Day 9: More Georeference Points
June 11, 2013Today Courtney and UAV Team and I all hiked out to collect more georeference points to add to our collection from day one of field work. From the start, we collected base camp points and moved on to major road intersections, movie props and cattle infrastructure throughout the remainder of the valley. This became particularly challenging around the north side of the valley which didn’t end up having as many recognizable points compared to the south side. In the middle of the north face, we used single trees in the middle of plains to collect reference points. After some thought, I began to wonder if these “solo trees” would end up being some of our strongest points to come out of this data collection period.
Courtney and I returned to the barn to export the data from the past two days to see how much we had done. After some pre-processing steps with GPS Pathfinder Office, Courtney was able to show me that we had done 17 points over the course of the data collection period. For statistical reasons we hope to have 30 towards the end of the week.
The map we produced also showed that we are lacking points in the middle of the valley (which is mainly used for cattle grazing and movie production). From initial observation, it seems this portion lacks buildings and road intersections. From this point on, we have to think outside the box to collect the remainder of the required georeference points.
After visiting the front of the valley. I’m starting to think it will work best for measuring canopy height on the tress that areon level ground. Considering PhotoScan doesn’t measure brush and small trees fairly well, it seems appropriate to pick a portion of the valley that lacks these qualities (brush and small trees seemed to be consumed by cattle or horses in the area). I think over the next few days I will practice flying the quad-copter with the UAV group and get a better understanding of the general area described above.
Cole Anwyl Walters
University of Maryland, College Park
Kualoa Ranch Field Work!
June 10, 2013We began field work today. Students spent the first part of the morning discussing and constructing data dictionaries for GPS mapping. Each group has an assigned topic that is their area of focus: hydrology, geology, archaeology, topography, bare earth coverage, vegetation. These groups will be generating data for the study area that will for basemaps for individual projects. After gathering at Kualoa Ranch under the large monkey pod tree (Albizia Saman) near Hotu Iti, each group split off across the valley in quest of information and features. The day was sunny and warm with light breeze. We had a short shower in the afternoon but that was followed by sunshine. A last-minute photo shoot up at the head of the valley for Quicksilver/Roxy provided some drama as a helicopter swooped back and forth into the valley just 50 feet off the ground (and landing once). It was filming somebody driving around like a madman in a little Fiat.
Tired but pleased, we returned to the ranch at 3:30 and began the process of updating the data dictionaries, downloading data and preparing for tomorrow. Ideally, we will do our first X100 flights across the ranch in the morning. 
The 2013 Field Season Begins!
June 10, 2013
We did our first day of “field” activities yesterday. Terry Hunt came to the Tradewinds Ranch house and gave us an intro lecture on the archaeology of the Pacific and an introduction to Hawaiian prehistory. Then, we went out to Kualoa Ranch. David Morgan met us with his daughter and kindly took us on a bus-tour of the Ka’a’awa valley. He pointed out the movie sets, some potential archaeological features, a couple of fantastic spring/upwelling/bogs, and a variety of plants. We got to see the WWII gun bunkers and the submarine set piece he bought during the Lost auction. Fun and informative. Afterwards, students worked on their data dictionaries as they planned for the upcoming field studies. We had a somewhat impromptu burger cooking dinner back at the house.
The group of student and TAs for the 2013 NSF-REU on Oahu
2012 GRAM Program is done! Get ready for 2013!
July 8, 2012The 2012 GRAM program on Kauai completed this past Saturday with a poster session that showcased all of the students’ research projects. We will post a photo gallery of that event shortly. If you are interested in reading more about the research projects, please see the project groups using the links on the left hand side of the page. Or click on the project group pages:
Acceptance notifications are coming!
March 19, 2012We are finalizing our list of individuals who will be accepted to this summer’s GRAM program. For those who are not accepted, please understand that we had many applicants and had to make some tough decisions . Please consider applying next year if you have not graduated.
Application Deadline Extended to March 2, 2012
February 7, 2012Due to the relative late date that we got the website and announcements out regarding the NSF-REU program, we are extending the deadline for applications to March 2, 2012.
Application for the 2013 NSF-REU Program at CSULB
December 20, 2011An online application is now available for the 2013 CSULB NSF-REU. The Geospatial Research and Methods (GRAM) field program will take place at CSULB and Hawai’i. The application deadline is February 1, 2013. In addition to the information requested, the application requires you to submit two letters of reference from your professors.
Click here for the application:
https://csulb.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_0H3QdyYIJpr9KEl
References can be filled out by having your referees go to this webpage: https://csulb.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_1z7UiAljZvOA6xf