[Taxacom] Data quality of aggregated datasets

[Fred Schueler]

> On 2013.05.07, at 16:57-0400, Richard Pyle <deepreef at bishopmuseum.org> wrote:
>
> My use of "+/-" was in reference to the accuracy of the GPS device.  I'm not
> sure how such devices estimate the error radius, and I'm not sure how the
> average field biologist would find out.  However, many GPS devices I've used
> give me a simple number representing "Accuracy", expressed as a distance
> (usually in feet or meters).  That's a number I can easily capture as a
> radius.  How the GPS device generated that number, and what the basis of the
> error estimate used by the GPS device is, may be a bit more cryptic.

* empirically, at least in our driveway in eastern Ontario, and with a  
Garmin 45, the "accuracy" number is similar to the standard deviation  
of the positions over a span of years, and as recorded as a track.

Schueler,  Frederick W. 2000. Navigating as Naturalists with the  
Global Positioning System. Trail and Landscape 34(1):35-40.

...but I have no idea what they're supposed to represent.

fred.
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