Finally stopped using GPS for site surveys and switched to a compass

I was surveying a dig site near Santa Fe last spring and my GPS kept losing signal in the canyon. After 3 wasted afternoons messing with batteries and satellites, I grabbed an old Brunton compass from the gear box. Turns out pacing out distances with a compass and tape was faster than any gadget I'd used. Has anyone else ditched tech for old school methods on a site and actually got better results?

3 comments

3 Comments

jones.grace12d ago

Hold on, gotta call something out about pacing. You're right that pacing can mess you up in rough terrain, but a Brunton compass isn't just for pacing - you can shoot proper bearings and use triangulation to map points just as accurately as GPS if you're careful and take angles from known baselines. The problem you described with the half-mile boundary is actually a perfect example of where a compass works great, you just need clear line of sight and a partner with a tape, not a rough pace. GIS mapping doesn't fall apart either, you can still sketch and plot everything by hand and digitize it later with really good accuracy. The real trick is using a compass for the angles and a tape for the distances instead of relying on your own stride length.

troykim12d ago

Wait, how much data are you actually losing by not having GPS coordinates tied to your finds? If you're just pacing out distances with a Brunton, you're basically working blind when it comes to GIS mapping later. I spent a season on a multi-year project where the lead guy swore by his compass and tape, and we ended up spending an extra month re-surveying everything because his pacing was way off in rough terrain. Also, try triangulating a site boundary across a half-mile of brush without a GPS fix, you'll be out there for days. Don't get me wrong, compasses are great for a quick backup, but for serious documentation I'd rather mess with finicky batteries than have my data look like a guess.

kevin_roberts4112d ago

Hold up - you spent an extra month re-surveying? Was that because the guy was bad with a compass, or because pacing just doesn't hold up in uneven ground at all?