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| Subject: | RE: GISList: RFI: Getting creative in the field |
| Date: |
11/21/2001 02:47:50 PM |
| From: |
Dimitri Rotow |
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>
> Dimitri,
> You caused me much laughter. I would not subject a poor
> undergraduate to such a situation. The fact that laptops have
> very limited battery life conjured up this image of big backpack
> with a huge heavy battery just to keep going and the poor
> undergraduate buckling at the knees carrying his "cross".
> Unfortunately coloured laptops screens don't work well in bright
> sunlight so I believe the professor would have to view a limited
John -
That's a funny image, but as much as I enjoy poking fun at suffering
graduate students I wouldn't go that far. Modern laptops that sell for
about $1000 are almost paper thin and very light. You wouldn't notice the
weight of the laptop at all. The weight of the laptop is so insignificant
when attached to a backpack frame that the professor I mentioned didn't even
bother to get a lightweight laptop... he just used whatever old laptop was
at hand.
Battery life seems to deliver (routinely) three to eight hours depending on
what laptop is used and the mix of features. One should have no difficulty
configuring a light, effective system that will run for a full day of work
in the field.
There are different strategies with color screens and sunlight. It is once
again a tradeoff between price and capability. There are plenty of
ruggedized, sunlight-readable laptops available on the market, but they are
all very expensive as compared to using mass-market laptops.
Our professor friend is unhappy with his old laptop when viewed in direct
sunlight, so he is experimenting with a cloth visor that folds out over the
screen. It's somewhat goofy looking, but it's zero weight, works well and
saves him thousands of dollars over the cost of a screen designed for direct
readability.
Regarding your push into custom devices: I don't mean to be uncharitable,
but a custom device is not for everyone. Costs can be very high, even
higher than a ruggedized, sunlight-readable laptop. If centimeter accuracy
is not required, why not use ordinary, off-the-shelf devices?
Mass market devices will often provide better capabilities than custom at
lower weight. To take one example: I could be wrong, but the pictures on
your web site of your "wearable" instrumentation seem to show a much heavier
device than, say, a Sony Vaio. I'd be interested to learn how many ounces
your wearable device weighs, to be able to compare it to one of the new,
thin laptops. Another example is the quality of GPS. A $170 Garmin eTrex
with WAAS is featherweight, runs 16 hours on batteries and provides 2 meter
accuracy. It's also waterproof and has a host of features. True, it does
not have centimeter accuracy, but for 2 meter applications it's tough to
beat.
A final consideration is that if you run a laptop you can choose from a vast
array of off-the-shelf software. You can use any one of many different
freeware, shareware or commercial GPS packages, GIS packages and so on. So,
costs are greatly reduced for software.
Cheers,
Dimitri
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