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G'day Mike,

Your comment resonates with me. In 1983 or '84, I took a night course in 
surveying course at the local University of the City in which I was living at 
the time. A good portion of the course entailed doing field work such as 
precision levelling and using theodolites to map out geographic features. The 
final exam, upon which 100% of our final mark was based, consisted almost 
entirely of math problems; more precisely, trigonometry. My mind went 
completely blank for the first hour of the three hour exam. I can still feel 
the panic after all of these years. All's well that ends well: I recovered my 
senses and ended up with a respectable B+ after burning through the exam with 
a resolute sense of purpose.

Fast forward 20 some years to a remote site where I was assisting a survey 
tech in mapping out an abandoned military base. He set up a black box with a 
powerful telescope after which our summer student and myself scrambled -- 
with an ATV -- all over an area measuring several square miles armed with a 
reflector rod (I can't remember the actual name of the device). I think the 
survey tech had to set up maybe three times. After two 8 hour days of this, 
the techie loaded the contents of his black box into a computer and presto! 
He had a detailed map of the immediate area complete with contour lines, 
lakes, buildings, rocks and anything else that struck our fancy. And I didn't 
see him perform a single calculation. Our summer student, however, was rather 
tired from all of the racing around.

Indeed, everything has changed.

Robert

----- Original Message -----
From: MIKE BURKES 
Date: Thursday, June 8, 2006 10:00 am
Subject: Re: Plotting LOP's

> Yes Robert I cannot agree more! I am preparing for a career change to
> surveying (anyone know of any entry level positions?)  and that
> field also
> has undergone the eletronic transition. With these data collectors
> even the
> time honored field book is electronic but I can understand time is
> money!Mike Burkes
>
>
> >From: Robert Eno 
> >Reply-To: Navigation Mailing List  L@LISTSERV.WEBKAHUNA.COM>>To: NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERV.WEBKAHUNA.COM
> >Subject: Re: Plotting LOP's
> >Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2006 09:29:30 -0400
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >Does anyone besides me see the irony in all of these discussions
> about>electronic plotting, excel spreadsheets and turbo-charged
> calculators with
> >stainless steel exhaust risers against the backdrop of traditional
> >celestial navigation?
> >
> >I will admit I own a Celesticomp V and use it on occassion when I
> really>need a quick fix, however, I derive immense pleasure from
> actually reducing
> >my sights longhand (notwithstanding I use a scientific calculator
> to do the
> >math), and then plotting the LOPs on a good old fashioned
> plotting sheet;
> >whether it be homemade or commercially produced. This is part of
> the joy of
> >the craft and I find it therapeutic and relaxing. Think of sight
> reduction>as foreplay. Ya gotta work hard and incrementally in
> order to get to home
> >base. And when you do, what can be more satisfying than a series
> of tight
> >LOPs on a plotting sheet and the knowledge of a job well done?
> >
> >Give me pencil and paper anytime...and yes, a set of trig and log
> tables.>
> >Robert
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> >
> >From: Guy Schwartz 
> >
> >Date: Wednesday, June 7, 2006 11:40 pm
> >
> >Subject: Plotting LOP's
> >
> >
> >
> > > Has anyone come up with a method of having a computer plot LOP's
> > > with Excel or other standard software.
> > > I know there are specialized products such as Navigator and Star
> > > pilot that will do it.
> > > Thanks
> > > Guy
>

   

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