Hopefully the MIS will help to accelerate the usability of GIS for managers in the field. The focus of this year's Workshop is how the Service uses or could use GIS tools to address conservation issues. Two mini-courses, GIS Design for Regional Conservation Planning and GIS Design for Refuge Management , will be offered. Each session will be initiated with the presentation of a GIS application illustrating the breakout session topic. The registration deadline of May 12th is fast approaching so get your training form in soon.
WAGE provides position error estimates to indicate the quality of the position data.
Horizontal positioning can be enhanced to 1-2 meters with the use of a Coast Guard Beacon radio receiver or a radio receiver and an annual service charge from a private vendor. Documentation that accompanies the PLGR is difficult to follow and resulted in complaints about ease of use when compared with other GPS products. A followup video covering more advanced topics, like collecting polygon information and using the unit with a lazer range finder, is due out this summer. Keeping fresh AA batteries in your unit will help maintain the life of your memory battery. It is recommended you send in your PLGR to the FWS GPS-PPS Coordinator, Pat Carroll, annually to reset the encryption.