Friday, July 8, 2011 Lethbridge

5:00 am

The temperature is +18 C, with a high predicted of +21 C.

From the Environment Canada website: Today A mix of sun and cloud. Wind west 30 km/h increasing to 50 gusting to 70 near noon. High 21. UV index 7 or high. Tonight Clearing late this evening. Wind west 60 km/h gusting to 80 diminishing to 30 gusting to 50 this evening. Low 10. Normals Max: 25°C Min: 10°C.

5:10 am Technology

When I woke up this morning I realized that there was a flaw in my logic regarding using the iPhone to provide me with tracking data for geotagging the photos I might take with a camera. This would only work where I was in range of a cell phone tower. Unfortunately much of my time while geocaching or hiking is in the mountains where there is no cell phone coverage.

But I do have a tracking device called a BT-335 Logger which works with a software program called Houdah. I recall testing this last year but then moved on to other activities and have not used it since. It is time to have another look at this.

I have just updated the Houdah software and am now in the process of recharging the unit. I still need to check that the time set in the Logger is the same as that in my camera. Then I am ready to try another test by taking a few photos while walking around the block (or better, by taking my coulee walk).

11:00 am Literature

I am thoroughly enjoying "Sanctuary Line".

Here are a few more quotes.

"What we are drawn to and what we turn away from are equal, I think, in their power over our bodies and our minds and seem, to me at least, to be equally determining of what becomes of us." [p. 79]

"Thrown off course by a sudden shift in wind, a butterfly will never reach its intended destination. It will die in flight, without mating, and the exquisite possibilities it carries in its cells and in the thrall of its migration will simply never come to pass." [p. 79]

"Search-and-rescue is perfect for poetry, she said with what I now see as a surprising amount of insight. Think of it as a metaphor." [p. 84]

"A lost person must in some way or another choose rescue." [p. 85]

"But I now realize that my uncle's stories took paths we never knew about and were repeated in rooms we would never see, heard like a dream whispered uncertainly on the edge of sleep, used, perhaps, to buy time or affection. Is there anyone alive who remembers these tales, I now wonder?" [p. 107]

"The birds from the sanctuary were beginning to migrate; chevron after chevron appeared over the lake, heading south." [p. 108]

4:00 PM Technology

I have combined a second trip to the coulee with the BT-335 Logger and my Rebel camera. I had little difficulty geotagging the photos. Good. I was also able to transfer the information to Google Earth and see the path I walked as well as all the photos that I took. The extra effort to do this was minimal.

Having said that, I am not sure that I would make this a regular habit. But it may be just that. At the moment my routine is to take photos and then look at them in full screen in iPhoto. Seeing a small photo accompanying the track of a route is neat, but the image is no longer worth looking at. Plus there is the slight annoyance of having to move between software packages: first transfer the images from the camera to iPhoto, then transfer the logging data to the Houdah software, then using the Houdah data to geotag the photos, then using Google Earth to see the track/photos. Far too much time on technology.

What I want is a good GPS device that makes geocaching a pleasure and a good camera for taking photos while I am out. The emphasis should be on the activity with only a small amount of extra effort to document the event. I am pretty sure that I will buy the Montana 600 (with no camera). All that remains is to verify that the Backroad topo maps will work (both on the Montana as well as on my Mac) and I will be ready to continue geocaching.