6 replies to this topic

[Bob Christensen]

Howdy folks,

I am delighted that I have found my way to this forum.

I live in a remote Wilderness setting in Southeast Alaska (no roads, no neighbors within 10 miles) but I manage to keep in touch with the big bad world via a satellite internet connection.

I have been working with GIS for about 6 years. I am self-taught and I still consider myself a novice work in progress. I am supported by the ESRI software donation program, a few local conservation groups, the occassional cash contract, and a lot of volunteer time.

My primary interests are with wildllife habitat and its relationship to our modification of the landscape through logging, tourism, mining, etc. I have worked primarily at very fine scales and with data that I have created on site but I am starting to branch out into landscape and regional scale considerations.

I recently participated in my first conference - the annual Society for Conservation GIS conference held in Asilomar California. I was brought down with a group of about 40 international scholars. I had a great time and had my eyes opened a thousand times over by interacting with conservation GIS folks from South America, Africa, Northern Europe, Indonesia, India, Russia, etc. etc.

I am looking forward to similar experiences here in the cartotalk forum.

Thanks for being here.

Bob

[Hans van der Maarel]

Hi Bob, and welcome!

very fine scales

I think you mean: large scales

[Derek Tonn]

Welcome Bob! I have to say that I'm a bit jealous of your location in SE Alaska, as that is some incredibly beautiful country up there! I've always wanted to find some excuse to spend some meaningful time up there....but I haven't been able to make it happen as of yet. If you ever post any photos of your setting up in the wilderness, I just might be brought to tears....

Thank goodness for satellite internet connections though! That gives all of us on the CartoTalk forum a chance to get to know someone like yourself a little better in the weeks and months to come.

I'm glad you're here! Looking forward to talking with you on the various discussion threads.

Derek

[Bob Christensen]

Thanks for the warm welcome!...

And the reminder on scale terminology - a constant toe stubber for me. I just can't seem to get it through my thick skull that creating a map that displays relatively small things, like individual trees, or bear tracks, is large scale work. That is correct isn't it?

I was actually thinking of the field mapping I do - often times mapping bear trails and surrounding habitats. In high use areas I might map 20 miles of trail in a single square mile! This feels like very fine detail work and so I think "fine-scale". Maybe macro-scale would be more appropriate? It is confusing because it is 1:1 in the field but more like 1:10,000 when it comes time for map production...

Derek, I feel very grateful to be here in Southeast - though I often find myself bringing people down to earth when they imagine the paradise life I live on the island. True, it is a paradise, or close to it for me - inspiring beauty wherever I turn, peace and quiet, clean air and water, healthy foods just out the door... but many sacrifices have been made to live here. Money, for example, is very hard to come by. Women, for example, are very hard to meet!

That having been said, and I hate to do this to you Derek, I have an online image gallery where I have a few shots posted from home and work: Bob's image gallery

I Look forward to learning from, and sharing with, this community.

Bob

[Derek Tonn]

Thanks for the warm welcome!...

Derek, I feel very grateful to be here in Southeast - though I often find myself bringing people down to earth when they imagine the paradise life I live on the island. True, it is a paradise, or close to it for me - inspiring beauty wherever I turn, peace and quiet, clean air and water, healthy foods just out the door... but many sacrifices have been made to live here. Money, for example, is very hard to come by. Women, for example, are very hard to meet! 

That having been said, and I hate to do this to you Derek, I have an online image gallery where I have a few shots posted from home and work: Bob's image gallery

I Look forward to learning from, and sharing with, this community.

Bob

Bob, man, you're killing me with all those photos!

Seriously though, you can't take money OR women with you in the end, so as long as you're happy and have adequate food, clothing and shelter, it looks like a paradise to me....at least for several weeks/months at a time.

Glad you're here! I'll look forward to getting to know you better in the weeks to come.

Derek

[Hans van der Maarel]

Bob,

WOW!! That's some impressive photos.

As for the scale thing, don't worry about that... I still mix up latitude and longitude.

[Rick Dey]

Mind blowing photos Bob. Brings back memories of a trip to SE Alaska a few years back.

I love those time lapse images. Very creative. Thanks for sharing.