A GPS is a Global Positioning System, which is usually
a handheld device that makes use of the Department of Defenses
constellation of satellites to determine the devices position on the
earth. Visit the US
Naval Observatory site for a complete technical review of the
system.
The Global Positioning System site also has a lot of good
information.
No you don't, but you will miss out on the fun of
being in the field and using a cool gadget! You can get coordinates
without using a GPS by making use of topographic maps at sites like
Topozone.com, or Microsoft's Terra
Server.
The challenge of doing it without a GPS, is the
conversion to the WGS-84, DD MMM.MM format. Topozone and TerraServer
both use the DD MMM.MM format, but the NAD-27 datum is used, as well
as older USGS maps. The newest USGS maps use datum WGS-84. Most GPS'
will automatically convert the datum and format for you. If you
compare the same coordinate in WGS-84 and NAD-27 datum, you will find
that they may be as far as 200 meters off.
Good question. I think the
Geocacher named Brokenwing
explained it best:
| First off, there are
two "parts" to any system used to mark a position on the
earth.
The first is something called a "datum". In simple terms,
this is the "model" used to represent the shape of the earth.
This is necessary, because the earth is not really round.
WGS-84 is an example of a map datum. Other common datums in
use are NAD27 and NAD83. We use WGS-84 here, because the
Global Positioning System itself uses it. By the way, your GPS
probably also defaults to this datum, so you shouldn't need to
change it.
The second part is something called a Coordinate System.
This is just a way to represent different points in reference
to the datum. Examples of coordinate systems are UTM,
Decimal-Degrees, Degrees-Decimal-Minutes.
You could, in theory, use any combination of datum and
coordinate system to navigate, but if you want to let other
people know how to get to the same place, you have to agree on
the datum and coordinate system to use.
Think of the difference being akin to the difference
between the metric system and the English (American) system
based on feet. They both represent a way to measure the same
thing, but the measurements themselves are different.
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The coordinates used by The US GeoGen Project ™
are listed in the format DEG MM.MMM, or Degrees,
Minutes, Decimal Minutes. The WGS-84 datum is also used. Visit the
WGS-84 website for technical
details.
No, you don't. If you wish to assist a County
Coordinator in the collection of data, just volunteer directly with
them.
Since the increase accuracy of the GPS signals in
2000, the market for GPS devices has increased sharply. You can find
GPS equipment at most any sporting goods stores, plus many places have
them online. There is a shopping page here
at GeoGen.org in conjunction with Amazon.com. Any purchases made
through the GeoGen Shopping Page helps to
offset the costs of server space and bandwidth. Another good online
place is GPSCity.Com.
As far as I know, only The Master Genealogist by
Whollygenes Software supports the entry of coordinate data. You can
learn more about the software here:
 
The Master Genealogist (Gold Edition v. 4.0 for Windows)
 
The Master Genealogist (Silver Edition v.4.0)
Your pages will reside on any server you choose. They
belong to you and you can have them hosted wherever you choose.
No it won't. The query form that you use sends a tiny bit of data
to the database engine hosted at GeoGen.Org. The server processes the
query and the only thing that gets passed back to the browser is the
html results. This requires very little bandwidth on your part.
There are several services that offer free web space for genealogy
pages. I don't use any of them, so I can't recommend one over the
other, but I can point you to a few:
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Copyright © 2002-2003 The US GeoGen ®
Project
Revised
August 06, 2003
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