18th April 2012, 09:34 PM
Ken Denham Wrote:I agree that GPS etc is indispensible on site
Cobblers.
Simply not true. I have had this argument with Kevin many times, but GPS is not essential, indispensible or necessarily a Good Thing (as he hints in his post). They are unreliable and more than often on UK commercial sites the unintelligent use of GPS where alternative techniques are better suited hastens de-skilling of staff and a simplistic reduction of recording quality; GPS simply isn't required on many sites.
Convenient? Yes -to managers, but at what cost in quality of work produced? As Kevin says, it is a mix of techniques and an understanding of when to use each one to its advantage that is needed. We are currently using a mix of GPS, TST and traditional multi and single-context hand planning to record a large rural site, and each tool is useful, but GPS indispensible? No. Quick and convenient, yes. And therein lies the danger. But luckily our GPS pre-ex polygons will soon be replaced by hand drawn plans.
Apologies, but currently finishing a paper for tomorrow's conference on deskilling and the dangers of 'machines that go ping'...