Infantry School at Fort Benning concludes that map reading is an important skill that needs to be simplified and standardized for presentation to the common Soldier. In 1934 they publish a map reading pamphlet as part of the Infantry extension course that presents map reading with a level of simplicity and clarity not seen in other map reading texts. This pamphlet is perhaps as close to a standard map reading manual as the Army develops prior to 1938. <br />
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But still, it's just an Infantry School text and it's not Army doctrine.<br />
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By 1937 the Army realizes it needs to get serious about map reading as a skill for the common Soldier. The impetus comes from the Infantry School, which is the catalyst for much of the change we see in the Army at this time. The Infantry School realizes a large draftee Army will need standardized map reading and land navigation skills, a <a href="http://northingeasting.blogspot.com/2012/05/history-revealed-origins-of-army.html" target="_blank">standard magnetic compass</a> and standardized maps against which these skills can be taught and implemented. Even more important, the entire Army operational framework will be built on these skills. <br />
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Maps are <u>the</u> fundamental tool for all Army operations. The success of operations such as plotting friendly locations, calculating movement, calling for fire support, planning river crossing operations, siting field hospitals, locating airfields, establishing unit boundaries, placing communication nodes, reporting enemy locations, etc. all depend on standardized maps and map reading procedures. When a Private in an observation post spots an enemy column approaching he picks up his radio and reports the activity to his platoon leader. As the two of them discuss coordinates, direction of movement, road intersections and fields of fire they both need to be looking at the same map and speaking the same map reading language. So it is all the way up the Army organizational structure.<br />
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But the Army still considers map reading an Engineer skill. The Infantry School may have written a crackerjack manual for its own use, but the job of writing a manual for the entire Army falls to the Engineer School. In 1937 they get the job and the first dedicated Army publication that deals with map reading is issued in April 1938. It is titled <i>'<b>Basic Field Manual, Volume 1, Field Service Pocket Book, Chapter 5, Map and Aerial Photograph Reading</b>'.</i><br />
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As an initial take on the topic this manual is actually pretty good. Its biggest problem is that it's an Engineer manual, and the last thing Engineers like to do is simplify things. It incorporates some of the principles and methods laid out in the 1934 Infantry School special text, but in too many cases adds an unnecessary layer of Engineer re-interpretation. It also includes a number of topics that don't belong in a basic field manual, like map supply authorizations and the technical characteristics of various aerial cameras. Some sections read like they were written by a Victorian novelist:<br />
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<i>"Accuracy of maps. - Standard maps are prepared with the objective of obtaining no errors which are appreciable at the scale of the maps..."</i><br />
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<i>"Local attraction. - Presence of iron and electric fields of magnetism affect a compass and great care should be taken not to approach them within a distance which will cause the compass needle to deviate while making an observation."</i><br />
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<i>"Measurement of an azimuth with the prismatic compass in daylight. - ...In case the glass cover casing is broken, a horsehair or thread, to serve as a substitute for the etched line, may be passed through the holes drilled for that purpose."</i><br />
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<i>"To locate on a map a distant or inaccessible object (intersection). - ...At each occupied position a straightedge is placed against the pin in the corresponding position on the oriented map; the object C on the terrain whose position is sought is sighted along the straightedge and a direction line drawn thereto."</i><br />
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In this manual we see reflections of the Army and the nation as it is in 1938; there is absolutely no discussion of foreign maps or possible operations on foreign soil, even references to map problems based on WWI experience in France. Everything is referenced to the continental US. Let's have no discussion of possible operations on foreign soil!<br />
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Yet in this manual we also see glimpses of the future. The new tactical map layout and its use of a standard grid as shown in Figure 1 would be immediately recognizable to every dogface carrying a folded map in his pocket in 1944. By omitting any discussion of field sketching and spending more time discussing availability of various types of maps the Army seems to be indicating that it understands the need to supply large volumes of standard maps to all levels of the field force - from the Infantry squad right up to Theater Army HQ. The creation of the Army Map Service and field topographic units won't happen for almost another two years, but at least the Engineers recognize the problem. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lV2b55r0abs/UveKw-WcGJI/AAAAAAAAWIU/dKn9H6rKUik/s1600/Scan-007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lV2b55r0abs/UveKw-WcGJI/AAAAAAAAWIU/dKn9H6rKUik/s1600/Scan-007.jpg" height="400" width="282" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 1 shows a standardized map layout that<br />
remains essentially unchanged even today. <br />
Note the reference to the <br />
<a href="http://northingeasting.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-harriman-geographic-index-system.html" target="_blank">Harriman Index System</a>.</td></tr>
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Most important, however, is the inclusion of a robust section on how to use aerial photos as map substitutes. It is clear that the Army sees the relatively new science of aerial photography as the key to 'filling in the holes' in areas of the world where good maps don't exist, if they exist at all.<br />
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The presentation is a little complex for a 'basic' field manual, but it shows that the Army is serious about incorporating aerial photography into its overall mapping program.<br />
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This 1938 manual is best described as a work in progress. It will stand only until April 1941, when an entirely new manual, FM 21-25 (part of the 'Basic Soldier' series) is introduced. By that time America has moved closer war. George C. Marshall is now the Army Chief of Staff, Winston Churchill is Prime Minister of Great Britain, Germany has conquered France, Poland and the rest of Czechoslovakia. The Battle of Britain has been fought and won, the Battle of North Africa still rages and the Japanese are in the final planning stages for an attack on the Hawaiian Islands and a rapid expansion eastward across the Pacific and into Indochina to establish its 'Co-Prosperity Sphere'.<br />
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By 1941 the Army will have the new Army Map Service and corresponding Engineer field topographic units to survey and map entire theaters of operation and supply millions of copies of standard maps directly into the hands of soldiers on the battlefield. It will have a new standard lensatic compass produced in the hundreds of thousands that will find its way into the pockets of privates and generals. It will have hundreds of mapping aerial camera systems mounted in aircraft to expose hundreds of millions of linear feet of film over millions of square miles of territory to make maps and map substitutes.<br />
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Most important, by 1941 the Army will have the standardized map reading procedures in place and ready to be taught to the over 8 million Soldiers that will be drafted, trained and deployed to battlefields across the globe between 1941 and 1945.<br />
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BrianBrianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11301078056782961841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620740354275997616.post-6209858147261180372014-02-05T06:33:00.000-05:002014-02-07T06:44:29.469-05:00Fun With Magnets!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Spotted this on YouTube today and found it fascinating. What's it have to do with maps, mapping, etc?</div>
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What's being demonstrated here is the concept of a moving magnet establishing an electromagnetic field in a conductive copper tube. That's why the magnet is repelled from the sides of the tube as it passes through it, and why the magnet can 'push' the tube when it is laid on its side. Yet the demonstrator can gently place the magnet on the tube if he moves it slow enough. </div>
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Faster movement of the magnet produces stronger eddy currents in the copper tube, creating a greater repellent force. Slower movement results in a smaller eddy current and a lower repellent force. This is precisely what's happening with induction dampening as applied in compasses like the <a href="http://northingeasting.blogspot.com/2011/07/which-way-north-part-iv-military.html" target="_blank">USGI lensatic compass</a> and the <a href="http://northingeasting.blogspot.com/2010/12/which-way-north-part-ii-pocket-transit.html" target="_blank">Brunton-style pocket transits</a>. The north-seeking magnet sits in a copper cup. As it swings to align with the earth's magnetic field an eddy current is created in the copper cup that 'repels' (dampens) the movement of the magnet in the horizontal plane. As the swing of the magnet decreases the eddy current decreases and eventually cancels itself out as the needle stabilizes. Simple and effective.</div>
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Plus, the video is just neat to watch!</div>
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<br />Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11301078056782961841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620740354275997616.post-9110089458918237712014-02-02T06:00:00.000-05:002014-02-02T09:39:14.062-05:00Hey Kids, Let's Order A Map!The mailman dropped off something nostalgic a few days ago, an Army publication from the days when men were men, HMMWVs were new and the Army still ran IBM 360 mainframes.<br />
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That would be back around the end of the last ice age, or 1984 to be exact.<br />
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Need a map? The Army Engineers came up with this nifty graphic training aid to guide you through the arcane process of ordering maps.<br />
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Now, map supply was no minor concern. The Army had an almost insatiable appetite for paper maps, and in 1984 that demand was filled by the Defense Mapping Agency (DMA). The Defense Mapping Agency was a victim of its own success. They did such a good job of compiling, printing, distributing and updating their standard map products (which covered literally all of the world at one scale or another with the exception of the US and its territories - that job fell to the USGS), <i><u><b>and</b></u></i> they didn't charge for their services. You could order all the maps you wanted and have them delivered for free. Even better, if you set up an automatic distribution account the Defense Mapping Agency would automatically ship you any updated map sheets for your area of interest whenever they were published.<br />
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As a result maps became a commodity item, something everyone was used to having immediately available at any hour, day or night.<br />
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In reality, we had to order the darned things, and the ordering process could be pretty tricky. Like many things in that great machine known as the Army supply system, if you filled all the paperwork out right you stood a 50/50 chance of getting what you ordered. If you made even a slight mistake - say you accidentally put down an incorrect map sheet number - your requisition was routed straight to supply system purgatory, where it languished indefinitely while your installation logistics office returned the dreaded 'BB' (backordered) status month after month after month.<br />
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So let's peel open GTA 5-2-14 and see what it has to say about ordering maps.<br />
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Yes sir, let's put that funny shaped helmet that's two sizes too small on our head and get to work. Question - did the Army pubs system only hire third graders to do the illustrations for their training aids? Anyway, we've got a big operation coming up. The weather's warming up and the Command Sergeant Major wants a briefing on the post spring cleanup plan. That's as big and hazardous an operation as any I've ever encountered!</div>
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So the 5-2 has the map catalogs? Oh sorry, that would be the <b><u>S</u></b>-2. Didn't anyone at the Engineer School take a look at this thing before giving the go-ahead to print and distribute hundreds of thousands of copies? Anyway, as a former battalion S-2 I can confirm that I had a complete set of DMA catalogs. I kept them locked in the bottom drawer of my safe, along with a loaded pistol, in case a second lieutenant dropped by to try to teach him/herself the arcane art of ordering maps. DMA map catalogs were simply too dangerous to leave unsecured. Someone might do something dumb and I'd come to work one day to find pallets of maps sitting outside my office (remember, they're free and DMA will ship as many and as often as you like).<br />
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Oh damn. It's about to get tricky...<br />
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The DMA map catalogs were hundreds and hundreds of pages of small scale maps covered in teeny-tiny squares, each with a unique number. Each square represented an individual map, and you were expected to put on your reading glasses (or for the really cool intel types, pull the monocular magnifier out of the Photo Interpretation Kit) and start writing down the number for each and every map you need to order. Remember, no mistakes!<br />
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Got it? It's at about this point that the average second lieutenant's eyes would glaze over...<br />
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This is where those in the know could have some fun. See that Priority box? If you wrote '3' in there you'd get your maps pretty quick, but if you put a '1' in there you'd start alarm bells ringing all around the Washington D.C.beltway as flag officers tried to figure out just why the 443rd Mess Kit Repair Battalion at FT Bragg needs 500 copies of every map of Western Europe by noon tomorrow. What do <i><u>they</u></i> know that Washington doesn't? Maybe the 443rd is just a cover unit for Delta Force? Yeah, that <i><u>has</u></i> to be it! <br />
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Flat or folded? That's like 'boxers or briefs'. It didn't matter what you put in that box, you were getting folded maps. Ever tried running a folded map through a Heidelberg offset press to print an operations overlay? It didn't work. We tried everything short of holding the DMA director hostage at an undisclosed location in a strip club on 14th Street in Washington D.C. to get them to ship unfolded maps, to no avail. I think DMA just did it out of spite. Oh, and don't forget to have an officer sign the requisition, because everybody knows only officers know what's going on. You gotta' wonder how many requisitions were submitted with signatures that read "Mickey Mouse, 2LT, IN".</div>
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Where indeed to send that requisition? We'll have a look at what the GTA says, then I'll reveal the real secret to map supply!</div>
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Going to war in Europe? Send your request to the 649th at Tompkins Barracks in Schwetzingen. Judging by where the artist placed the star, Schwetzingen is located somewhere near the Polish/Czech border. </div>
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Going to war in Korea? Send the request to the USFK Engineer office. <strike>Going surfing</strike> Going to war in Hawaii? Send your request to Hickam Field.<br />
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Planning to go to war in Central or South America? Send your request to the DMA distribution office in Panama. I actually have a soft spot in my heart for this office. While stationed in Panama as part of the US Army South DCSINT I used their services a lot. The map warehouse was run by the Air Force and those guys were great. I'd call them from my office, tell them what I needed, hop in my HMMWV and drive up the road to Albrook Air Force Station and they'd have the maps sitting on the counter waiting for me.</div>
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Well kids, we've come to the end of our class on ordering maps the Army way. This GTA makes it look easy, right? We'll listen close and I'll tell you how map requisition really worked at places like FT Bragg, FT Campbell, FT Hood and other major installations... you'd just drive over to the installation map warehouse and start banging your fist on the counter until the map distribution guys coughed up what you wanted. It also helped if they were in your company and they worked for you. I don't think I used these ordering procedures more than once or twice in my whole career.</div>
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<br />Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11301078056782961841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620740354275997616.post-47883385071210816292014-01-29T11:04:00.000-05:002014-01-29T11:57:24.871-05:00A Neat Bit Of Air Force HistoryI buy a lot of old Army manuals off of eBay. I've found that purchasing these manuals on-line is a good, cheap way to build up a library of publications. Plus, there's the thrill of the hunt! I don't think I've paid more than $10 for a commonly available manual. Most are well used, some downright raggedy. A surprising number will contain an individual's name, unit and occasionally a service number. <br />
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One series of manuals I've focused on is the Army map reading manual series. Starting about 1938 the Army realized it needed to develop the standardized procedures necessary to teach map reading and land navigation to millions of young draftees. The Army introduced map reading manuals (FM 21-25 & 21-26) that received regular updates between 1938 and 1945. I'll do a blog post on the evolution of map reading and land navigation during WWII at a later date. Today want to focus on one specific manual that contains some interesting historical references.</div>
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During WWII the Army split map reading and land navigation into two separate manuals - FM 21-25, Elementary Map and Aerial Photograph Reading and FM 21-26, Advanced Map and Aerial Photograph Reading. FM 21-25 dealt mainly with the skills the common Soldier would need to master - map symbology, map orientation, interpreting contours, locating your position, basic map and compass work, etc. FM 21-26 dealt with more complex topics, the sort of things NCOs and officers would apply, like advanced coordinate determination, time-distance calculations, determining intervisibility using contours and advanced aerial photo measurements and interpretation techniques. It is common to find WWII-era copies of FM 21-26 with staff section - S2 or S3 - markings in them. This was not a manual for the common Soldier.</div>
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The manual under discussion today was purchased off of eBay in 2013. I bought it because it filled a hole in my collection. September 1941 is, as far as I can tell, the first publication date for this manual. The seller listed it as a run-of-the-mill manual, noting it's condition as good and containing the previous owner's information on the title page. There was nothing unusual or unique about manual noted in the auction description. <br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Zg63g-D4PlA/UuRGUUrjpSI/AAAAAAAAV6w/n6HsWUmuiiY/s1600/MapReading_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Zg63g-D4PlA/UuRGUUrjpSI/AAAAAAAAV6w/n6HsWUmuiiY/s1600/MapReading_1.jpg" height="320" width="192" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TEdga44Cx_4/UuRGSIR8u0I/AAAAAAAAV6Q/x9cmg6Z5bGM/s1600/Scan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TEdga44Cx_4/UuRGSIR8u0I/AAAAAAAAV6Q/x9cmg6Z5bGM/s1600/Scan.jpg" height="320" width="194" /></a></div>
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The name was a little difficult to decipher, but I believe this is a George W. Havnar, Jr. who was born in 1918 and enlisted in the Army in January, 1941. It's plausible that, in the fast expanding Army of 1941, he could have made the rank of Technical Sergeant after just one year of service. </div>
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However, while flipping through the manual I came to the back pages and found something pretty interesting. Tech. Sgt. Havnar obviously used this manual as a travel log of sorts (click on any of the pages to enlarge):</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N6NyETpYXFM/UuRGTxMJCTI/AAAAAAAAV6s/cHNL3yg4wFw/s1600/MapReading_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N6NyETpYXFM/UuRGTxMJCTI/AAAAAAAAV6s/cHNL3yg4wFw/s1600/MapReading_2.jpg" height="320" width="181" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c1epKXpeiag/UuRGTfqMsTI/AAAAAAAAV6k/C0wrTylPMD4/s1600/MapReading_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c1epKXpeiag/UuRGTfqMsTI/AAAAAAAAV6k/C0wrTylPMD4/s1600/MapReading_3.jpg" height="320" width="197" /></a></div>
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The back pages are a listing of personnel names, units, locations, aircraft and operations that seem to trace the US Army Air Forces march across western Europe. The chronology is hard to figure out, and it's clear a lot of this was written down long after WWII ended, but there's a lot of interesting history recorded in these pages.</div>
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Take for example this entry:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQVW9oPBq-B2TBR81qnQLp3Oi20qkLnsWqtwqkXROsnNRHjG1B5mTsJEYqLBRlcRlDWjiVpMhCM0_iZMmYZKgloHuc-CYRUkobZHHxPnTMixBuuw9mZur0uC3p4N5j8jnH3ntRUnoOE-U/s1600/yeager+snip.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQVW9oPBq-B2TBR81qnQLp3Oi20qkLnsWqtwqkXROsnNRHjG1B5mTsJEYqLBRlcRlDWjiVpMhCM0_iZMmYZKgloHuc-CYRUkobZHHxPnTMixBuuw9mZur0uC3p4N5j8jnH3ntRUnoOE-U/s1600/yeager+snip.JPG" height="151" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i><b><u>The</u></b></i> Chuck Yeager? I don't believe there was another Charles Yeager serving in the Army Air Forces in WWII, and since Chuck Yeager was a captain when WWII ended this inscription had to have been made post-WWII.</div>
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How about this entry:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBKpBUBBj9XBgo3YRLq8DEt48UyboFcax6NoHq-Cg07Vd6EKuyQGMjZp-qAmM8lSGhla8wi_RnMsha7IzoGzunx7DnlLAjhhJvtG-zCE_JHRdGCMbTWPjdeBK6U4Ihq5kOgCOAB1qXVVo/s1600/gabreski+snip.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBKpBUBBj9XBgo3YRLq8DEt48UyboFcax6NoHq-Cg07Vd6EKuyQGMjZp-qAmM8lSGhla8wi_RnMsha7IzoGzunx7DnlLAjhhJvtG-zCE_JHRdGCMbTWPjdeBK6U4Ihq5kOgCOAB1qXVVo/s1600/gabreski+snip.JPG" height="143" width="400" /></a></div>
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There's two interesting names here. First, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabby_Gabreski" target="_blank">Francis Gabreski was the top fighter ace in Europe during WWII</a>. As good a pilot as Yeager was, 'Gabby' Gabreski was better, at least when it came to shooting down Germans. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr3g84V8D-pEKoPwR9QCLmHo9WPkPKRw0m5pWDOp6JbEdD2DgX4gcocgpa_eYAIMM710Q_3NcNYhE55KtYRpbrn3kqTkjFIkKAO6bSTudISUBrj17EDWW266VSaVgtmElwZHRzAYMVd34/s1600/220px-Francis_Gabreski_color_photo_in_pilot_suit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr3g84V8D-pEKoPwR9QCLmHo9WPkPKRw0m5pWDOp6JbEdD2DgX4gcocgpa_eYAIMM710Q_3NcNYhE55KtYRpbrn3kqTkjFIkKAO6bSTudISUBrj17EDWW266VSaVgtmElwZHRzAYMVd34/s1600/220px-Francis_Gabreski_color_photo_in_pilot_suit.jpg" /></a></div>
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Next is Col. George Bickel. The Warbird Information Exchange shows Lt. Col. George Bickel as Commanding Officer of the 354th Fighter Group:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyOAjcBHuSJpGnlrUt3JtP2_sIRqqcLw_nC0hlq-IGTBp4l4UPMKEmkQZnp58raHk4YOVQIyGJpK9PvtDScZSZ0w4ct4W8TJH5j-6zzhJ81t6N54_HGGYzygEAqBVHbJwbHv1dBzPGkIU/s1600/george+bickel.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyOAjcBHuSJpGnlrUt3JtP2_sIRqqcLw_nC0hlq-IGTBp4l4UPMKEmkQZnp58raHk4YOVQIyGJpK9PvtDScZSZ0w4ct4W8TJH5j-6zzhJ81t6N54_HGGYzygEAqBVHbJwbHv1dBzPGkIU/s1600/george+bickel.JPG" height="316" width="400" /></a></div>
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Because of the disconnected nature of many of the entries, and the clear discrepancy between some of the personnel entries and their wartime ranks my suspicion is that Tech. Sgt. Havnar used this manual as a place to jot down references and remembrances of his service long after the war ended. There's a date of 9/11/63 written on one of the pages, not connected to any other entry. Perhaps he took the manual to a reunion in 1963 and sat around a table with some wartime buddies and just started jotting down notes as they swapped old war stories. We'll probably never know, but it's certain that Sgt. Havnar had a keen interest and pride in his service and the Army Air Forces squadrons he served in.</div>
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Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11301078056782961841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620740354275997616.post-8894101458627001062014-01-25T22:08:00.001-05:002014-01-26T16:59:12.119-05:00Brunton Pocket Transit BrochureLet's continue our conversation about the Brunton Pocket Transit. In the past we've talked about<a href="http://northingeasting.blogspot.com/2010/12/which-way-north-part-ii-pocket-transit.html" target="_blank"> how useful the pocket transit is</a>, some of the different models available, and I've touched on some <a href="http://northingeasting.blogspot.com/2013/11/william-j-hudsons-pocket-transit.html" target="_blank">Brunton-related web resources</a>.<br />
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So today let's take a look at a small brochure that William Ainsworth & Sons (the manufacturers of Brunton pocket transits for most of the 20th Century) used to make available to pocket transit customers. This particular little booklet was published in 1929, but the illustrations look somewhat older than the late 20's, so I'm guessing this is a reprint of an earlier brochure. The brochure is small - just a bit larger than a 3" x 5" index card and it's only 21 pages.<br />
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It's an extremely useful little book, because it covers in some detail the different ways you can use the pocket transit, whether it's shooting azimuths, reading horizontal or vertical angles, tracing a mineral vein or using the instrument as a clinometer or a plumb. <br />
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There's even instruction on how to use the pocket transit in conjunction with the 'Wilson Magnetometer Attachment', a real Rube Goldberg device that is intended to be mounted to a plane table to measure large anomalies in magnetic intensity found in mineral bearing rock formations. I've never seen a Wilson Magnetometer in person, but I'm keeping my eye out for one! <br />
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There's a lot of useful info stuffed into these 21 pages and I thought it important to make the booklet available to the collector community. You can <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz0ZKN4l6fZfUlJzV3pDdkpEU00/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">click here</a> to download the pamphlet as a PDF file (about 1.6 mb). You can also access the individual pages as images by <a href="https://plus.google.com/photos/102137125035835674286/albums/5973000072324151137?authkey=COOowfP3ofCi3wE" target="_blank">clicking here</a> to access my Picasa site.<br />
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So you Brunton fans out there, enjoy!<br />
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Update! Just today I was doing a Google search on a topic related to Brunton pocket transits and I ran across an interesting booklet titled "Enterprise & Innovation In The Pikes Peak Region" published in 2011 by the Pikes Peak Library District. In the booklet is a <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=qXZ8tzoryhcC&lpg=PA98&ots=eMMgnE48nW&dq=brunton%20alidade&pg=PA65#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">very informative article about David W. Brunton, the inventor of the Brunton Pocket Transit</a>. There's a very good discussion about the development of the pocket transit.<br />
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<br />Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11301078056782961841noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620740354275997616.post-69001607032027835542014-01-19T20:42:00.000-05:002014-01-21T08:42:17.675-05:00Mea CulpaThe Apple iPad. It created an entire market. Before the iPad there was nothing. After the iPad there was true mobile computing, the freedom of the always on, always available device, the one-swipe window to the world wide web. Apple's mobile operating system, iOS, and the concept of 'the app' redefined functionality on computing devices - small, focused applications highly optimized to a tightly integrated hardware and operating system platform, a platform that brooked no abnormal behavior and assured a commonality of user experience across the software application spectrum. It didn't matter if you were running Angry Birds or a medical diagnosis tool, the touches, taps, swipes and pinches accomplished the same basic end in all apps. That was the genius of the iPad - an extraordinarily high degree of consumer satisfaction via the enforcement of rigid standards. It's amazing that a borderline anarchist like Steve Jobs was able to convince legions of slavish fans and, more surprisingly, customers in whole new market segments, that the way to 'be a rebel' was to develop for, buy and use some of the most restrictive hardware and software ever brought to market. <br />
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Amazing indeed, and it worked! The iPad and other iOS devices (iPhones, iPod Touches) have revolutionized how many companies operate and opened up new markets and business opportunities, some of which simply didn't exist before the iPad arrived. So it is with GIS. Steve Jobs and Apple didn't intentionally set out to create a geospatial hardware platform that is having a huge impact on my industry, they just created the development opportunity that permitted others such as ESRI to see the potential of the device and develop software to exploit that potential. Beginning several years ago ESRI developed and steadily improved a small collection of applications that leveraged GIS data and services residing in their proprietary 'cloud'.<br />
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Over the past few years whenever anyone in my organization came to us and asked what tablet they should buy for mobile GIS our reflexive answer was (and still is), "get an iPad". The choice made perfect sense. While ESRI also develops apps for other mobile operating systems - Android, Windows Phone, even Blackberry and the old Windows Mobile (aka, Windows CE) - ESRI today first develops against Apple's iOS. The reasoning is simple - iOS has been stable for a long time and with it's tight ties to a relatively small selection of Apple-only hardware it is fast and easy to build stable, well functioning apps. No so with the other operating systems, which seem to change almost weekly and are deployed on a bewildering array of hardware platforms.<br />
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(Some time ago I queried one of ESRI's developers about why they focus first on iOS and his comment was classic, "Brian you have to understand, iOS has been stable for about two years. Android's been stable for about two weeks.")<br />
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But what about the other players in the same market segment, particularly Android? When we first started testing GIS apps on tablets at TATSNBN (The Airport That Shall Not Be Named) we wanted to be as hardware and operating system agnostic as possible. We really didn't know what our IT department was thinking about selecting for use across the airport. One week the rumor was Apple, then the smart money shifted to Galaxy Tabs, then it was (just shoot me now) HP tablets running their mobile OS, then later the meme shifted to the new Microsoft Surface running Windows RT.<br />
<br />
Early on I managed to get my hands on a Samsung Galaxy Player 5 running Android 2.3. The hardware was actually pretty good - a 5" mini-tablet that seemed to offer a lot of potential. The Player 5 was Samsung's answer to the Apple iPod Touch and it came in at about half the price. I really liked it. Too bad Android sucked.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="YP-G70CWY/XAA" src="http://www.samsung.com/us/system/consumer/product/yp/g7/0c/ypg70cwyxaa/WiFi_Galaxy5_front3_3.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Samsung Galaxy Player 5<br />
Sadly it's no longer in Samsung's lineup</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
By this time I had a lot of experience with the iPad and iOS. I was using my personal iPad at work to test these GIS apps and my family members were heavy users of both iPads and iPhones. I had a deep understanding of iOS and the user experience it delivered. By comparison Android 2.3 was a kludge. Now, Android 2.3 wasn't a <i>bad</i> OS. Far from it. I had a number of coworkers who were perfectly happy with their Android smart phones and tablets. If iOS had never been developed I'd have been singing the praises of Android 2.3 with an exalted voice. But iOS <i>did</i> exist, and by comparison Android 2.3 sucked. It was complex, counter-intuitive and difficult to learn and manage. It's easy to see why Apple swept all before it. <br />
<br />
Eventually a limited number of airport-owned iPads made it into the hands of employees in our business units, and life was good. We only had to worry about supporting one platform. But then something happened. Android came a-calling once again. As word got out about the usefulness of our mobile GIS services an increasing number of employees at began asking if we could recommend a specific Android device that they might buy themselves for use at work. We tried to steer them towards iPads but many balked at the premium prices Apple demands for their products. They wanted to test a cheaper Android-based alternative.<br />
<br />
My old observations about Android 2.3 resurfaced and I felt uneasy recommending any Android tablet. However, in the intervening two years Google had become more aggressive with Android and had even introduced their own line of mobile devices. The specs on the Google Nexus 7 tablet released in 2013 looked particularly good. GPS/GLONASS, 5mp camera, digital compass, accelerometer, wi-fi, long battery life and a high resolution screen indicated that it would make a pretty good mobile GIS unit. Another bonus is that it was priced at less than half the cost of an equivalent iPad Mini. But it was still an <i>Android</i> device. The Nexus 7 tablet was running Android 4.3 (later updated to Android 4.4), the most current version of the OS. Reviews on the web gave it high marks, but most of the reviewers were long established Android fanboys so I had to take their observations with a grain of salt. Still, the capabilities vs. price comparison was compelling and many of the reviewers had a good point in that the Nexus line of tablets are Google's own flagship devices and therefore will always be running the most up-to-date and stable version of Android. I decided to give the Nexus 7 a try.<br />
<br />
Well, four months into the evaluation I'm here to tell you that not only is the Nexus 7 running Android 4.4 good, in many ways it's better than the iPad! So good in fact that I recommend it over iOS devices to people with no other ties to the Apple ecosystem (for example, folks who don't already have an iPhone or iPod and who might like to take advantage of cross-device syncing).<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiIaG2OvwAVfWgCMV0ZnQ8_IPcWSIDVrfeqBGtx2t7loyb9sz3trphGGRSWkDZejmEgv0yGOWDPSyeX5R12S2kqbnBrMntQUNNY4O-rn-2U25Hn-rkitqy1EAX6-UrvrjveosT8zDdlf8/s1600/Screenshot_2014-01-19-14-48-46.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiIaG2OvwAVfWgCMV0ZnQ8_IPcWSIDVrfeqBGtx2t7loyb9sz3trphGGRSWkDZejmEgv0yGOWDPSyeX5R12S2kqbnBrMntQUNNY4O-rn-2U25Hn-rkitqy1EAX6-UrvrjveosT8zDdlf8/s1600/Screenshot_2014-01-19-14-48-46.png" height="320" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
What makes it so good? It comes down to the old car salesman's pitch: price, performance and features.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Price - we've already covered this one. The Nexus 7 comes in at about half the price of a comparable iPad. </li>
<li>Performance - fully as good as any of the iPad's I've used. There may be differences in processor speeds, camera features, touch screen responsiveness, battery life, etc. but in the world of real use testing I see no difference between the Nexus and the iPad.</li>
<li>Features - when you match the Nexus and iPad up feature for feature you realize that the Nexus matches the iPad in most areas and even beats it in a few others. The best example is GPS. The Nexus 7 comes standard with integrated GPS/GLONASS. If you want this same feature on an iPad you have to pay an additional $100 because only the more expensive data plan-ready iPads have integrated GPS. This is my biggest complaint about the iPad because it makes the basic (non-GPS) units all but useless as geospatial data collectors. Apple sees GPS integration as a 'premium' feature while the rest of the mobile world sees it for what it is - a commodity feature.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/xWb4bXFIHNmFwO1DSKupNL2cN866VMwElSSxInLgGbnP=w132-h210-p-no" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/xWb4bXFIHNmFwO1DSKupNL2cN866VMwElSSxInLgGbnP=w132-h210-p-no" height="320" width="201" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With Nexus 7 you get GPS.<br />
Can't always say that about the iPad!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I do have to give the nod to the iPad in a few areas. First is build quality. Apple's build quality is always top-tier, and the build quality differences between the iPad and the Nexus 7 are obvious. The Nexus is manufactured by ASUS and it feels exactly like what it is - a plastic bodied tablet. While the ASUS build quality is very good it in no way matches the solid industry leading build quality and feel the iPads are known for. But consider this - if I drop my iPad mini and break it I'll stand there and cry, bemoaning the loss of my $530 jewel. If I drop and break my Nexus 7 I'll just go order a new one.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/9wyLysL3DGNlKGBQFeD7tSKTX5YXpy54YrKuUG_E7UoZ=w337-h210-p-no" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/9wyLysL3DGNlKGBQFeD7tSKTX5YXpy54YrKuUG_E7UoZ=w337-h210-p-no" height="199" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Nexus 7 makes a pretty good Collector for ArcGIS platform</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Next is screen resolution. OK, the Nexus is no slouch. In fact it's pretty darned good - real good considering the price of the unit. Google put a lot of time and effort into getting the screen right, and it shows. But Apple's current Retina display is the industry leader for a reason. It can't be beat in terms of resolution, clarity, color fidelity and brightness. Do you give anything up by going with the Nexus? No, not in real use terms, but Apple has the clear lead here. The screen is just better.<br />
<br />
But at the end of the day do these differences matter? No, not really. Because here's the real deal maker - the current version of Android, version 4.4, is damned good. From a user experience perspective it has moved way beyond the clunky fanboy experience that was Android 2.3. I'll anger the legions of Apple fans in my family and state that Android 4.4 is as good as iOS 7.x. <br />
<br />
After my Android 2.3 experience I was expecting to have to deal with an immature, techie focused operating system. I was impressed to find instead a stable, mature, feature rich operating system that makes this a serious business tool. A large part of the improvement is Android 4.4's tight integration with Google's cloud computing environment, including Google Drive, GMail and Google Docs. In my opinion Google just has a far better implementation of these services and features than Apple does with its comparable products such as the iWorks suite.<br />
<br />
Is the Nexus 7 a<i> perfect </i>device? No, of course not. It won't fit everyone's needs, but I do recommend you give it a hard look before making what would otherwise be a reflexive Apple purchase.<br />
<br />
Brian<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</div>
Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11301078056782961841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620740354275997616.post-86467545103125330732014-01-01T19:38:00.000-05:002014-01-02T07:41:23.047-05:00Orientation - It's Not Just For College Freshmen!I came across another neat little Army publication the other day, one I'd never heard of before and initially thought it was an Army Corps of Engineers manual:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cIixpvxjdrw/UsStrPptdvI/AAAAAAAAVdA/h-qet0i9dwk/s1600/Orientation+Manual+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cIixpvxjdrw/UsStrPptdvI/AAAAAAAAVdA/h-qet0i9dwk/s320/Orientation+Manual+1.jpg" width="202" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
This little manual covers a lot of advanced topics such as geodesy, survey, coordinate determination, even astronomical observations using theodolites. It's a pretty intensive manual, chock full of weighty Engineer topics.<br />
<br />
Only it's not an Engineer manual. I was surprised and bemused to see that it was published in 1941 under the direction of the Chief of Coast Artillery. Huh? Coast Artillery?<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EDtPn09UiN8/UsStrepyE4I/AAAAAAAAVdI/AuXHn8ucTRw/s1600/Orientation+Manual+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EDtPn09UiN8/UsStrepyE4I/AAAAAAAAVdI/AuXHn8ucTRw/s320/Orientation+Manual+2.jpg" width="204" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
So what did the Coast Artillery mean when they used the term 'orientation'?<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b>Definition</b> - The term orientation as used in the Coast Artillery Corps means:<br />a. The accurate location of datum points and the establishment of ines of known length and direction.
<br />b. The adjustment of the azimuth indicating devices on guns and observing instruments when the axis of the line of sigh is pointed at that azimuth.<br />
<br /><b>Application</b> - In its application to artillery, the term orientation includes the following:<br />a. The determination of the meridian for the measurement of azimuths.<br />b. The determination of the coordinates of the directing point, observing stations and spotting stations for a battery.<br />c. The determination of the length and azimuth of base lines and director offsets.<br />d. The establishment of such reference and datum points as may be necessary.</i><i> </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>(TM 4-225 Orientation, paragraph 2. a. & b.)</i></blockquote>
<br />
For those not aware, since the founding of our country right up until the mid-20th Century our key harbors and coastline sections have been overwatched by large artillery pieces, designed and situated to destroy enemy vessels intent on entering our harbors and waterways and doing damage. In fact, one of the earliest jobs of the Corps of Engineers was the construction of harbor and waterway defenses and the siting and preparation of the firing positions for these coastal artillery guns. However, it wasn't until 1901 that the Army recognized the key differences between the missions of the coast artillery and field artillery by establishing the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Coast_Artillery_Corps" target="_blank">Coast Artillery Corps</a> as a separate branch.<br />
<br />
Modern field artillery has always had a strong need for surveyors. As the concepts of indirect artillery fire matured and rifled cannon delivered the ability to fire projectiles far beyond the visual range of the gun crews the need for surveyors to accompany and support field artillery units emerged. After all, to accurately hit a target you can't see you first have to know precisely where you are. Many of the concepts covered in this little manual are directly applicable to field artillery survey. But we are talking about <i><u>field</u></i> artillery - guns that get towed around the battlefield by trucks, set up, shoot some shells then pack up and move to the next firing position. Coast Artillery is a different beast. It operated large, permanently placed guns overlooking harbors and waterways that were already precisely mapped. Why the need for more advanced surveying and mapping techniques? The answer is laid out in Section (Chapter) IX of the manual, where it discusses the duties of the Battalion Reconnaissance Officer.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--RzoBItWHL4/UsSvV2_hlwI/AAAAAAAAVds/pW_xFVErlCU/s1600/Orientation+Manual+6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--RzoBItWHL4/UsSvV2_hlwI/AAAAAAAAVds/pW_xFVErlCU/s320/Orientation+Manual+6.jpg" width="198" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
It appears that not all Coast Artillery cannon were permanently mounted. At the time of publication the Coast Artillery Branch either had or was anticipating use of mobile 155-mm artillery, railway artillery and anti-aircraft guns. It would be the responsibility of the Reconnaissance Officer and his reconnaissance parties to find new gun locations, work out their proper positioning (orientation) and if necessary map the the new areas of coverage so the gunners knew where they were shooting.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<i>The battery reconnaissance officers, under the supervision of their battery commanders, compute the data necessary for the orientation of the plotting boards and complete the organization of the battery plotting rooms and observing stations. The battery executives, utilizing the orienting lines supplied them, orient the guns of their batteries.</i></blockquote>
<i>(TM 4-225, paragraph 49. e.)</i><br />
<br />
While coastal defense was a huge mission during WWII, and the Coast Artillery branch provided a key service to the nation, it quickly became apparent that aircraft were a far more effective coastal defense tool than land-based artillery. By the end of the war long range bombers and radar made fixed coastal defense sites obsolete. In 1950 the US Army dissolved the Coast Artillery branch and absorbed its officers and enlisted personnel into the regular Field Artillery branch. Today all that remains of a once proud branch of the US Army are some abandoned casements dotted along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and at the Presidio of San Francisco you can still view an original 'disappearing' coastal defense gun at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_Chamberlin" target="_blank">Battery Chamberlin</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/6in_Rifled_Gun_No_9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/6in_Rifled_Gun_No_9.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Battery Chamberlin<br />
The Presidio of San Francisco</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Brian<br />
<br />Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11301078056782961841noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620740354275997616.post-65580833744072985652013-12-21T10:10:00.000-05:002013-12-21T10:45:49.452-05:00A Little Plane Table WorkA week ago I picked up some old photographs that are claimed to be of Army surveyors doing some plane table survey work on Fort Belvoir, Virginia.<br />
<br />
The notations on the back of each photo gives each Soldier's name and the date - November 1959. While the location is supposed to be Fort Belvoir there's no written indication that is the actual location. However, having been assigned to Fort Belvoir a number of times I'll say that the vegetation certainly has that 'northern Virginia in the fall' look about it, so I'll accept the fact that we are looking at a location on or near Fort Belvoir.<br />
<br />
Another clue is the Soldiers, and more specifically their uniforms. There's no sleeve rank on any of their field jackets or shirts, indicating to me they are trainees attending advanced individual training at either the Engineer School or the Army Map Service school on Fort Belvoir. These are most likely young men - probably draftees - who are learning the trade of surveying after graduating from Army basic training. They simply haven't been in the Army long enough to earn rank beyond that of Private.<br />
<br />
Plane table surveying was once the primary method of developing detailed sketches and surveys of small areas. The geodetic and topographic surveys would establish he broad framework of survey control and elevation for large areas or regions. The plane table surveyors would follow behind filling in the details - roads, buildings, fence lines, monuments, prominent topology and geology, etc. Plane table work was a close meld of surveying and cartography, and plane table sketches done by talented surveyors are true works of art.<br />
<br />
Alas, plane table surveying is also a lost art. It died off back in the 1980s with the introduction of electronic surveying systems - total stations - that can collect data much faster and much more accurately than a surveyor standing at a plane table. While the output of a total station lacks any sense of artistic composition, the data tends to be more accurate and precise.<br />
<br />
But back to our young men. They had to have scored fairly high on their Army entrance tests to qualify for training as a surveyor, so this was a smart group of guys. Odds are they all had very good math skills.<br />
<br />
My guess is these young fellows all did their two year military obligations, left the service and went on to enjoy life in the civilian world. A few probably went to college using the generous VA education benefits still in place in the 1950s, a few probably moved on to employment in blue collar jobs. Odds are none of them stuck with surveying in the civilian world - that's just the way things went. However, I'm hoping that their exposure to surveying and mapping enticed at least one of them to pursue a civil engineering-related field once they left the service.<br />
<br />
So let's introduce our hale and hearty young surveyors!<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lqvadg8E08Y/UrWiQlW2wzI/AAAAAAAAVRM/ssT5Rvhtwoc/s1600/PlaneTable59_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lqvadg8E08Y/UrWiQlW2wzI/AAAAAAAAVRM/ssT5Rvhtwoc/s400/PlaneTable59_1.jpg" width="235" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jim Heichel</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ebysB5HS2co/UrWiRBbnqfI/AAAAAAAAVRU/tu6EuZW_qcs/s1600/PlaneTable_59_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ebysB5HS2co/UrWiRBbnqfI/AAAAAAAAVRU/tu6EuZW_qcs/s400/PlaneTable_59_2.jpg" width="233" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gustafson (no first name given)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7C7TYhwqFE8/UrWiRfFQKFI/AAAAAAAAVRc/0s_-XIP-yqw/s1600/PlaneTable59_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7C7TYhwqFE8/UrWiRfFQKFI/AAAAAAAAVRc/0s_-XIP-yqw/s400/PlaneTable59_3.jpg" width="233" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">McNeely & Robinson (again, no first names)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cKoweBNG0XI/UrWiRjxr1mI/AAAAAAAAVRg/hLgnLPBXVKk/s1600/PlaneTable59_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cKoweBNG0XI/UrWiRjxr1mI/AAAAAAAAVRg/hLgnLPBXVKk/s400/PlaneTable59_4.jpg" width="236" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robinson (sitting, recording), Gustafson (left)<br />
and McNeeley (right)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
These fine fellows are all in their 70s now and hopefully are looking back on long, successful and happy lives. I hope they view their time in the Army with great fondness and the memories of the this beautiful fall day spent in the field learning plane table work brings a smile to their faces.<br />
<br />
BrianBrianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11301078056782961841noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620740354275997616.post-58558759292697307972013-12-08T09:31:00.000-05:002013-12-14T07:04:08.428-05:00Patton's PrayerIn early December 1944 General George S. Patton's 3rd Army was stalled in front of the Siegfried Line along the French - German border. Patton was a master of combined arms operations and he knew he needed tactical air support from the Army Air Forces before he could breach the Siegfried Line and push on towards the Rhine River.<br />
<br />
But the weather was not cooperating. The winter of 1944 was one of the worst on record for central Europe. Thick cloud decks and heavy fog were keeping Allied aircraft grounded all across France and the Low Countries. Patton was frustrated, impatient and angry. He saw German resistance crumbling before him yet he knew he couldn't push forward into the German homeland without adequate air cover. The 3rd Army and its supporting Air Force ground attack squadrons were a deadly team. Ground-based artillery often had trouble keeping up with the 3rd Army's advanced forces, but the Air Force's growing fleet of attack aircraft like the rugged and deadly P-47 Thurderbolt could range ahead of the forward ground forces, striking military strong points, attacking enemy convoys and in general wreaking havoc and helping to open lines of advance for Pattons armored formations.<br />
<br />
In the second week of December Patton's frustration hit a boiling point. Patton was a man of deep religious faith and he absolutely believed that God was on the side of the Allies. The General decided it was time to remind the Good Lord just who's side he was supporting. On December 8th Patton put out an order directing all 3rd Army chaplains to pray for good weather. At the same time he called for his staff chaplain, Colonel James O'Neill.<br />
<br />
I quote from Patton's published diary of WWII, 'War As I Knew It':<br />
<br />
General Patton:<i> "Chaplain, I want you to publish a prayer for good weather. I'm tired of these soldiers having to fight mud and floods as well as the Germans. See if we can't get God to work on our side."</i><br />
<br />
Chaplain O'Neill: <i>"Sir, it's going to take a pretty thick rug for that kind of praying."</i><br />
<br />
General Patton: <i>"I don't care if it takes the flying carpet, I want the praying done."</i><br />
<br />
Chaplain O'Neill: <i>"Yes, sir. May I say, General, that it usually isn't a customary thing among men of my profession to pray for clear weather to kill fellow men."</i><br />
<br />
General Patton: <i>"Chaplain, are you teaching me theology or are you the Chaplain of the Third Army? I want a prayer."</i><br />
<br />
Chaplain O'Neill: <i>"Yes, sir."</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
What Chaplain O'Neill came up with is one of the classic military prayers:<br />
<br />
<b><i>"Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains with which we have had to contend. Grand us fair weather for Battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call upon Thee that, armed with thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies, and establish Thy justice among men and nations. Amen".</i></b><br />
<br />
After the war the chaplain, Monsignor James O'Neill (by that time a retired Brigadier General) <a href="http://pattonhq.com/prayer.html" target="_blank">wrote down his version of the story</a>. It helps clarify some of the dates surrounding the event. In the classic movie 'Patton' starring George C. Scott we are led to believe that Patton orders the prayer in reaction to 3rd Army's difficulty reaching the Ardennes as they advanced to relieve American forces trapped during the Battle of the Bulge. The truth is that Patton ordered this prayer at least a week before the Germans launched their offensive into the Ardennes. <br />
<br />
Patton directed that the prayer, along with his Christmas greeting to the Soldiers of the 3rd Army, be printed and distributed just before Christmas. The printing job was immense. Virtually every Soldier in the 3rd Army was to receive a copy so hundreds of thousands of copies needed to be printed, and printed fast. The job was beyond the capability of the printing services available within the 3rd Army Adjutant General's office. Chaplain O'Neill discussed the requirement with the 3rd Army Engineer and the decision was made to have the 664th Engineer Topographic Battalion, with its multiple large format offset presses, execute the print mission.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xiq8OucRaqQ/UqR4rwjNaaI/AAAAAAAAU6Y/y5TDfiAChZk/s1600/Pattons+Prayer1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xiq8OucRaqQ/UqR4rwjNaaI/AAAAAAAAU6Y/y5TDfiAChZk/s400/Pattons+Prayer1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Patton's prayer, printed on the back side of his Christmas<br />
greeting to the Soldiers of 3rd Army</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VXw4e3ZfXJc/UqR4rgP8CiI/AAAAAAAAU6U/Ebi6cHPyx8U/s1600/Pattons+Prayer2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="237" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VXw4e3ZfXJc/UqR4rgP8CiI/AAAAAAAAU6U/Ebi6cHPyx8U/s400/Pattons+Prayer2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Patton's Christmas greeting (front side)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
By December 14th 1944 the prayer was distributed throughout 3rd Army. On December 16th the German Army launched operation 'Wacht am Rhein' ('Watch on the Rhine') or as we refer to it today, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Bulge" target="_blank">Battle of the Bulge</a>. Hitler's plan was to attack west through the Ardennes region in Belgium, capture the port of Antwerp, split the Allied armies in two and force the Americans and British to accept a separate peace. Within 24 hours of being notified of the German offensive Patton turned the entire 3rd Army 90 degrees and raced north to relieve the trapped forces. Patton smelled blood; the Germans had stuck their neck out and he intended to cut it off. But he still had to contend with the weather.<br />
<br />
For seven days the American forces trapped in the Ardennes pocket struggled to hold back the German onslaught, but were denied close air support due to the foul weather. Then suddenly, unexpectedly, on December 23rd the weather cleared. Allied aircraft could range freely over the Ardennes and they extracted a fearsome toll on the Germans. At the same time 3rd Army forces smashed into the southern flank of the German pocket, shattering and all but destroying the enemy forces before it. The German Army never recovered from the Battle of the Bulge and 'Wacht am Rhein' was the last offensive ever mounted by Hitler's military.<br />
<br />
Patton was convinced that the prayer, as applied by all the 3rd Army Soldiers who received a copy, was instrumental in changing the weather in the Allies favor. In Patton's mind it was confirmation that God was on his side and on the side of the 3rd US Army. For his part in composing the prayer Chaplain O'Neill was personally awarded the Bronze Star medal by Patton.<br />
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The story of Patton's prayer is important to me for two reasons. First, the images of the card you see above are those of an original card issued to my uncle, Captain Andy Harbison. Andy was a battery commander in the 176th Field Artillery Battalion which was operating in General Support of 3rd Army. He signed the card and sent it home to my aunt, Dorothy (Dottie) Harbison in Buffalo, NY.<br />
<br />
This extract from the 176th's field log highlights the battalion's involvement in the Battle of the Bulge.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tT8gxM5-BPk/UqR4sRtq80I/AAAAAAAAU6g/3r8jBt8NOsk/s1600/176th+FA+History.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="172" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tT8gxM5-BPk/UqR4sRtq80I/AAAAAAAAU6g/3r8jBt8NOsk/s400/176th+FA+History.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
The second reason is the 664th Engineer Topographic Battalion's involvement in the printing of Patton's 1944 Christmas greeting and prayer. While not a 'mapping' mission, it still represents a fascinating piece of US Army WWII topographic history. Almost 39 years to the day after General Patton ordered these cards printed I reported for duty with the indirect successor of the 644th Engineer Topographic Battalion. As a young Engineer captain I found myself assigned to the 649th Engineer Battalion (Topographic) in Schwetzingen, Germany. The 649th provided topographic support - mapping, survey, terrain analysis and map distribution - to all US Army forces in the European theater. A tenuous connection perhaps, but I like to think that I am part of the legacy of units that helped the US Army achieve victory in WWII.<br />
<br />
So, like General Patton, let me wish you all a holiday greeting in the firm belief that the Good Lord is on our side.<br />
<br />
Merry Christmas!<br />
<br />
Brian<br />
<i><br /></i>
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<br />Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11301078056782961841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620740354275997616.post-86862417014581950272013-12-06T12:55:00.000-05:002013-12-08T06:09:49.616-05:00GPS Proves Einstein!Well, it verifies Einstein's Theory of General Relativity.<br />
<br />
Here's a very interesting video of the 2012 Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate on whether neutrinos can travel faster than the speed of light. One of my favorite scientists, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_deGrasse_Tyson" target="_blank">Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson</a> (the fellow whom <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1tSkkbAWp8" target="_blank">Sheldon Cooper blamed for having Pluto downgraded from a planet to a mere ball of ice</a>) does a great job of moderating and keeps the discussion both lively and understandable for public school graduates like me.<br />
<br />
Part of the discussion focuses on Einstein's Theories of Relativity, both Special and General. The General Theory of Relativity states that time moves faster in low gravitational fields. This is known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_time_dilation" target="_blank">gravitational time dilation</a>. Starting about the 30 minute mark the discussion turns to how the atomic clocks on board the US Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites are intentionally 'slowed' to compensate for the changes in the progression of time in lowered gravitational fields. One of the panel members, <a href="https://www.ion.org/awards/2005-Kepler-Hegarty.cfm" target="_blank">Dr. Christopher Hegarty</a> of the MITRE corporation, comments on how tests have shown that if the clocks on the GPS satellites are not intentionally slowed then the signal accuracy based on the uncompensated clock will drop from a few dozen feet to about 11 kilometers in just one day!<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/5qlLW60wOjo?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Dr. Hegarty also comments about how some of the time compensation computations are actually handled by the GPS receiver software.<br />
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So remember folks, every time you fire up your GPS (or even just use your smartphone to find the nearest Starbucks) you are helping to verify the Theory of General Relativity. Go Einstein!Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11301078056782961841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620740354275997616.post-58851927478052017152013-11-17T10:55:00.002-05:002013-11-21T07:25:49.451-05:00The Harriman Geographic Index SystemA few months back I picked up a packet of US Army training regulations and manuals that were published in the 1920s and deal with mapping and aerial photography. Army publications from this era don't often appear on eBay, and those dealing specifically with mapping, surveying and related topographic sciences are even rarer. In fact, after years of hunting on eBay for historical publications dealing with these topics this was the first time I'd ever seen any from the inter-war period. My guess is that virtually all outdated documents got heaved into the garbage can in the late 1930s as the Army was ramping up for war and new publications covering map production and map reading were introduced.<br />
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I was surprised to find myself in a small bidding war for these documents. I'm sure it wasn't against anyone with a specific interest in Army topographic history. The other bidder(s) were more likely motivated by the relative rarity of the documents. In the end I paid about $30 for the packet and at the time I thought I'd bid too high. As it turns out I think I made a good investment.<br />
<br />
The packet included five Army Corps of Engineers publications:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Training Regulation 190-7, Topography and Surveying, Map Reading - The Harriman Geographic Index System (July 15, 1927)</li>
<li>Training Regulation 190-25, Topography and Surveying, Topographic Drafting (June 21, 1923)</li>
<li>Training Regulation 190-27, Topography and Surveying, Aerial Photographic Mapping (January 23, 1925)</li>
<li>Training Manual 2180-35, Topography and Surveying, Special Methods of Relief Representation (January 3, 1928)</li>
<li>Training Manual 2180-45, Topography and Surveying, Meridian Determination (April 16, 1928)</li>
</ul>
<br />
As a group these manuals represent an interesting view into the evolution of Army mapping activities that incorporate the lessons learned and the new technologies that emerged from our experience in WWI, particularly the use of aerial photographs as map substitutes and as base data for topographic map compilation. In these documents you get the sense that the Corps of Engineers is starting to realize that it now has significant responsibility for providing standard map products to a modern Army with a potential world-wide mission.<br />
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Most of these publications cover topics I'm well familiar with, but the Harriman Geographic Index System is something I'd never heard of before.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsX9XFJA_5PEeFQplio5jHX_4XS2-ApDG5R3lRlzjJXumJgCziipmUXwqHRN1DyXN97BeVMq4sCdTkxk6X7EN6SnrXuAQ4hhyphenhyphendvg9XSaNzK3lCTVmAOH0alg67BiX2xgx2n1d55I01gVA/s1600/Harriman+Index+System+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsX9XFJA_5PEeFQplio5jHX_4XS2-ApDG5R3lRlzjJXumJgCziipmUXwqHRN1DyXN97BeVMq4sCdTkxk6X7EN6SnrXuAQ4hhyphenhyphendvg9XSaNzK3lCTVmAOH0alg67BiX2xgx2n1d55I01gVA/s400/Harriman+Index+System+2.jpg" width="260" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click on the photo to enlarge</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Once I read through the document I realized that the Harriman system is designed to allow a Soldier to accurately locate himself or any feature on a map to within a few hundred feet anywhere in the world. In essence it is an early worldwide grid reference system (although it bears no resemblance to the current Military Grid Reference System).<br />
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It is also very complex. While the mechanics of the system were fairly easy for me to figure out, I can't imagine myself standing in front of a classroom of Soldiers trying to teach this system. It might have been a useful tool for well educated officers working in the relative comfort and calm of a rear-area command post, but for a tired, cold and scared draftee with a 9th grade education who is sitting in a muddy foxhole trying to call for artillery fire support this system is all but unusable.<br />
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The Harriman system uses the South Pole as the origin point and the International Date Line as the meridian. It successively divides up the Earth into smaller and smaller rectangles based on latitude and longitude. Each of these rectangles get an index number in the Harriman unit system that, when combined, permit locating features to within about half an acre.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdyT5Z1Iq_0k2AFPU8jyz-_CH9KbJ5mG2mSHNt7TtQaNm1DQfygbJUS8LeZWJDN7SfRzTSlNoZBo0TuTsrK3wYx6jSD-iPkQP16sLWfzjxlxhB1lcuLkZXaRkns997y3iwbzd2wTXlzwc/s1600/Harriman+system+units.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdyT5Z1Iq_0k2AFPU8jyz-_CH9KbJ5mG2mSHNt7TtQaNm1DQfygbJUS8LeZWJDN7SfRzTSlNoZBo0TuTsrK3wYx6jSD-iPkQP16sLWfzjxlxhB1lcuLkZXaRkns997y3iwbzd2wTXlzwc/s400/Harriman+system+units.jpg" width="257" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Harriman 'units'</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Since the Harriman system is based on latitude and longitude it is projected onto a spheroid. This means the land areas defined in this system vary with latitude. The further away from the equator the smaller the land area encompassed by a Harriman system rectangle. This also means the Harriman system is not a point identification system like the Military Grid Reference System, but is an area reference system that defines smaller and smaller rectangles on the face of the earth. The smallest area that can be defined in the Harriman System, the <i>Position Unit</i>, is 2 seconds in latitude and 1 second in longitude. This equates to about a 4,875 sq. ft. 'box' at 49 degrees latitude, or about a 70 ft x 70 ft area on the ground. The Harriman system has the potential to identify a point feature such as a road intersection with a positional accuracy that is well within the map accuracy standard for a 1:50,000 topographic line map. From a practical perspective Harriman's system is accurate enough.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHwS1BmU_s8PJ_Wy392Np37d0Pu5ahovTXa2RpJq208YI99mqbm6hkAgcWpUz-1ZwU4s8ohI49coma6VOtc-9P8OASriUwNN-x2l9OFwTYk4MSMvmVC-0bB4lu9sjEoVLaNNYtadwbtpU/s1600/Harriman+system+geograph.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHwS1BmU_s8PJ_Wy392Np37d0Pu5ahovTXa2RpJq208YI99mqbm6hkAgcWpUz-1ZwU4s8ohI49coma6VOtc-9P8OASriUwNN-x2l9OFwTYk4MSMvmVC-0bB4lu9sjEoVLaNNYtadwbtpU/s400/Harriman+system+geograph.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Harriman Index Geograph</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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But it's the identification of these units that can get confusing. The Harriman system requires the user to concatenate an ever longer string of numbers, separated by colons, semicolons and slashes, to identify locations. The smaller the area the longer and more confusing the string. For example, according to the manual the Harriman system ID for Battery Byrne at West Point would be designated as 2665:4515; 7792. Users of the Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) could argue that this system can be just as confusing. However, I'd counter that the MGRS use of the grid zone designation (ex: 18T) and the 100,000 meter grid zone ID (ex: WL) alpanumeric system takes a lot of confusion out of sending and receiving coordinate locations. For example, the MGRS coordinate identifier for the same Battery Byrne location is 18T WL 8726 8316. Perhaps it's my 30+ years of using MGRS that has me jaded, but I just think MGRS is less confusing.<br />
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Now the Harriman system isn't a <i>bad</i> system. In fact, it's quite logical and it works well within its known limitations. And I have to be honest, before the Harriman system there was... nothing. The Chief of Engineers was quite clear about what the Harriman system is and is not:<br />
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<i>"It should be realized that the Harriman index system is in no sense a method of map making or of chart building; still less is it a new system of projections. It is merely a simplified system of using an established arrangement. It may be used on any map or chart, regardless of projection or scale, provided the longitude and latitude of the southwest and northeast corners are available or can be determined by scaling on the map. Since only arabic numerals are employed in location designation, this system is capable of use in any language."</i><br />
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In the late 1920s the federal government seemed quite enamored with the system <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=5WAwAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA5-PA40&lpg=RA5-PA40&dq=harriman+geographic+code+system&source=bl&ots=_rrUf91KEF&sig=QhRHrFmdUBmmdMatGF6RfyVAA40&hl=en&sa=X&ei=MoKHUruhDcyGkQfgp4HQDw&ved=0CDIQ6AEwATgK#v=onepage&q=harriman%20geographic%20code%20system&f=false" target="_blank">and there are indications that a number of federal agencies had adopted it</a>. In 1928 Congress actually held hearings to decide whether to purchase an unlimited use license from its developer, George C. Harriman. But other than a few tangential references on the web I can't find any more discussion about it. This training regulation is the only full reference I've found. Even more interesting, when reviewing Army topographic references - training and field manuals - published beginning in the late 1930s as the US Army ramped up for war, I find no references to the Harriman system. <br />
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It appears Mr. Harriman's system was a flash in the pan, dropped by the Army in the 1930's as the Corps of Engineers realized it needed a better map coordinate system to address the exploding world-wide mapping requirements. The Army needed a coordinate system that was logical, consistent, accurate and easy to teach to the millions of draftees about to be deployed to battlefields around the world. It was out of this requirement that we got the Military Grid Reference System, a system stood the test of time and war.<br />
<br />
Brian<br />
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Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11301078056782961841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620740354275997616.post-296506869754813502013-11-13T07:49:00.002-05:002013-11-13T07:49:35.792-05:00The State of Mobile GIS SoftwareOver the past six months or so I've been doing a lot of casual testing of the various mobile GIS platforms available on the market today. Right now is an ideal time to discuss the offerings because just in the past week we've had an update to a key application in this arena (Collector for ArcGIS), we are on the verge of having an interesting new hardware player enter the market (Garmin's soon to be released Monterra handheld GPS) and several vendors are dropping serious hints about where they see their products headed in 2014.<div>
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I was ramping up to do a lengthy blog post on this when I dropped by <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/linkedalex" target="_blank">Alex Mahrou's</a> always interesting <a href="http://blog.rockymountaingeo.com/" target="_blank">RockyMountainGeo GIS blog</a> and was surprised to see he had already done all my work for me. Back in October Alex did a great overview of the current offerings in a posting titled <a href="http://blog.rockymountaingeo.com/2013/10/enterprise-mobile-gis-software.html" target="_blank">Enterprise Mobile GIS Software Functionality</a>. All I can do is add minor updates to some of his information and add a few of my own observations.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRUi0GJDBEMp68b9LeYi6qQ64akCp0r1VbKXh8VKpDHM6uBW3CP0ROMRkuTze6n2wUVb1kXYjSYpnoop7MpdTtoXmsR-7OerThWEi_THBtviatv_fAlRMtUK8jyKo6d4jI6obrT__A3Lw/s1600/RockyMountain+Geo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="327" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRUi0GJDBEMp68b9LeYi6qQ64akCp0r1VbKXh8VKpDHM6uBW3CP0ROMRkuTze6n2wUVb1kXYjSYpnoop7MpdTtoXmsR-7OerThWEi_THBtviatv_fAlRMtUK8jyKo6d4jI6obrT__A3Lw/s400/RockyMountain+Geo.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I like the switchboard analogy!</td></tr>
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The single biggest update is the newest version of <a href="http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/arcgisonline/apps/collector" target="_blank">Collector for ArcGIS</a> (version 10.2) that was released last week for the iOS and Android platforms. This version addresses one of the two biggest complaints about earlier versions of Collector - polyline and polygon data collection. It also offers an improved user interface and well thought out workflows. While the Android version still has some rough edges, the iOS version is a polished, smoothly functioning app that reflects ESRI's mature experience in developing for Apple's mobile operating system. It is a very good app.</div>
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Where ESRI seems to be unnecessarily holding back is off-line data collection and editing, and data synchronization. As Alex notes, ESRI informally promised that this feature would 'absolutely, positively' be incorporated into Collector before the end of 2013. It now looks like we'll have to wait until sometime in early 2014, when ESRI plans for a significant overall upgrade to Collector, perhaps better positioning it within their enterprise software offerings. In my opinion ESRI missed the ball on this one. Incorporating off-line data storage and editing in the iOS and Android operating systems isn't hard to do; Trimble had it available almost six months ago in their initial release of TerraFlex. I understand there are other issues at play here - background map data caching and the incorporation of operational layers (both something Trimble's offering lacks), but ESRI still could have incorporated basic off-line functionality in this new release and just built on it for the upcoming major release.</div>
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Trimble's TerraFlex is an app <a href="http://northingeasting.blogspot.com/2013/06/trimble-terraflex.html" target="_blank">I tested back in June</a> and was initially very impressed. Where most of ESRI's mobile offerings (Collector, ArcGIS App, ArcGIS for Windows Mobile) require some expensive back-end infrastructure - ArcGIS Online, Portal or ArcGIS for Server - TerraFlex offers a far simpler mobile solution paradigm. Everything is cloud based and single fee. You pay your money and you get everything TerraFlex has to offer, and all for a relatively paltry price as compared to ESRI's mobile solutions in the same marketplace. Of course, this easier to use solution comes at a cost (pun intended) - what the initial release of TerraFlex didn't offer was pretty extensive; no background map caching, no data editing either on the device or in the desktop interface, no operational layers, and some very limited data export options. On the other hand, what TerraFlex does offer is pretty impressive given the price: off line data storage and sync, mature and stable apps not just on the iOS and Android platforms, but Trimble also had an app available for the Windows Embedded Handheld OS right out of the gate. Trimble wasn't about to leave out the thousands of Trimble customers running their Juno handhelds who are still stuck with a dying Windows OS. Kudos to Trimble on this.</div>
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Trimble indicates many of these shortcomings will be addressed in 2014, and Trimble seems poised to leverage what they do best - allow TerraFlex to incorporate high precision GNSS positions (including RTK-based solutions) into the data collection stream. This could turn TerraFlex from a mere mapping grade data collector into a serious high precision data collection tool.</div>
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In his blog post Alex discusses <a href="http://fulcrumapp.com/" target="_blank">Fulcrum</a>. To be honest, this is an application I've known about but have not had a chance to test. Looks like I'll have to take it for a spin sometime soon.</div>
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So as 2013 draws to a close where are we at with mobile GIS solutions? The best analogy I can think of is that of a ballplayer with a lot of potential who's just been called up to the majors. His batting stats are getting better with each game, but he still has problems connecting with the ball. The potential is there, he just needs more time. So it is with mobile GIS apps. Most are still somewhat of a 'swing and a miss', but they are getting close to smacking the ball out of the park. Whether it's off-line data collection with ESRI's offerings or TerraFlex's incorporation of cached maps, in-app editing or incorporation of high precision position feeds, 2014 is starting to look like the field will really mature and we'll get closer to the full promise of mobile GIS.</div>
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It'll be an interesting year!</div>
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Brian</div>
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Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11301078056782961841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620740354275997616.post-35658555483602621562013-11-02T19:41:00.002-04:002013-11-03T05:10:38.845-05:00William J. Hudson's Pocket Transit History SiteSeveral times in this blog I've referenced an excellent pocket transit history site established by a gentleman by the name of William J. Hudson. His site was <i><u>the</u></i> resource for historical information on the development of the pocket transit, its many variations and changes down through the years. I considered it the best resource on pocket transits available anywhere on the web. <br />
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Unfortunately it looks like Mr. Hudson's site went off-line well over a year ago. I first noticed it about six months ago while doing some research on a pocket transit I had just added to my collection. Over the last few months I've been contacted several times either directly or through this blog about Mr. Hudson's site, asking if I knew when it might be available again. Since I don't know Mr. Hudson and I've never communicated with him I had no way of contacting him to see when or even if he intended to reestablish his website. It seemed a great resource for those interested in pocket transits was gone from the web forever.<br />
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Well, things don't <i>really</i> disappear from the web. They just get archived. I'm happy to report that I've stumbled upon an archive of the main page of Mr. Hudson's site hidden away in a dark corner of the internet. Unfortunately none of the linked pages such as his serial number breakdown page were archived, so that resource appears lost. But the main page is still chock full of useful information about the pocket transit's history, development and features.<br />
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I've linked to the internet archive for this page from the image below. When you open the page you'll have the option to download the page and graphics as a zip file. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHGuaN3d3k-b-q02z1-NACPbaheBGGGWXyB2OIAkr0MVKlbCZBxa6mdTHTW6feEEQPh0-rr4R8QV4RykDzfkUCXVgf8XqzQUCrWMGXFgdirz44QNd4mMYeCiKK_lIQuyKieUjNEObVlRo/s400/WilliamJHudsonPocketTransit_site.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="373" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://archive.is/MC9D" target="_blank">Click here to access the site archive</a></td></tr>
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I'm glad to have access again to at least a portion of this great resource. Mr. Hudson, if you read this, can we have your site back please? <strike>Hundreds</strike> a couple of diehard pocket transit collectors really miss the information your site provided!<br />
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BrianBrianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11301078056782961841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620740354275997616.post-80578769275777837602013-10-31T05:54:00.000-04:002013-10-31T06:21:04.670-04:00Lies, Damned Lies, and Cartography<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
If you are a cartographer or geographer this is just too funny.</div>
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We do occasionally get wrapped up in discussions like this. Seems lots of politicians and leaders want their town, precinct, district, state, country or continent to have pride of place. Along the way things will get distorted. That's the challenge of trying to depict curved surfaces (the earth) on flat paper, or on a computer screen.<br />
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Yes, there really is such a thing as a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gall%E2%80%93Peters_projection" target="_blank">Peters Projection</a> map, and <a href="http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa030201a.htm" target="_blank">here's a great discussion</a> about why those with political agendas shouldn't be allowed to design things like map projections.<br />
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Want to know what your piece of ground really looks like in relation to the rest of the world? Get a good old fashioned globe. Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11301078056782961841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620740354275997616.post-90795874098467499832013-10-20T09:44:00.001-04:002014-02-18T07:08:26.800-05:00A Tale of Two TrimblesEarlier this year Trimble released its newest generation of the Juno data collectors to the market. Unlike the previous generations of these devices (the original Juno S and the later Juno 3 series), the new Junos come in several different flavors depending on which business line within Trimble you purchase yours from. Those purchased through Trimble Mapping & GIS distributors are labeled the Juno 5. Those purchased through Trimble's Mobile Computing Solutions distributors are known as the T41. They are all based on the same hardware platform.<br />
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To confuse things even more, you can get either device running different operating systems, either <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/en-us/windows-embedded-handheld-6-5.aspx" target="_blank">Windows Embedded Handheld 6.5</a> (aka, Windows Mobile) or <a href="http://developer.android.com/about/versions/android-4.1.html" target="_blank">Android 4.1</a>. <br />
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<a href="http://northingeasting.blogspot.com/2013/05/trimble-juno-5.html" target="_blank">Back in May</a> my organization got its hands on a loaner 5D unit and I was initially impressed with the hardware but thought the Windows OS was holding the whole package back. At the time I viewed it as an outstanding piece of hardware saddled to an operating system that badly limits the unit's performance and potential. I was eager to get my hands on the T41, hoping that the current version of Android would unlock a lot of the performance potential of this device. About a month ago my organization purchased one 5D and one T41 to test. We were looking for an upgrade to our Juno 3D handhelds (very good devices, by the way) and were intrigued by the possibilities of the Android-based Juno T41; something we could run the ESRI ArcGIS and Collector apps on along with Trimble's new <a href="http://northingeasting.blogspot.com/2013/06/trimble-terraflex.html" target="_blank">TerraFlex</a> app.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dlpQ1kcrFzQ/UmPb7LZfxPI/AAAAAAAAUdk/a3XT-NQkQ1U/s1600/IMG_2832.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dlpQ1kcrFzQ/UmPb7LZfxPI/AAAAAAAAUdk/a3XT-NQkQ1U/s400/IMG_2832.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 5D (left) and the T41 (right)</td></tr>
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When we received the units and began to test them I made a number of quick observations. As I initially wrote back in May, the hardware is first rate. From the smartphone form factor to processor speed to screen resolution and clarity under a wide variety of conditions to the GPS module performance. This is a seriously good piece of hardware. Back in May I complained that the 5D lacked the ability to receive signals from the Russian GLONASS system. I still feel it's a shortcoming of the unit, but in actual use it may not matter. The overall performance of the GPS receiver in these new Trimbles is outstanding, with fast acquisition and the ability to hold signal lock under some very tough conditions like under full tree canopy cover. The GPS performance is so good I'm not (too) bothered by the lack of GLONASS capability.<br />
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One feature we did not test, and probably never will, is the 5D and T41 performance as an actual cell phone. While a cell phone data plan would greatly enhance the usefulness of these devices our organization is not willing to pay the cost to get these units activated as cell phones.<br />
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Where the 5D and T41 stumble are the operating systems. I've already touched on my issues with the Windows OS in my earlier posting, but let me expand a bit here. I understand why developers like Trimble stick with Windows Embedded Handheld. Trimble has over a decade of experience developing for the Windows Mobile environment. Most of their field data collector and survey system software like TerraSync was developed specifically for the Windows Mobile environment. I get it. Windows Embedded Handheld (WEHH) is stable and well understood and has proven itself in enterprise environments. So has Windows XP, and like XP WEHH isn't getting any better with age. <br />
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It must be a terrible time to be an enterprise mobile software developer working in the Windows environment. Microsoft is starting to release Windows 8 for mobile devices similar to the Juno, but by necessity these devices must connect with a compatible desktop computer for data transfer and application updates. Windows 8 on the mobile device isn't backwards compatible with earlier versions of Windows on the desktop, yet corporate America has yet to embrace Windows 8 and will likely be sticking with Windows 7 for several more years. What's a developer to do? In Trimble's case they stick with what they know and what their customers seem to be demanding - don't give me anything I can't sync with Windows 7. The problem with WEHH on the Juno 5D is that the software can't seem to take full advantage of what the hardware offers. It's like putting square wheels on a Ferrari. This comes to light when working with the 5D's camera. The camera is a very good 8 megapixel unit with dual flash. It takes great pictures. Too bad the WEHH camera control software sucks. It's slow, difficult to configure and the controls are not intuitive. It's like working with an early Windows CE-based smartphone, which is essentially what you have with the 5D running WEHH. The issue of hardware 'throttling' really comes to light when you compare this 5D camera experience with the camera on the T41 running on Android 4.1. The camera experience on tht T41 is entirely different and far more satisfying because Android does a much better job of interfacing with the camera. It's like you are working with an entirely different camera hardware module but it's really an OS performance issue. <br />
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Before moving away from the discussion of WEHH I do have to add that the performance of enterprise apps like TerraSync and ArcPad is very good on the 5D. Everything works as advertised, and the additional processing power of the 5D along with the larger screen size and improved resolution (over the Juno 3-series devices) makes for a great experience in the field. The new Trimble SatViewer application is also a great improvement over the old GPS Controller module found on other Trimble WEHH devices.<br />
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Now on to the T41. While the performance of the 5D was something of an expected disappointment, the performance of the T41, and Trimble's vision of how the T41 fits into their overall product line, comes as an unanticipated and surprising disappointment. <br />
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I'll leave aside any discussion of the T41 hardware - everything good I've discussed about the 5D hardware applies to the T41. Bottom line - the hardware is great.<br />
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At first glance Trimble's choice of operating system is also great. The unit comes pre-loaded with Android 4.1. I'm testing Android 4.2 on a Google Nexus 7 tablet and I'm about to admit that this version of Android is good enough to pull me away from my beloved iOS devices. Android is not an 'enterprise' OS and can't run applications like TerraSync or ArcPad, but there are a number of very good lightweight apps like ESRI's ArcGIS and Collector apps and Trimble's own <a href="http://northingeasting.blogspot.com/2013/06/trimble-terraflex.html" target="_blank">TerraFlex app</a> that uses a cloud data storage paradigm.<br />
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The problem is that the T41 comes with Trimble's in-house version of Android 4.1. It was developed using the open source version of Android and has not been certified under the Android Compatibility Program. This means that the T41 can't get access to the Google Play Store for installation of any one of the thousands of Android apps available through that environment. This includes ESRI's ArcGIS and Collector apps and even Trimble's own TerraFlex app. Not even Google's own Google Maps, Google Earth or the GMail app can be installed on this device! This is a serious oversight. I know plenty of surveyors and GIS professionals who depend on Google Maps and Google Earth on smartphones to support things like work crew routing, initial survey reconnaissance, survey control recovery and other tasks, and use programs like Google Drive to access project documentation in the field. There's also no reason you shouldn't be able to use GIS apps like ESRI's ArcGIS and Collector apps on this device.<br />
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Trimble's decision to not get this operating system certified is baffling. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Gxa97g5K6kDET75WfjDhxcaK7hlWTKWkvRGeOwOFTmLKPum5Giji4OR1av1K_rRmQ0gN85t1dGWZJyfodKsylAFU15rqFEpJucopyH3nC58wKKhckqLa7bXH91UH-0rRKYywJ5yy7IM/s1600/Juno+5+screen.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Gxa97g5K6kDET75WfjDhxcaK7hlWTKWkvRGeOwOFTmLKPum5Giji4OR1av1K_rRmQ0gN85t1dGWZJyfodKsylAFU15rqFEpJucopyH3nC58wKKhckqLa7bXH91UH-0rRKYywJ5yy7IM/s320/Juno+5+screen.png" height="320" width="192" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No Android Compatibility <br />
certification means<br />
no Google Maps, <br />
no Google Earth,<br />
no native GMail support,<br />
no Google Drive support,<br />
no ESRI or Trimble app support <br />
and the list goes on...</td></tr>
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Worse yet, Trimble makes regular mention of the Trimble App Store in their product documentation and even includes the link to this app store on the T41 when they ship the unit. The problem is, other than two crippled Trimble apps - the free versions of MyTopoMapViewer and Terrain Navigator Pro - there's nothing else in this app store. You <i>can</i> download apps to this device from the Amazon app store, but most of the apps available there are either older versions of what's available on Google's app store or are formatted specifically for Amazon's Kindle devices. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDPFn4kUJARTc8rosg1GDc4N9XmEvsluuz_N_SCiAdurfuGDx4l8xu0L-lv_8l19tXzpOGMmuQ5N0lGQDgTTScqAvyuvhGwdOuV7MsNFnH8uWxdEtCPn2heEj602YGY81lLbtcuryzqQU/s1600/Trimble+App+Store+Screenshot.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDPFn4kUJARTc8rosg1GDc4N9XmEvsluuz_N_SCiAdurfuGDx4l8xu0L-lv_8l19tXzpOGMmuQ5N0lGQDgTTScqAvyuvhGwdOuV7MsNFnH8uWxdEtCPn2heEj602YGY81lLbtcuryzqQU/s320/Trimble+App+Store+Screenshot.png" height="320" width="192" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trimble App Store icon</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji8JnuRN17Gs_PnHUR_TuvtQ7Hn4svzA0TWoD-uCcLL2W6AxGdbhy1uERqz_we8ALyrZdkbisrI5Hm8I004arrdKAKlW7ydwKxCmAdCQLSgiDg1NRCumKu9SmeyvhCkeBYRtDLrF_Q2-E/s1600/Trimble+app+store2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji8JnuRN17Gs_PnHUR_TuvtQ7Hn4svzA0TWoD-uCcLL2W6AxGdbhy1uERqz_we8ALyrZdkbisrI5Hm8I004arrdKAKlW7ydwKxCmAdCQLSgiDg1NRCumKu9SmeyvhCkeBYRtDLrF_Q2-E/s320/Trimble+app+store2.png" height="320" width="192" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What's in the Trimble App Store?<br />
Not much</td></tr>
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I honestly thought I was missing something here. Surely Trimble has something better for the T41 that I just couldn't get to. Perhaps a real app store that I just needed the right permissions to access or a software upgrade that would allow me to link to the Google Play Store. My local distributor put me in touch with Trimble's Mobile Computing Solutions (MCS) tech support and I quickly found out that no, what I got is all there is.<br />
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Apparently Trimble views the T41 as an 'enterprise only' unit. This means enterprises have to develop their own specific apps for it using the Trimble Android SDK. This is an OK approach, but there is still no reason to not have the OS version certified by Google. <i><b>It's just stunning to think that Trimble would ship an Android-based data collector that can't access Google Maps, Google Earth or even run Trimble's own Android-based data collection app!</b></i><br />
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I have heard rumors that Trimble is re-thinking this approach to the T41 and may be working to get its version of Android certified by Google. If and when this will happen I don't know - Trimble MCS hasn't been very forthcoming on the topic. <br />
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So where does this leave us when considering the 5D and the T41? Taking into account the unit cost (about $1,800 each) and the operating system issues shared by both of these devices I have to say that they are not worth the investment, particularly when you consider that Trimble still offers a very capable handheld unit - the Juno 3D - at about half the cost.<br />
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If Trimble releases a version of Android that allows access to the Google Play Store I'll come back and do an updated review, but for now I simply can't recommend either of these devices.<br />
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Brian<br />
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<br />Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11301078056782961841noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620740354275997616.post-86428689574173647312013-10-14T07:29:00.000-04:002013-10-14T07:40:28.573-04:00Well DarnWhat's an old topographer to do when he needs a few PDFs of historic topo sheets?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ3VCjpYBA63Mu0ZUNX3OcMinuD7khI1KWI3zR5eUdvfwrC7R5g9JaAgs8_TI8Bg9zCAq6bmjNdBZ8IKnazllEtAMGJb83XyisSClN4443kdbNB07p4TcoUeRg2YK_rE4odwvnUFn3AD0/s1600/USGS+Closure.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ3VCjpYBA63Mu0ZUNX3OcMinuD7khI1KWI3zR5eUdvfwrC7R5g9JaAgs8_TI8Bg9zCAq6bmjNdBZ8IKnazllEtAMGJb83XyisSClN4443kdbNB07p4TcoUeRg2YK_rE4odwvnUFn3AD0/s400/USGS+Closure.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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If this foolishness continues I may have to expand the Map Room to start stocking (more) paper maps.Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11301078056782961841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620740354275997616.post-22882942425544086962013-09-19T22:02:00.000-04:002013-09-19T22:02:31.851-04:00It's New! It's Revolutionary! It's...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Aerial photo scanning!</div>
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Damn, what's next? Televisions that get programs from space? Phones you can carry in your pocket? Computers that can talk to each other?<br />
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Why, I'll bet that by 2013 we'll even have cars that fly, just like George Jetson's!<br />
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<br />Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11301078056782961841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620740354275997616.post-59184049425384081862013-09-01T07:26:00.000-04:002013-09-02T07:10:24.772-04:00Thinking in 3DThis week at work, just for fun, I set up a stereoscope and slid some stereo photos underneath the mirrors. These photos are high resolution, large scale shots taken back in April when we had a new orthorectified aerial image of the airport developed. I asked the contractor to send me a stereo pair from the project that I could play around with. It's been years since I spent any time peering though the optics of a stereoscope and it was fun to look over the images and realize just how much a stereo view adds to one's ability to pick out details. <br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hGAoRIFKecs/UiMZmIhOAEI/AAAAAAAAUPI/vVWsnk85mR4/s1600/IMG_2567.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="282" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hGAoRIFKecs/UiMZmIhOAEI/AAAAAAAAUPI/vVWsnk85mR4/s400/IMG_2567.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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There was a time when analyzing stereo images was a critical skill in my field and other related fields. But with the rise of commercial satellite imagery, the slow demise of wet process aerial film cameras and the development of digital imagery analysis systems like ERDAS Imagine and ESRI's improved raster management routines in ArcGIS there has been less and less call for hard copy stereo image analysis. Software routines now handle most analysis tasks. Of course photogrammetrists still process, manage and analyze stereo imagery, but it's all done on high end digital systems these days. The fields that used to derive benefit from hard copy stereo imagery - topography, geology, forestry, hydrology, even the US military - all seem to have lost their institutional 'feel' for the usefulness of stereo imagery analysis.<br />
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The issue was brought home to me this week when I invited a small group of GIS professionals and Engineering staff (both licensed civil engineers and engineering technicians) to drop by my desk to have a look at these stereo photos. Most could not get the photos properly aligned underneath the stereoscope. Few recognized any real benefit from seeing the structures in stereo. Most thought it was just a cute parlor trick. That's a shame because the stereo photos permitted quick and easy identification of features that are not readily apparent in the same 2D images. Things like antenna masts and raised utility piping on the roofs of concourses, raised concrete pads and curbing in the aircraft gate areas and even small assemblies like receiver domes on the tops of aircraft fuselages stood out in clear detail when viewed in stereo. <br />
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So how does one use stereo photos for analysis? Check out <a href="http://northingeasting.blogspot.com/2011/04/terrain-analysis.html" target="_blank">this blog posting from a while back</a>.<br />
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Conducting stereo analysis using hard copy photos should be much cheaper and easier these days. Years ago in the era of wet process film cameras making copies of stereo photos was time consuming and expensive. Someone had to pull a roll of film negatives, go into a darkroom and make prints one by one. With today's digital imagery systems all one has to do is download the image files from a server and print them out using relatively cheap but very high quality color ink jet printers. The images I received from our contractor were full resolution TIFF files, each about 1.4 gigabytes. I was able to subset just the areas I wanted to view and print them out at full resolution using only the image management software that comes with Windows 8. Fast and cheap!<br />
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Federal and state governments are sitting on a gold mine of historical stereo aerial photos. The Federal government (USGS, USC&GS, Soil Conservation Service, Department of Agriculture, Tennessee Valley Authority, Army Corps of Engineers, etc.) started using stereo aerial photography for mapping as early as the mid-1920s and over the course of the next 90 years proceeded to photograph virtually all of the United States in stereo. Stereo aerial photography was the foundation of all of our topographic mapping activities through most of the 20th century and it remains so today. Much of this photography is still held in individual agency archives or has been turned over to the National Archives. I'd love to see the National Archives digitize and post nationally significant stereo pairs of images online for downloading and viewing. Places like the Grand Canyon, Yosemite and Yellowstone or historic events like the Mount St. Helens post-eruption photos or levee breaches along the Mississippi River during the spring floods. Even historic shots of our cities and suburbs that will help students understand how topography impacts issues like urban sprawl.<br />
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Humans view and relate to their world in three dimensions. It's a shame that today we are relegated to investigating it via boring 2D computer displays. I think it's time to bring back 3D image analysis! Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11301078056782961841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620740354275997616.post-64370973672335118112013-06-25T22:48:00.000-04:002013-06-29T09:40:02.691-04:00Garmin Gets SeriousI got a <a href="http://garmin.blogs.com/my_weblog/2013/06/introducing-monterra-new-garmin-outdoor-handheld-with-android-os.html#.UcpKq_m1FSI" target="_blank">news release today</a> that Garmin is about to release their first Android-based GPS receiver. This is a move I long suspected one of the major GPS receiver manufacturers would make, and given Garmin's market dominance and <a href="http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/garminfone-t-mobile/4505-6452_7-34097120-2.html" target="_blank">previous experience with Android</a> I naturally assumed they would be first.<br />
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<a href="http://garmin.blogs.com/.a/6a00d83451bb7069e2019103a3d6e4970c-600wi" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://garmin.blogs.com/.a/6a00d83451bb7069e2019103a3d6e4970c-600wi" width="316" /></a></div>
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Garmin calls it the Monterra. What is it? Well, it's essentially a smartphone without the phone. An Android based GPS unit with a digital camera, LED flash, compass, barometer, gyro, accelerometer, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, MicroSD card slot, etc. About the same features you'd expect to find on a mid-high range smartphone. Ho-hum.<br />
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But the Monterra offers some key differences. First, it started life as a GPS receiver, designed by the world's leader in consumer GPS technology. This means the GPS performance and antenna design should have received priority consideration. Next, it's IPX7 compliant, which means it's highly water resistant and shock resistant. Third, it has user replaceable batteries. Limited battery life is perhaps the single biggest argument against using a regular smartphone as a back-country GPS receiver. With user replaceable batteries, and the use of standard AA cells, Garmin makes this a serious off-the-beaten path unit. And last, it uses Android. What, you ask? Why is that important? The adoption of Android as the OS opens the device to a whole range of outstanding GPS and mapping applications. In fact, I'd go out on a limb and say that most users will load this thing up with third party apps and pay little attention to the included Garmin apps and map package offerings.<br />
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But my interest in the device focuses on its potential as a serious GIS data collection tool. For the first time we have a rugged, water resistant Android-based GPS unit that should be able to run ESRI's ArcGIS and Collector apps and Trimble's new Terra-Flex app. It offers all the hardware capability those apps need to leverage for effective data collection - good GPS performance, high resolution digital camera, a responsive high resolution touch screen and good battery life. Once ESRI gets its act together and introduces data caching with their Android apps the lack of full-time data connectivity via a cellular data plan won't be so important. ESRI may well be there by the time this device is released (and Terra-Flex is already there).<br />
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I only have three concerns. First, the relatively small 8 gigabyte system memory. Second, Garmin has not announced what version of Android this will ship with. Here's hoping it's at least 4.1. And last, the price. Garmin has initially priced this thing at $650. When you consider an unlocked top end smartphone like the iPhone 5 or the Samsung Galaxy S4 goes for just a bit more, and the very capable Google Nexus 4 goes for way less, you begin to think this thing is somewhat over priced. I'm hoping the retail pricing comes in a bit less.<br />
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Still, it has the potential to be a very price competitive and capable field data collection unit. Is it about time to retire the old Juno? We'll see...Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11301078056782961841noreply@blogger.com0