Physical and Environmental Geography Commons^™

Gps Locations And Costa Rican Topo Maps, Kenneth H. Orvis

Geography Publications and Other Works

Over the past several years I have been working with Sally Horn and our U.S. and Costa Rican collaborators on several projects in Costa Rica related to paleoenvironmental research. Such research requires accurately locating geomorphic and archaeological features in the field, using GPS and the 1:50,000 scale topographic maps produced by the Instituto Geográfico Nacional. Doing so is a challenge to the uninitiated, because GPS locations (including elevation) appear to be just plain wrong when you match them to the map. A position collected on the north side of a stream plots on the south side on the map, or …