So, one of the reasons I like to use my phone for iNat instead of a regular camera is for the precise GPS location tracking. Does anybody have a way to get this level of location precision without a phone? What’s your method?
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A small handheld GPS will do it for you. Smaller, no frills models are quite low cost.
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Any make or model suggestions?
I am most familiar with the Garmin brand. Garmin were making GPS units before they got into watches. I use a Garmin Rino 700 which I have had for more than 10 years. This one has a built in 2 way radio. There are numerous models to choose from and other companies besides Garmin making them. A google search for ‘handheld GPS unit’ should give you lots of reading. I think you can get wristwatches that will supply GPS functions as well.
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You can also just record your track on your phone with an app like CalTopo and then sync the track with your camera photos using a program like GeoSetter
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I use a combination of GPS Essentials and Garmin BaseCamp. Both are free to use and provide excellent results.
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I use a camera, one of the Olympus Tough models, that has built-in GPS.
My first Argiope I know the position of within a decimeter, because I set traverse points on the street, measured their positions within a few millimeters with the GPS pole, traversed into the woods, set a nail, and found the spider right on top of it. iNat, though, doesn’t understand a 0.1 m accuracy radius and changed it to zero.
My latest pine is near a pipe whose position I measured with GPS; while cooking the point for three minutes, I took pictures of it and other plants. I mentioned the bundles of two twisted needles in a room full of surveyors, and some of them knew what it meant. (Not all of us are expert tree identifiers.)
There are several existing threads that focus on geotagging, including:
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-to-geotag-in-a-phone-without-gps/66649
though I am sure there are more.
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Think about how much precision you really need. 20 meters accuracy will narrow the location down to a single suburban lot in my area, which is close enough for most purposes. Larger accuracy circles may be OK, too.
A little GPS unit that you can buy in the store that has camping and hiking equipment will give you plenty of accuracy, usually.
If you keep track of your location by a combination of photos of landmarks + memory, you can usually get adequate accuracy by using Google Earth or similar program, by picking the location from a map or aerial photos.
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I have used the Garmin 60CSx for 20+ years. It is long “out of print” but you can find them for <$100 on eBay. The antenna and satellite tracking of this model exceeds the capabilities of some later models. That said, as ‘sedgequeen’ points out, it hardly matters in most cases. Any handhelp GPS unit will give you an accuracy that suffices for what we’re all doing.
We were using the 60CSx for bird research (telemetry and other observations) - but even there most of our points were more accurate than we really needed. And now that that project is finished, I have access to these older but really nice units. I do carry my phone with me but there are times when I go with the GPS unit.
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