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The
Canadian Ecology Centre
Foundation is the author and provider (evaluator) of certified GPS programs.
It will register participants
who have completed a certified course in a national/international data bank
(those needing this for professional, commercial, insurance or leadership
reasons).
Be
safe, record your information!!!!
Get
in the "spatial habit" of leaving and sharing your "beginning" and
"destination" waypoints!
Print off these forms for your next adventure!
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Overview
With the emergence of GPS units
along with satellite and cell phones, various radios and communication
systems, the ability to identify, a specific location is now a reality. The
following scenarios are a few examples of what could happen and how a
spatial solution would help.
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You are the first police
constable, on the scene, summoned on a missing person call in a remote
rural section of an unorganized township. The rest of the hunting party
does not know where their friend was last seen. You are about to radio
your location for assistance…
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As a paramedic, a call comes in
from a communications centre identifying the UTM and latitude/longitude
location on your 1: 50 000 topographical map with a NAD 27 map datum
source. As you drive, your partner is determining the location …
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As an experienced camp leader
you have been on a canoe trip with a group of teenagers, for five days,
when one suffers a broken leg and has gone into shock. You are about to
use the satellite phone to request assistance and identify your location…
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As a volunteer fire fighter you
receive a message from a provincial fire crew of a “pup” fire which is
spreading in a remote section of your township. The location has been
transmitted on your pager and you are now headed to the location to help…
-
As a lodge owner, one of your
float plane pilots sends back an emergency call regarding a personal
injury (heart attack) to a guest. The guide cannot move the victim and has
radioed for assistance from the fly-in lake…
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As a boater on an inland
waterway you have see a capsized boat in the distance. The visible
shoreline is more than 1 km away and the fetch is building. Using your VHF
radio you are about to contact an emergency contact…
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After a day of fishing your
truck won’t start. Although you are not far off the Trans Canada Highway
on a tertiary logging road, it is on an isolated section between Longlac
and Hearst, Ontario. There are countless roads in the area. The satellite
phone works and you are just about to describe your location…
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As a company employee you have
been called to a utility corridor. There has been an overnight “blow-down”
crossing the wires, but you also notice the downed trees have been
uprooted near the natural gas right-of-way. You are using the satellite
phone to have the location shared with others…
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You are sailing off the coast
and you hit an uncharted shoal. The damage is significant and the water
coming through the hull is steady, faster than your pumps can handle. You
reach for the handset to radio the latitude and longitude of your position
to the Coast Guard…
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You and your best friend have
had a good day of snowmobiling (or ATV). It is late in the day, in early
January, you decide to go a little further when your friend goes off the
trail and hits a tree. He is barely conscious and is unable to move his
legs. You push the power button of your GPS unit and unsnap the protective
case of the satellite phone…
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The coroner at the inquest for
the recent tragedy asked if there were standards for communicating spatial
information and if all personnel were trained with GPS…
There are many more scenarios.
With the use of communication devices, the GPS unit and a certified course
or general interest program with identified expectations and standards,
safety will be enhanced.
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