My main point in making the post about GPS's in the first place
was somewhat different from the direction the discussion took.

When you're on a trip to a strange place and seeing lots of
birds and don't know much about the area (across northern Finland
for me a week from now), you don't have to write:

'Wood Sandpiper --about a half-kilometer somewhat east of
the road to Nuorgam about 30 kilometers north of Inari by a
little lake'.


You just punch everything in. Later, back at home, you may feel
like writing up the data with towns and lakes etc., or you may
not have time -- in any case you will always have the data that
you can check on a detailed map if it's important. And
'within 100 meters' is close enough for a lifer.

Incidentally, the question of which map datum to use on the
GPS is non-trivial. It makes a difference. In the US many USGS
topos use the NAD29 (North American datum, 1929) -- I may have
gotten the year wrong, but it is often *not* 1983.

-Tully Hammill

-Tully Hammill