In June 1996 our research team took a Trimble global positioning system data collector and base station to Sichuan in order to train members of the SIPD in its use. The training included four days of field work in the Anning River Valley during which Prof. Gong lectured on the use of GPS and remote sensing data, while Don Maszle discussed database design and set up the Sichuan group for recording points for the Anning study. At the left Professor Gong demonstrates to the Sichuan group how to set up a base station so that points can be precisely located using differential correction and a known location.
Good accuracy is necessary for correlating ground points to pixels on satellite images.
The base station shown here was on the roof of a school house in the Anning R. Valley. After initial discussions and trouble-shooting some problems with the equipment and software, seventeen sites throughout a 50 km stretch of rural Sichuan were visited for observation and mapping. On the right, Mr. Wen Song geopositions a rice paddy. Also as part of our technology exchange, we delivered a PC workstation and basic instruction in ArcView software for spatial analysis and data exploration. We hope to outfit the Institute with complete GIS capabilities on Unix workstation.