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+Compass App
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Photo © Philip Sargent, 2026
+ + +
+
↺ rotate this image
Photo © Philip Sargent, 2026
+ + +
+A clino on your phone
+ + +Photo © Philip Sargent, 2026
+ + +Since 2019 it has become apparent that many people have not been properly prepared for Expo.
Since 2019 it has become apparent that many people have not been properly prepared for Expo.
Since 2019 it has become apparent that many people have not been properly prepared for Expo.
This is what you need to do: @@ -14,24 +14,16 @@
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Phones assume that you are walking along streets, or running along tracks or cycling. They are very, very bad at making the right guesses on the Totes Gebirge plateau. diff --git a/handbook/computing/phonecompass.html b/handbook/computing/phonecompass.html new file mode 100644 index 000000000..5e3f39361 --- /dev/null +++ b/handbook/computing/phonecompass.html @@ -0,0 +1,29 @@ +
+Compass and Altimeter
+First of all, ensure that you have one. Compass & Altimeter is a good one, completely free (but turn off the altimeter setting as it does not do what you think it does). + +
Turn OFF "precise location" - all that does it connect to wi-fi and cell-phone masts so that it can send you targeted ads and guess your altitude based on the altitude of the wi-fi point. Entirely unuseful - and frankly misleading - on the plateau. +
Turn OFF altitude - useless and misleading on the plateau. +
+ Settings
Change the setting to MAGNETIC NORTH not True North. All our survey instruments use magnetic north, and this needs to be compatible with surveys. You may be using this compass app to determine the location of a cave entrance with respect to the nearest GPS point. You do NOT want "geographic" north. +
Do NOT select "gradians" for the angle units. All our Austrian surveys use 360 degree angles, not 400 gradians, for a full circle. + +
A useful one is Laser Level & Clinometer. Some ads, and it does not work quite how we would like (unlike "Theodolite", which unfortunately costs money and only works on iPhones). +
There used to be an app Dioptera which does exactly what we want: point it at the cave entrance and it gives you compass and clino readings, but it is not on the Google app store or F-droid, you have to install the apk yourself and there is no safety guarantee. All other free apps of this type seem to be unusable with obstructive Temu ads. + +
+ + + +Yes, you will have to manually do a surface survey leg using your survey instruments between the GPS point and the cave entrance tag station, and record that in your cave survex file. -
If you are doing surface prospecting and do not have daylight-capable survey kit with you (actual physical tape measure, compass/clino) then estimate the distance and direction from your GPS recorded location and the cave entrance, e.g. "10m towards entrance in direction 025 degrees". You do have a notebook with you of course. This will be transcribed onto your "New Cave" form. Your phone does have a compass capability: download the app and use it. Take a photo of the GPS point with the entrance in view behind. If you have set up your phone correctly (ahem), your phone camera will record the compass direction of the photo. +
If you are doing surface prospecting and do not have daylight-capable survey kit with you (actual physical tape measure, compass/clino) then estimate the distance and direction from your GPS recorded location and the cave entrance, e.g. "10m towards entrance in direction 025 degrees". You do have a notebook with you of course. This will be transcribed onto your "New Cave" form. Your phone does have a compass capability: download the app and use it. Take a photo of the GPS point with the entrance in view behind. If you have set up your phone correctly (ahem), your phone camera will also record the compass direction of the photo. +
Use a bit of string (blue baling twine from basecamp) 15m long, with a knot in it at the 10m length, to get the distance correctly.
A notebook and pencil are essential when looking at lots of entrances: no, your memory is not good enough. Takes a screen-shot of the GPStest screen whenever you want a proper GPS location and upload the screenshot to the digital wallet for a new cave. Use the timestamp on the screenshots to correlate everything. A screenshot is proper evidence, your memory is not. +
Also sketch the entrance in comparison to other holes close by - in the notebook, which you have with you, and always bring 2 pencils. +