things fall apart come together

The D2523T is a compact GPS built with an omnidirectional antenna and costs around $80.00. We connected it to a battery and and mini SD card reader before taking it out to do some field tests.

Converting .txt files to .kmz
Thankfully, GPS Visualizer is a simple tool to convert the GPS data files from .txt files to .kmz files which can be opened up in Google Earth. Hooray! Thanks to Diana for the tip.

Results

Monkey #1: Doug
GPS placement: In the hood of Doug’s jacket
Route: From ITP to subway. From the subway to Canal Plastics.

We were surprised to see the readings were as scattered haphazardly. When Doug returned with at least a dozen individual log files. We suspect the battery may have lost contact causing the GPS to reset its log. Each individual log file is represented by a different coloured lines in on the map.

The first image shows Doug at school before he entered the subway.

This second image shows Doug after exiting the subway.

Monkey #2: Andi
GPS placement: Held in one hand (like an ice cream cone) with the antenna pointing towards the sky .
Route: ITP to Washington Square Park to the Kimmel Center for free food to St. Marks Place, to ITP.

This reading shows a significant improvement in accuracy compared to Doug’s walk. There is a missing a signal between ITP and Washington Square Park. The only plausible explanation is that Tom Igoe was walking alongside, thus intimidating the GPS device and preventing it from receiving a signal from all 6 satellites. The accuracy was best in open areas with few buildings, like in Washington Square Park.

Conclusions

Strengths
Generally quite accurate in wide-open spaces

Weaknesses
The size is not ideal for tracking smaller monkeys
Quite a few missing readings

Unknown
Durability?
Battery life?
Accuracy in open spaces with dense tall trees?
Accuracy for fast moving animals?

For our first assignment, we were asked to perform an observational study of human or non-human primates. To Tom Igoe’s suggestion, we chose an unfamiliar/unconventional environment to provide some distance between ourselves as observers, and the subjects being observed.
And this is precisely why Lia, Tali and I choose to observe human primate behavior at the restaurant establishment Hooters on the day of the Super Bowl.

Prior to our arrival at the venue, we formulated the following hypothesis:
1) There will be more males than females at Hooters
2) Most of the people at Hooters will watch the Super Bowl
3) The combination of the Super Bowl game, scantily clad waitress with large mammaries, and alcohol will likely lead to an above-normal amount of excited behavior in males.

This Wildlife Tracking – Primates watching the Superbowl contains our observations of various States and Events of subjects observed through focal animal sampling and scan sampling.

To make referring to individuals simpler, we drew a seating chart and assigned names to each member of the group being observed.