Introducing Electronic Mapping Tools in a Geology Field Camp and a Research-Based Geology Curriculum

电子测绘工具，包括全球定位系统（GPS）和激光测距设备，有望彻底改变地质测绘。我们的项目将使我们的野外营地和校园的学生熟悉该设备的工作，并使他们能够在该设备的精度和数据管理能力允许的情况下发展对地质学的新见解。影响最大的将是我们在落基山脉进行的为期六周的野外训练营。GPS最适合支持我们的传统测绘练习，并将在几个多天的项目中用于定位点和记录数据。激光测距仪与GPS相结合，提供了一种快速准确的小区域详细地形和地质测绘方法。全站仪在使用适当的测量技术时，以更多的时间为代价，提供更高的精度。通过在几个项目中使用全站仪和测距仪，学生将掌握每种工具的功能和局限性的实践经验。通过我们的项目，学生将能够为他们的任务选择合适的工具，了解工具的操作原理，并在现场环境中有效地使用工具。在我们15年的野外教学营中，我们发现了许多野外问题，这些工具非常适合解决这些问题，我们很高兴看到结果。我们已经能够与GPS进行试点工作，因此有设计有效项目的经验。我们的部门有一个成功的理念，使我们所有的仪器提供给所有层次的学生。因此，该设备还将支持校园课程和学生研究项目的创新，从入门级学生创建地形图到高年级学生开发基于当地外溢沉积物精确测绘的新研究项目。

Electronic mapping tools, including global positioning system (GPS) and laser ranging equipment, promise to revolutionize geological mapping. Our project will give students in our field camp and on campus a working familiarity with this equipment, and allow them to develop new insights into geology that the precision and data-managing capability of this equipment allow. The largest impact will be in our six-week field camp, taught in the Rockies. GPS is best suited to support our traditional mapping exercises, and will be used to locate points and log data in several multiple day projects. Laser rangefinders, coupled with GPS, provide a means of fast and accurate detailed topographic and geologic mapping of small areas. Total stations, when used with proper surveying techniques, provide even higher accuracy, at a cost of more time. By using both a total station and a rangefinder in several projects, students will develop practical experience with the capabilities and the limitations of each tool. As a result of our project, students will be able to select the appropriate tool for their task, understand the principles on which the tools operate, use the instruments effectively in a field setting. In our 15 years of teaching field camp, we have uncovered a number of field problems that these tools are well suited to address, and we are excited to see the results. We have been able to pilot work with GPS, and thus have the experience to design effective projects. Our Department has a successful philosophy of making all of our instrumentation available to students at all levels. Thus this equipment will also support innovations in courses and student research projects on campus ranging from introductory students creating topographic maps to seniors developing new research projects based on precise mapping of local outwash deposits.