Tech Blog

Dual XGPS300, GPS and Cradle for iPod Touch Part II

2010-11-02T14:38:00.001-04:00

Now that I have had the chance to work with the Dual GPS Cradle for about a month, I have learned several important lessons and uses.

The most important functions and constraints are:

It works as a GPS while I still can use my Touch to play music on it. You need to start playing the music prior to starting a gps application, but the music will continue to play in background while the cradle makes the Touch act like a GPS.
The GPS does supply data to applications that are written for the iPhone GPS chip. I have used the GPS function with several different applications wrote for the iPhone and they all seem to work very well. The GPS of the cradle is very sensitive and generally work within a single floor building.
When I have used the iPod Touch with my wireless internet card it has done a nice job of loading maps quickly as I am moving, I have used it with Google Earth as I was driving, once my speed increases beyond about 30 miles per hour, the map had trouble displaying information quickly enough to keep me on the map. But when I was walking across the Purdue campus (where my daughter attends) to attend a football game it did a very good job of keeping my position visible on the screen. The one problem is that the Touch will go into sleep mode. This does not occur when utilizing the GPS software that comes with the Cradle; it does not go into sleep mode.
The GPS switch on the back of the cradle is important. If you leave the switch in the GPS position the cradle battery will discharge relatively rapidly and when the cradle battery is discharged the GPS will not function. Therefore, it is important when using in the field to move the switch to the off position when not using as a GPS.
It does a good job with ESRI application as well as other free apps. I have at this time not purchased any applications, but have downloaded several free applications.
I used the Cradle GPS and compared it to my notebook GPS on a recent trip to Washington DC and would say they compared very similar. They both indicated my turns, distances and speed. While the routes varied slightly, they both gave the same speeds and distance to turns. The Cradle GPS also brought up graphics (on some exits) of what the exit looked like, I just wish it would have brought the graph up a little sooner (less than a tenth of a mile) and had a very limited set of exits that it displayed.

Dual XGPS300, GPS and Cradle for iPod Touch

2010-10-07T12:35:00.006-04:00

This article will discuss the usage of a Dual XGPS300 Cradle (retails for around $200) to convert an iPod Touch into a GPS. The cradle contains a battery which can be used to charge the iPod Touch, a GPS receiver, as well as windshield mount and car charger. When the GPS is plugged into the cradle initially it will download two software applications to utilize the GPS functions (if connected to broadband). One application shows only your current coordinates (GPS Cradle) to thousandth of a degree while the other shows your position on a map (NavAtlas). When the software is running it turns off the sleep mode of your iPod Touch so it displays the map continuously. The GPS functions also work with typical iPod Touch function such as touch screen, zooming and automatic screen rotation. The cradle is a true GPS not using any type WiFi or phone method to determine position instead it use the GPS constellation of satellites.

According to Dual (http://www.gpscradle.dualav/com/how) that any program that request GPS functions will work the cradle. Apps designed for the iPhone should work successfully with the cradle and while the apps that are free with the Cradle have limitations it has links to numerous apps to use, some are free and others have a cost associated with them. This includes geocaching ($7.99 - $9.99) Hiking ($4.99 - $7.99), Biking (free - $2.99), food (free), golf (free - $9.99). A future post will discuss these other software.

The cradle makes the iPod Touch function like most commercial car GPS units. It has a feature which assumes that it is in a car and you should be on a road, so once you have left the road it still tries to keep you on the road for several 100 feet. For example as I was driving across the parking lot it wanted to keep me on the road initially until I got several hundred feet away from the road. Therefore, it does not have as much function as a GPS that is made for trails or hunting because of this limitation within the software. But as a car GPS it has very good maps with lots of Points of Interest (POI) and you can control which ones are displayed. You can also route trips using the features built into the software, which will display turns, distances and time to destination. It will give verbal information either through the external speakers of the cradle or by connecting into your car radio auxiliary jack. When connect to the car radio, the radio must be in the auxiliary position to hear the voice commands. The trip routing was very good and compared to other GPS's that I use with computer software. You do have the limitation of the size of the iPod Touch screen.

A feature that other car GPS cannot do is play music, you can play music on the iPod Touch while using the GPS functions and both worked just as they did individually. Since all the maps are loaded on the Touch when the app is installed it takes up about 35% of my 8GB Touch. I do this same operation (playing music and GPS) with my Netbook and USB GPS using Delorme Street Maps and car power inverter. While the map is smaller than with my Netbook (similar size to most car GPS units), it is touch sensitive and is mounted directly on my windshield something I cannot do with my Netbook.

The cradle also comes with a windshield mount that stayed fixed to my windshield over some fairly bumpy roads; the mount contains a holder for the iPod Touch GPS with clip to make sure it keeps good connections as well as a patch cable to connect to the car radio and a power connector for the car's auxiliary power connector.

The only real disadvantage of this GPS is that it does not function well as a trail GPS with the software that comes with it. The cost is reasonable if you already have an iPod Touch, but if you are purchasing the iPod and cradle only for GPS usage it is expensive.

New Presentations

2010-05-12T09:06:00.007-04:00

Three new presentations have been prepared for the KCTCS New Horizon Conference.

Using high end software remotely nh

View more presentations from Vince123.

Gis Across Curriculum nh

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What’s New in Web 2.0 NH

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Cities Moved in the Chile Earthquake

2010-03-11T13:42:00.001-05:00

An interesting fact due in large part to GPS technology is the determination that several cities moved during the recent 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile. The city of Concepcion, Chile near the epicenter of the earthquake has moved at least 10 feet. The capital of Chile, Santiago, moved about 11 inches. Both of these movements were to the west. Therefore, the maps on a handheld GPS might be inaccurate. To learn more about this go to: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35780643/ns/technology_and_science-science/ and for a dynamic map of the area visit our map located at http://216.69.2.32/chilean_earthquake

Microsoft Live Sync

2010-01-28T14:04:00.001-05:00

Video

Large wmv 720 x 480

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How many times have you left home only to realize that data that you needed was back on your home computer and you cannot access it directly or you want to share a file with an out of town colleague only to realize the file size is larger than your email limitations or that you and your colleague both updated the file and the files are not synchronized.

Potential solutions might be found in cloud computing by the use of online application that stores information in the 'cloud'. For example if the application software is online such as Google Documents then you can write your document online and share it with colleagues or access it yourself through the web on any computer. But if the files are your not typical applications like spreadsheets, word processing files, etc. then the cloud computing might not solve the problem.

For our application we will be looking at geospatial files (geodatabase) that will be generated by one team of researchers in Illinois and another team in Kentucky that uses a Flex map server located in Kentucky. So when the geodatabase is edited by Illinois team and saved it will automatically port to the Flex map server and will be displayed when the map is accessed via of the Internet. This collaboration should be seamless to the user and the researcher, since each team will be updating files in local folders, but will be synchronized in the background. The solution that the team will utilize is Microsoft Live Sync. http://sync.live.com

The test that we have run has three different users accessing the same file folder that contained over 2000 files and multiple gigs of information, one of the users has three different computers connected to the sync folder; one on an on campus computer a pc, another on campus computer which is a mac, and the third is an off campus computer. Therefore, five different computers have a common synchronization with one folder; any changes made to any of the five local folders will result in a change on all five computers. One of the computers used in the test has the folder on an external harddrive. The Live Sync will also work on single users personal folded, in addition once the sync program is running on the remote computer of one user, it can be browsed and files accessed via the web.

What happens if multiple people access the same folder? Since the folders and files are saved on each local computer and there is no interconnection between the files, there is no locking of the file, as would occur on a single computer or a server. Therefore, if two people open the same file at the same time, they both can modify the file, when the file is saved a synchronization will occur on all computers, so the first saved file will be synchronized and then when the second file is saved it will not have the information from the first user since that file was open when the save occurred. So when the second user saves the file, it will overwrite the work of the first user and those edits will be lost on all computers once the synchronization occurs. There are server solutions that will keep the files synchronized or lock other user out of the files, but this solution is free, easy to install and ports through firewalls.

Microsoft Live Sync seems to be a powerful free tool for three uses, synchronization of personal files, sharing files among colleagues and the ability to browser your own personal remote computer passing through firewalls. The limitations are the ability to do simultaneous editing of common files. It does not appear to have any size limitations on the amount of data that will be passed between individuals. The initial synchronization does take some time depending on the size of the file folder.

WolframAlpha

2009-11-02T09:09:00.004-05:00

A friend recently made me aware of the following application which might be of use to you in your work. It is called WolframAlpha and can be located at http://www.wolframalpha.com/.

It is a computational engine that appears to be very powerful. It uses the mathematic form. The image below is one of their examples.
I typed in fall 100 m and I got this:
Ss I explore this engine in more details I will write additional information. This is a partial list of what claims it can do:

GPS Workshop

2009-09-18T08:30:00.001-04:00

A half day GPS workshop is being help on September 18^th on the Southwest Campus of Jefferson and on September 25^th on the Downtown Campus of Jefferson. The material for the workshop is posted at http://techcenter.jefferson.kctcs.edu/RS/topics/GPS/Pages/default.aspx which is part of an online remote sensing course and the slides are posted at http://techcenter.jefferson.kctcs.edu/presentation/Vince/091809/Pages/default.aspx. Additional information about the workshop can be obtained by contacting me directly.

A Netbook as your GPS

2009-09-03T21:25:00.001-04:00

Netbook computers while they may have a small screen as a computer they have a very large screen as a GPS. I recently load Delorme Street Map software onto my Netbook, connected a Delorme USB GPS and drove to an out of town meeting. This particular Netbook has a battery life of approximately 3 hours. So therefore I did not plug in an inverter into my power port in my car since the trip was about an hour away.

There are definitely cheaper GPS units with a much smaller screen, but for the screen size and the fact it is a computer also, it did a great job as my GPS.

To load the software onto the netbook I used an external CD/DVD USB player (a must for software loads, unless your software is online).

Netbooks computers cost between $300 and $400 in general. You can get the software and GPS bundled at a price between $70 and $100 http://shop.delorme.com/OA_HTML/DELibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?section=10091. An inverter will be approximately $30 for a small one to power your netbook.

So for between $400 and $530 you can have a really nice GPS and a netbook computer which you can use in the car (did not include price of the media drive).

I am finding Netbook computers are really useful for meetings and they certainly are light weight; they can also serve as your navigational aide. The combination is a little large for geocaching, but it easy to upgrade your software for your GPS.

Netbook Computers with Terminal Server 2008

2009-08-17T10:25:00.001-04:00

As I stated in my last posting we have purchased three Netbook computers to be used for evaluation of capacity and also to use at professional meetings and in the field with GIS. One of the areas that we have done a fair amount of work recently has been in the area of 'Cloud Computing'. We have used applications both on an on campus Terminal Server and also in the public cloud. Cloud computing is the use of application resources that are not resident on your own computer. For those of old enough this is how we got started in computing that the application ran on the main frame computer and we used a 'dumb' terminal (I actually used punch cards also). I recently tested an Acer Aspire One Netbook using our terminal server. I ran three different applications from the server, ESRI ArcInfo, Microsoft Word and OpenOffice Writer. I was very impressed at the speed the applications performed on the Netbook computer; performance was similar to my quad core desktop computer. The Netbook computer was connected wirelessly to the college network and my desktop computer is connected by an Ethernet Cable.

On the very large graphic operation of creating a map, I used resources on my data server as well as my ArcGIS Server and the operations ran very smoothly once they opened, which took a few seconds. I did some querying and zooming of the data sets and they ran very quickly. When I ran the two word processors, they both operated just as if they were on my desktop. While I might not want to sit and work on a 10 or 11 inch screen for an extended period of time, I found they worked very nicely with the terminal server.

We are going to test the Netbook Computer in the next few days with a larger monitor and external wireless keyboard and see how they function as a desktop computer. We are interested in seeing if a Netbook along with an application server (terminal server) can replace the desktop for many faculty. Another test will be utilizing a USB GPS and mapping software to determine the response time and view ability of the maps in a car.

Is a Netbook Right for YOU

2009-07-28T09:52:00.001-04:00

We have gone through multiple ages of bigger is better, faster is good. Laptops constantly got bigger and bigger screens and the weight increased also, plus the power supplies increased in weight to power the machine. What was once a portable device now has the power of a desktop and approaches the weight of one. Now I am still a big fan of the tablet PC and have used one since they first appeared on the market, this summer I began to experiment with Netbooks.

A Netbook is a light weight small PC. There are many brands out on the market. I have experimented with three different ones. They in general are built around the Intel Atom chip. The chip comes in three speeds, N270 - 1.60 GHz, N280 – 1.66 GHz and N540 1.86 GHz. Most Netbooks come with one 1 GB of RAM (you can find 2 GB versions) and a harddrive in the 160 GB range. They do not have a DVD/CD drive built in, but have in general lots of USB ports. Most run on the XP Home Basic operating system, but a few run on Vista home. Google is planning on having an OS out before the end of the year for the Netbooks. Most have a 10.1 inch screen; I have an Acer with an 11.1 inch screen. Most weigh in at around 2.5 to 3 pounds and have a reasonable battery life approaching 3 hrs. They have built in Wi-Fi.

So in the day of 3GB Quad core processors (or faster) and 8 GB of RAM with a 22 inch screen desktop or laptop with a 17 inch screen what is the purpose of the Netbook.

First it is light weight, something my shoulder appreciates. I have loaded a full version of Office and it functions just fine, so therefore emailing is no problem nor is document creation. Over the past weekend I spent a lot of time surfing the net and it did a wonderful job, still have to get use to the touch pads.

My only concern is the size and closeness of the keys on the keyboard, which vary between the three models which I have experimented on. I have not tried to load any of my larger production applications.

I think for what most people use a computer for, email, document creation and web searches these are great little portable machines. I would not want to look at the small screen all day, but for a trip or a meeting I think they do an outstanding job. The price in general is between $299 and $399.

Ky Learning Depot New Horizons

2009-05-21T08:10:00.001-04:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Ky Learning Depot New Horizons

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Using Geospatial Technology (Gis) In Multiple

2009-05-19T14:56:00.001-04:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Using Geospatial Technology (Gis) In Multiple

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Using Web 2

2009-05-19T14:44:00.001-04:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Using Web 2

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Adobe Reader Security Issue

2009-02-23T10:53:00.001-05:00

One of my colleagues just sent me information about a security issue with Adobe Reader.

According to this post on the Adobe site (http://www.adobe.com/support/security/advisories/apsa09-01.html) there is a serious vulnerability in Acrobat Reader, the software used to open and read PDFs. Adobe is aware of it but is not planning on releasing a patch until mid-March.

My colleague suggests that you try another reader program such as Foxit Reader @ http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php

Wii as a Smart Board

2009-02-23T09:53:00.004-05:00

One of my workshop partcipants Gregory Puccetti showed me this video recently. I have not yet purchased this set-up but plan to do so shortly and will write about my experience using in the near future.

http://www.ted.com

http://www.wiimoteproject.com/index.php

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/projects/wii/

Winter 2009 ICT Educator Conference

2008-12-04T11:08:00.003-05:00

The Nation and Mid-Pacific ICT Centers will be having there annual Winter conference in San Francisco, CA on January 8-9, 2009. For more information goto ICTCenter.org. This should be a great conference.

Jon Burgess is an Education Development Executive at Apple will be speaking on Millennial learning as the Keynote address.

There still time to submit a paper (till 12/5/2009) to this conference also.

Presentation: New Free Web 2.0 Developments

2008-11-11T13:04:00.002-05:00

This is a presentation that is being presented at the Convergence Conference in Somerset, KY at the Center for Rural Development.

New Free Web 2.0 Developments 97

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

Presentation: GIS Across Curriculum

2008-11-11T12:58:00.003-05:00

This is a presentation that I am doing at the Convergence Conference in Somerset, KY at the Center for Rural Development.

GIS Across Curriculum 97

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: gis technology)

Intellipodcast

2008-11-11T10:18:00.002-05:00

Intellipodcast is a site that allows you to post podcasts. The site has an RSS feed for you to follow your favorites. It also gives you the ability to embed the podcast into a blog like the one I have done below.

Ustream

2008-11-11T08:29:00.002-05:00

This blog makes use of a live video stream using a service known as ustream - http://ustream.tv. Whenever I am broad casting on the vince's video channel it will be visible at this location. http://ustream.tv/channel/vince's-video. The service is free, but does have ads so be careful.

You Tube Interview of Vince DiNoto

2008-11-05T11:25:00.004-05:00

I was interviewed during August about my work with web 2.0 and NSF projects and Centers.

Google Chrome

2008-09-09T20:21:00.001-04:00

Google last week released a beta version of an internet browser, called Chrome. It is free and it is truly is a beta. It can be downloaded at http://gears.google.com/chrome/ It is extremely fast, but does have numerous issues that still will need to be resolved. One of the goals of the project is to be extremely small. The download was less than 1 megabyte and was very quick to install. It loaded my Google home page very quickly and all the feeds seemed to work properly. When I went to my SharePoint Server, the webpages did not display properly. When I went to edit the SharePoint site, it appeared to work properly, something that does not work properly in Fire Fox. It does have some issues with Google online word processor and there is a page of known problems. I believe that when Google puts out the next version it will be much improved. Currently it only is available for XP and Vista platforms, but will be available soon for Mac and Linux. Below is a screen capture using Jing.

GIS Using Citrix

2008-07-31T14:50:00.003-04:00

GIS using Citrix Presentation

The purpose of this blog is to provide links to two presentations that I have recently done. I have spoken to the Kentucky Geospatial Conference and Same-Tec Conference. While there are slight differences in the presentations, the following link is to all my presentations.

http://techcenter.jefferson.kctcs.edu/presentation/

The address to the Citrix Server at this time is:

http://216.69.2.35/

The username is: workgroup1 (note you can try 2, 3, ...12)

The password is :P@ssw0rd

The ArcIMS server is located at: http://ims.jcc.kctcs.edu/

The data and ims server must be connected from within ArcMap.

PLease contact me at vince.dinoto@kctcs.edu if you need assistance.

Jing

2008-05-27T14:39:00.002-04:00

Jing is a project of TechSmith. It is a screen capture (png format) and video capture (SWF format) program that is currently free. TechSmith is the creators of Snagit and Camtasia. I have been playing with this software and have been very impressed in what it will do. It can be found at http://www.jingproject.com/ it is a free download of about 8 MB. One of the other features is that it will run on Mac as well as a Windows operating system. Snagit and Camtasia will only run on the Windows platform. It took me a little while to realize Jing was running, because it uses a sun instead of opening a program, like you might expect. When you place your mouse over the sun it will provide options, such as capture. You select the region of the screen you wish to capture and select an image or a video. The image in this blog was captured with Jing it is part of my screen. If you select the video window, anything you drag into the window will be part of the video; it also utilizes your computer microphone or headset. You are limited in the length of the video and the number of frames per second. I have been very impressed with this product. The Jing website states that at some point this product may be integrated into other applications and may not always be free.

Virtual Remote Sensing Workshop

2007-10-31T10:12:00.001-04:00

During the past several months the technology team has been working on designing a virtual workshop in remote sensing. The Virtual Workshop is nearly completed and can be viewed at http://Techcenter.jefferson.kctcs.edu/rs/. The workshop has six modules: Physical Properties of Light, Coordinates and Projections, Sensing Platforms, GPS, 2D GIS, and Images. The workshop is composed of video, text and projects to be completed by the participant. The participant will need to have ArcGis 9.2 to complete the workshop and 3D Analysis to complete the Image part. Please contact Tammy.McCollum@kctcs.edu if you use the information in the workshop. At this moment the workshop does not have a password on the content and the content may change as the final parts are being added to the workshop. This workshop was made possible by a grant from the Kentucky Department of Geospatial Information and the KITCenter National Science Foundation Regional IT Center.

Google Presentation

2007-10-18T15:07:00.000-04:00

Google has added to their online suite of products , a presentation software program that function in much the same way that Google Documents and Spreadsheets. All information is located online and no software is added to your computer. You can work in a collaborative mode and can work from any location in which you have an internet connection. While the program is not at the level of PowerPoint, it has lots of positive such as no software to purchase, collaborative online editing and available on any computer that has an internet connection. To get started you must have a Google Account. To locate the programs, click on the more hyperlink and then on the documents link. To start a new presentation click on the new link and select presentation. You can upload existing powerpoints in formats other than Office 2007.

Mini-Y2K

2007-02-26T20:52:00.001-05:00

Are you ready for daylight savings time?

You may or may not be aware that the dates that daylight savings time begins and ends have been changed for 2007. Daylight savings time will begin on March 11^th which is three weeks earlier than in the past and ends one week later in the fall. On initially thinking about this change, you may realize that the clock on your computer will be off or your electronic calendar will be wrong. But the bigger issue is with scheduled tasks of back-ups, batch processes, etc. Companies have been working to solve these issues before the time change occurs on the 11^th. Patches for the Windows XP operating system can be found on the Microsoft website, if you have upgraded to Vista it is included.

Virtual Blogs and Other Web Applications

2007-01-29T12:29:00.000-05:00

A new virtual workshop on Blogs and Other Web Applications has been posted for users. While the workshop is not full finished, most of the content has been placed in a virtual format, there is no charge for the workshop as it is part of the Kentucky Information Technology Center (KITCenter) offerings. The complete sequence is finished, additional video files will be posted showing the actual steps being preformed, as well as audio podcasting.

For information on how to access the workshop material please contact Tammy.mccollum@kctcs.edu. If you would like to see other virtual workshops produced as part of the KITCenter project, Tammy can assist you with these. Currently workshops are completed in the areas of educational technologies and GIS.

The content of this workshop includes, Accumulators/Aggregators, Blogs, Picture Storage, Mashup, Groups, and Open Applications. The content is presented in multiple formats and shows examples on how to create what is being discussed. The formats include Web, Producer Video, pdf slides to download, streaming video and podcasts (iPod and Zune formats).

The virtual workshop is planned to have Camtasia video available in the near future, in which you can watch the instructor actually creating all of the content. In addition audio only podcasts are planned, but you will need to have slides downloaded or be viewing the website.

Blogging Workshop

2006-12-18T10:26:00.000-05:00

In late December a workshop was done on blogging and other Internet resource at Jefferson Community and Technical College Southwest Campus. This workshop will be virtualized in posted by early February. The information can be found at: http://vince.jcc.kctcs.edu.

Microsoft Producer Virtual Workshops

2006-12-05T16:51:00.000-05:00

As part of the Kentucky Information Technology Center (KITCenter) initiative a virtual workshop on Microsoft producer has been produced. It can be accessed from the following website. http://vince.jcc.kctcs.edu/virtual/ initially the workshop will not have a password, but if you use the information in the virtual workshop please inform Tammy McCollum(tammy.mccollum@kctcs.edu) so that we can record the activity. If you try to access the workshop and it asks for a password please contact Tammy for access to the workshop (future development).

Microsoft Producer use PowerPoint 2003 slides and video to create a dynamic web page. The slides and the video are synchronized together and each slide is linked to the discussion of that slide. A step by step process is outlined for the workshop participant. The slides and other helpful material are also located at the workshop site including files that can be used to practice with before creating your own video and PowerPoints also include are pdf copies of the slides.

New Technologies for Education

2006-11-11T11:56:00.000-05:00

At the recent NSF ATE conference Michael Qaissaunee, Gordon Snyder, and I (Vince DiNoto) presented a round table about new technologies for education. The topics included podcasting (audio and video), using blogs and accumulators, mashups, Wikis, RSS, etc. The PowerPoint slides can be found at ftp://kitcenter.org/presentations/ate/. The slides are presented both in PowerPoint format and pdf.

Virtual GIS Workshop

2006-10-05T10:40:00.000-04:00

I am in the process of creating a series of virtual workshops. These virtual workshops include a website, video (WMV format), downloadable manual (publisher document) and a video podcast.

One of the topics of these virtual workshops will be in the area of Geospatial Information Technology. The first series of workshop topics have been completed and are available for use. Topics of the first series includes, Downloading Census Data, Downloading Shapefiles and Joining Shapefiles to Data. The second series of topics are being created and as they are completed they will be posted. Two topics are completed on Merging Shapefiles and Querying for Information. Additional topics will be posted during the next week.

The virtual workshop series will soon also have a topic on how to create audio podcasting.

The GIS virtual workshop series is posted at http://vince.jcc.kctcs.edu/gis.

Digital Cameras

2006-09-11T10:20:00.000-04:00

This article is a draft of an article that may be submitted to Old Mill News.

While most of the articles in Old Mill News deal with old mills or pieces of equipment and how they function. This article will deal with a side of mills that many of us do which is the photograph of the mill structure and equipment. Many of us began our photographing of old mills using a 35mm SLR (single lens reflex) camera, others have used a more simple point and shoot camera including disposable cameras. With the digital camera coming of age many of us have either purchased or considering the purchase of a camera and understanding the specifications can be confusing. I have also discovered many who made purchases of digital cameras have not been pleased with the results. In this article I will try to explain the specifications of digital cameras and try to help you understand the many choices that you must make in deciding on the proper camera.

First you must have a clear understanding what you want to do with the camera; this is before looking at stores or ads. Without this understanding it is very likely that you might purchase the wrong camera. Some of the questions that need to be answered are:

--What will you do with the pictures you take?
--Are you going to print the pictures?
--View them on a computer screen?
--If you plan to print your pictures than you must decide what size is the maximum size you believe that you will print pictures to be.

If you will display your pictures on a computer screen than a low end camera will meet your needs most likely. If you will be printing your pictures no larger than 4 inches by 5 inches than again the expense of the camera can be minimized; but if you plan to print pictures 8 inches by 10 inches, 8.5 inches by 11 inches, 11 inches by 17 inches or bigger than the expenses will greatly increase. Also if most of your pictures will be of the outside of mills the expense is much less than if you plan on taking lots of interior pictures. The size the image can be enlarged to is based upon two major factors; the number pixels (picture elements) contained within the image and the quality of the lens.

If the purpose of the camera for mill photograph is to take outdoor pictures that will be displayed on a computer screen, the camera should have between 3.1 and 5 megapixels (a megapixel is the number of dots in the image, mega meaning a million), a moderate zoom lens of 3x to 5x optical zoom (never look at the digital zoom when purchasing or using a camera, most cameras that have digital zoom can be turned off and I would highly recommend doing this). This type of camera will also work fine for printing pictures no larger than 4 x 5 inches. These cameras can usually be purchased for less than $200, there are lots of brands to choose from but these are the major features, except the type of media (memory) that the camera uses. There are lots of different formats, Compact Flash (CF), Secure Digital (SD), Memory Stick (two formats, only in Sony Cameras), and many others but these are the three types I recommend, because they are easy to find in discount stores for purchase. Think of the memory chips as different brands of film. Your camera you should also have a USB II connector for connection to your computer. Rechargeable batteries are nice but not a luxury that you must have and in some ways they can be more of a problem on the lower end cameras, because you can always carry a second set of disposable batteries, but you might not have another set of rechargeable batteries and in some cameras the rechargeable batteries cannot be removed. If you plan on taking lots of indoor pictures of mills than I would suggest a higher end camera even if you still are going to display them on your computer. You should use an external flash instead of the built in flash for two reasons, the flash is a real energy drain on your camera batteries and they are usually not bright enough to illuminate the interior of the mill, I would suggest the middle end camera that will be discussed next if interior pictures are you interests. If your camera has a view finder use it instead of the display as this will extend the life of your batteries and the number of pictures you can take, always have your camera set on the highest quality settings as you can always make images smaller, but never improve the quality of the picture.

For those who plan on printing larger pictures, better lenses are needed on the camera and also in general more megapixels. These cameras are very easy to spot in the stores because the lenses on the camera are usually much larger. When you look through the viewfinder you usually are looking through the lens. Yet the lenses are not removable. The megapixel range will vary from 5 to 10 on these cameras. The optical zoom is usually greater than on the previous class of cameras. The expenses of these cameras usually range between $300 and $1000. The media formats are the same as what was discussed earlier. On most of these cameras you can control the shutter speed and the size of the aperture (the opening of the lens), therefore you can experiment with depth of field (the smaller the aperture the more of the image is in focus). This also gives you the ability to stop moving objects like the waterwheel or water falling from the mill dam. These cameras usually have a hot shoe to place an external flash on the camera that will be controlled by the camera, make sure the flash that you purchase separately is compatible with the camera. An 8 megapixel camera is excellent for making a picture as large as 13 x 19 inches.

The final class of cameras are the SLR cameras, the lens will be removable on these cameras and most are manufactured by the traditional camera manufactures (Note Sony has purchased Minolta and they are bringing out a new line of cameras under the Sony name, but they are related to the Minolta cameras). These cameras start at around $500 and upwards of several thousands of dollars. The lenses can be equally expensive. They usually have between 6 and 12 megapixels (cameras for this holiday season have yet to arrive and they may be even greater). One of the features is the ability to take pictures very rapidly, such as 3 to 6 pictures per second. The clarity of the images is better due to the better optics of the cameras, making better enlargements.

There are many ways to get your pictures printed many companies now allow you to upload your pictures via of the internet. Most local stories that print pictures also have computers that can read your memory chip or attach via your USB cable. Note: not all USB cables work on all cameras therefore always keep your cable with your camera. Printing pictures at home is a nice convenience but in general costs many times more than taking it to the store, this includes the small photo printers and the larger computer inkjet printers. Yet the prints that can come from modest price inkjet printers using photographic quality glossy paper can be better than what can be printed at a camera store. I can print pictures in the thousands of dots per inch, but the local camera story prints only up to 300 dots per inch. If you wish to display your pictures online, there are many free or very inexpensive services that will allow for your pictures to be displayed, you need to carefully research the maximum size of the upload picture. I have placed many of my pictures on Flickr.com and they have a group for historical mills. This service gives you a limited amount of upload space free per month or at a modest cost a very large amount of upload space each month.

Film cameras and digital cameras have now reached a point of equality, as long you stay within the specifications of the camera, a cheap film camera would not have made a very good 8 x 10 and neither does a cheap digital camera. Effective use of your digital cameras and video cameras are another whole topic beyond the scope of this article and will be discussed in a future article. I now take nearly all of my pictures digitally.

Using a GPS to Discover Old Mills

2006-09-07T20:13:00.001-04:00

How often have you been looking for an old mill and know you have to be very close but you just can’t located. I know in my searches this has happened numerous times. When I first started looking for old mills more than 20 years ago, I would purchase map books of a state which would have detailed county maps (these books are still available). Before going milling I would take the SPOOM (Society for the Preservation of Old Mills) mill list (The mill lists provide directions to mills and are usually very accurate.) and try to plot the location of the mills I was hoping to visit. Generally I was able to locate the mill that I was wishing to photograph, but several times I just could not find the mill. With the technological improvements in computer technology, I started using a GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) Receiver, a laptop computer and mapping software; I also needed a power inverter to power the computer from my cigarette lighter. The first couple generations of the software was somewhat limited, the GPS took a long time to link with the computer through the serial port and the laptop computers were relatively slow compared to our current standards, so map regeneration took a few seconds. Today I use a Bluetooth wireless GPS receiver that connects to my laptop computer. I also have a hand held GPS which connects to my PDA (Personal Data Assistant) by the compact flash slot. The same software can be loaded on both my PDA and laptop. When I locate a mill I create a waypoint for the mill and potentially other components around the mill like the mill dam, race and other structures. Therefore the GPS shows my position but in general does not locate the mill for me since no one as recorded its position, but instead I use the GPS to locate the position of the mill that can be used by others. Some of the software packages will show elevations on the map and some will show the old mill ponds which can assist in the locating of the mill. For a few of the mill someone else has geocoded (latitude and longitude) the position and that can be programmed into the software and which will determine the shortest or quickest route to the mill from any starting position. Therefore, by using a GPS we can position the mill to a high degree of accuracy so that future generations will have the pleasure of locating these wonderful structures. Hopefully people will share there mill positions so that it will become easier to locate the mills, much as was done in the creation of the mill lists. SPOOM mill list do have a fields for latitude and longitude.

A GPS receiver works by measuring the time that it takes for a signal to reach the receiver from multiple satellites orbiting the earth. By knowing the time for the signal from each of the satellites to reach the receiver, the distance to each satellite (the position of these satellites are very accurately known) can be computed and by using trigonometry your position on the surface of the earth can be determined in 3D, latitude, longitude and elevation. The more satellites that the receiver can detect the more accurate your position, most GPS units will be accurate to 30 feet or less. The accuracy of the GPS is dependent on the number of satellites and number of digits of accuracy that the unit can receive. Some of the units can also detect ground stations that have a position that is known to a high degree of accuracy and can further reduce the position error. A GPS is only a receiver unless it contains a cell or satellite phone, many trucking companies utilize GPS technology and a satellite phone to determine the position of their trucks at all time. Therefore, the home office can locate every vehicle at any moment. A determination of the speed of an object can also be calculated, since the GPS is determining the position at regular interval of time, the accuracy of the speed determination can be as good as your speedometer.

If you looked at purchasing a GPS unit you know there is a whole range of devices and prices. The simplest type of GPS is the ones contained in many cell phones today (all new cell phones have a GPS), usually to utilize the GPS you must pay for a service. If you want to purchase a GPS unit there is a complete range of prices and abilities and I will try to describe some of the different types of GPS units. A completely standalone unit can be purchased and will vary in cost from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars depending on the abilities of the instrument. If you want a device to provide only the longitude and the latitude of your position they are relatively inexpensive. The next step-up is those GPS units that provide monochromatic maps of the region on the display. The more advanced system offer more detailed color maps. Some of these units can be connected to a computer so that you can download data and others the data must be manually recalled if you wish to plot it on a computer map. The second type of GPS utilizes as PDA like a Palm Pilot or a Dell Axiom. Maps can be loaded into PDA from a computer and can either be directly connected to the GPS via cable, PCMCIA Card, Compact Flash Slot or by Bluetooth wireless. These units are small and more expense than the low end standalone GPS, but much more flexible since they can be connected directly to a computer and maps can be upgraded as changes occur. They also retain the function of the PDA. The third method is to use a GPS either directly connected to your laptop computer by a USB cable or wireless connection. These devices are the most flexible and provide the most power to the user, but also the most expensive unless you are already have the laptop computer. Of course we also have GPS units in some cars.

With most all GPS units you have the ability to store a position and name the position that is stored, like Pierce Mill Dam. These positions are called waypoints. The position of the mill, the dam, the race can all be stored within the accuracy of the device (30 feet or less) as was discussed above. This geocoding of the position of dams can than be placed into a GIS (geographical information system) system and stored on maps that can be displayed over the internet, with roads and other major features labeled.

So instead of missing that mill that was just around the corner in the overgrown field we can find the location every time if someone provides the accurate latitude and longitude of the mill. In most GPS you can put in the position that you want to locate and it will direct you either by displaying directions and distances away from the point, or on more expensive systems it will display the roads and directions of each turn to reach the site and the upper end systems will map it for you displaying your current position, your end point, display the roads, giving directions, even speak to you when you need to turn and if you get off the road it will reroute you. Of course every once in a while the computer map is not correct, most of these maps were developed from either aircraft imagery or satellite data. I was recently searching for a mill in the Catskills in New York state and the road in which the computer told me to take to reach the mill that I had (from looking at a website) did not reach the mill, about half way up a mountain the road became a dirt path, so every once in a while technology can fail you.

For the last several years I have been geocoding the mills sites that I have visited and will be in the near future placing them on an interactive website for others to use. If anyone would like to send me the locations of mills I will be happy to add them to my data. I can be reached at vince.dinoto@kctcs.edu.

Podcasting

2006-09-07T16:00:00.000-04:00

FAQ Podcast

What is a Podcast?

A podcast is either an audio or video file that can be downloaded and played on an ipod and other mp3 players (for video you must have a video enabled device). The podcast is then loaded onto a website with an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed. The RSS feed allows for automatically updating the user’s computer with information that has changed on the website (RSS is a XML file). Therefore new items can be posted and then downloaded to users as needed. The RSS can be used for other purposes than podcasting.

Why might I use a Podcast?

Using a podcast for an educational purpose has many potential uses. After a set of homework has been turned in by students, the solutions could be composed as a podcast. Very important review points could be a podcast. Lectures could be converted into a podcast. Additional material beyond what is traditionally lectured. Discussions among multiple individuals could be recorded and placed into this format. These are a few potential uses of podcasting.

How do I create a Podcast?

As stated earlier, there are two types of podcast; audio only or video (which includes audio). Most iPod and mp3 players can receive an audio formatted podcast. Currently, video created podcasting can be displayed on a much smaller number of devices. Podcast can be displayed directly on a computer without the need for an iPod or mp3 player. Podcasting currently is displayed using Apples iTunes player, which uses Quick Time.

An Audio podcast requires that the creator has a software program that will save mp3 files. There are many different products that can do this but, in trying to show ways in which this can be done at the lowest possible cost, I will recommend a free product. Audacity is a very nice audio editor but, to save the file as an mp3, you must also have a free product called Lame. Links to Audacity and Lame are included below. You must also have a relatively good microphone/headset. Once the audio file has been completed, reviewed, and saved as an mp3 file type, the file must have been saved in a folder that can be uploaded to a webserver. Next you need to create the RSS xml page. This page can be created in wordpad or any other text editor. The RSS accumulator has two parts, a subscription part and a episode part (the episode is related to the file you created and will be repeated in the RSS file for additional events). I have provided a link to the code since the blog kept trying to run it, the code was postd on a website at MIT and provided a link to this website.

http://vince.jcc.kctcs.edu/podcasts/rss.htm

You will want to place your information within each area of bold font. The part listed in the channel is the part for the subscription. The part listed under item is the part that you will change for each episode or event and your file may have multiple copies of this. Finally, you will need to create a podcast page; this page can be created in any web editing software that you wish. This page needs to describe what the purpose of the audio file is. It should be named default.htm. On this page you should have a place for people to subscribe to your podcasts. A button should be linked to your RSS file. Make sure you save your default page in the same location as your RSS file and, since this whole folder will be uploaded to the server, your audio file should also be in this folder.

Video file production is a little different. It is also known as Vodcast. You will need a digital video camera and a tripod. First, you will need to video tape the information you wish to share. Next, you will need to edit the video, adding title slides and transitions. There is lots of software that can do this editing for you. Microsoft Moviemaker 2 is a free product that can be used if you are running Windows XP. You will need to save your podcast in a size for the iPod of 320 x 240. Once the movie file has been created you will need to save it in an H.264 format; this will require opening up your saved video in Quicktime Pro (not the free version) or use a free converter from the web.

For those using an iMac, the iLive software has built in templates.

How do I publish a Podcast?

Once you have created your webpage, RSS files, and placed your audio and/or video files in the same folder, you will need to upload this folder to a webserver. There are many different uploading options from free locations, iTunes, or your own institutional servers.

What software is needed to create and publish a Podcast?

You will need an audio editor that can save a file as an mp3; if you are doing video editing, you will need a video editing software. Free software is available for both of these formats. You will need to have iTunes running on your computer so that you can make sure that your site is functioning. You should also have access to an iPod to insure that your podcasts are functioning properly. It is important that the file formats are proper and, in the case of video, that the size is appropriate.

What hardware do I need?

For audio podcast, you need only a microphone. For video podcasts you need a digital video camera.

What software will the students need for Podcasting?

The students will only need to have iTunes to hear or view your podcasts. To play your podcasts external from a computer, they will need either an iPod or mp3 player.

Links

http://web.mit.edu/ist/podcasts/makepodcast.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_(protocol)
http://www.timmadden.com.au/podcast-logos.htm
http://www.pixagogo.com/5111825842
http://web.forret.com/tools/podicons.asp
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vodcast
http://www.globaladvancedmedia.com/html/creatingvideopodcasts.html
http://www.globaladvancedmedia.com/html/allaboutpodcasting.html
http://www.videora.com/en-us/Converter/iPod/