GPS/GIS Training

GPS/GIS Training Commences on Nevis

On March 28th and 29th, as part of the new Nevis Biodiversity Project, the Nevis Historical and Conservation Society (NHCS) was pleased to hold their first GPS/GIS “Train-the-Trainers Workshop” with more than a dozen local students and educators, including senior 6th Form students, members of the Maroon Community Group, a member of the Nevis Dept of Fisheries, a nature guide, a botanist, a marine biologist and NHCS staff members.

The NHCS arranged for Ms. Erin Haney, an environmental consultant and GIS expert from Vermont, USA to conduct the two day workshop, using funds supplied by the British High Commission (Barbados), the Strabon Project (French Embassy St. Lucia), and the Nevis Peak Project (OECS).

The Canadian High Commission (Barbados) Canada Fund, supplied the funding for all the equipment used both for the GPS/GIS training and the Biodiversity Project in general.

The GPS portion of the training took place, Saturday, March 28th at the ruins of Fort Charles, outside of Charlestown. Training commenced with a brief history of the fort and its role in the history of St. Kitts & Nevis by noted local historian and author, Vincent Hubbard.

The GPS Train-the-Trainers Team (click to enlarge)

One of the new Garmin 60CSx GPS Units provided to the Biodiversity Project by the Canada Fund (click to enlarge)

Students were then given instructions on the theory and practical use of the new Garmin GPS units recently supplied to the Biodiversity Project by the Canada Fund. Students learned how to navigate the GPS units many screens and functions, and how to record and modify location ‘markers’ into the units.

After students were comfortable using the GPS devices, they were broken up into groups and tasked with creating a GPS survey of various portions of the old fort and the surrounding headland.

Students learned how to record positional data outlining all areas of the historic ruins including fortifications, the moat, the power magazine and cistern, and even the positions of individual cannons within the ruins.

To end the days training, local naturalist and tour guide Jim Johnson, explained how GPS units are also used to conduct high-tech treasure hunts, called ‘Geo-caching’.
Popular worldwide, Mr. Johnson has recently introduced ‘Geo-Caches’ to Nevis and already at least 100 people have travelling to Nevis specifically to find them.

Basically, a Geo-cache is a small sealed box or vessel that contains a log book and perhaps a few small trinkets. Once hidden, the location of the boxes or “Geo-Caches” are recorded via GPS, and then posted online, often with a rhyming clue.

Local naturalist Jim Johnson opens the discovered Geo-cache (click to enlarge)

Students training students in an integral part of the NHCS Biodiversity Project (click to enlarge)

Then other Geo-caching enthusiasts download the caches coordinates into their personal GPS units, and try to find them. Once found, they sign the log book inside (to prove that they found it).
The cache is then replaced in its hiding place for the next person to find at a later date.

By coincidence, one of Mr. Johnson’s geo-caches was located within the fort walls, and students were given its coordinates to input into their GPS units and tasked to find it.
It didn’t take long for them to locate the hidden ‘pirates treasure’ sign the log book, and replace it back in its hiding place.

Geo-caching is an excellent and fun way for people to learn how to use GPS technology, and the students used it to show that they had indeed learned something from their first days training.

As part of the ongoing GPS/GIS training over the coming weeks/months, the NHCS intends to include creation and placement of Geo-Caches as an integral part of the training process.

The second day of the workshop took place at the NHCS’s brand new Biodiversity Lab located within the Museum of Nevis History at Bell Vue. Though the lab is not 100% completed, it is almost fully operational and this occasion marked the first time it has been used.

Utilizing several laptop computers, GIS mapping software, and a digital projector, again all supplied by the Canada Fund, students were shown how to download their GPS data from the previous days surveys into their computers, and using two pieces of GIS software, Map Source and Map Maker, they were able to begin to create simple yet accurate maps of Fort Charles and surrounds.

Ms. Haney also demonstrated how it is possible to import satellite or aerial photos such as from Google Earth into the GIS software, so that students can overlay their collected survey data onto them and create their own maps tailored for specific purposes, such as monitoring coastal erosion, mapping archaeological sites, or defining the boundaries of the proposed Nevis Peak National Park.

Ms. Haney shows students how to load GPS data points

The Nevis Biodiversity Centre is small but well equipped

The day’s lessons ended by students being given the coordinates to another of Jim Johnson’s geo-caches, at the nearby Bath Hotel; It didn’t take them long to locate it.

Though originally planned to be only a two day workshop, the students were so eager and enthusiastic about learning the basics of GPS/GIS, that Ms. Haney has generously agreed to give further advance instruction on mapping the following Saturday at the Biodiversity Lab (April 4th).

As this project continues and the students become more proficient with the technologies, they will be expected to not only develop and work on various related projects but also act as trainers themselves and pass along their technical skills to other students and local stake holders.

I am sure we can expect to hear a lot more about this project and its achievements in the coming months.
Further project details, photos and video will shortly be available on the Biodiversity website (www.bio-diversity-nevis.org), the NHCS YouTube Channel, the Society’s Newsletter and other media outlets.

Photos from the two (2) Day Workshop

(click on photos to enlarge)