I have always been, well almost always, a map nut. I still have some maps that were put out by the Bureau of Land Management, California Fish and Game, and the Forest Service back in the 1950’s along with U.S.G.S. Topo Maps.
I come from the school of old wildland fire fighter. Hand drawn maps were the name of the game years back. As overhead I would draw maps on note book paper displaying locations of spot fires outside the line, snags that needed to be taken care of, hazards such as yellow jacket nest. It was understood that when such a map was handed over that it was not to scale, but provide intelligence needed to get the job done. Many times small spot fires had been contained, mop-up had been done, but until the fire was declared out they needed to be checked by replacement crews. Now days I would use a gps to create waypoints and the information would be more accurate. Normally key items were marked along the fireline with flagging.
The biggest mapping errors I have noted are sub division maps, when compared to topo software, when compared to street software what is upgraded the gps and the road are together. I have not compared with updated versions of Goggle Earth but a couple years back I noted the LAT/LONG display at the bottom of the screen did not “always” jive with the LAT/LONG I got on my gps, or when I created a waypoint. BUT, the owners of Garmin and Magellan gps units can download their data to Google Earth. The issue maybe a matter of feet because I can cite examples where the comparison provide to be valid.
I just created a waypoint where I park my pickup when I hunt a certain area. I created it in MapSource Topo 2008. I then went to the VIEW option in Map Source and selected View In Goggle Earth. Using the Ruler provided in Goggle Earth there was a difference of 119-feet. Depending on the situation the difference could be critical or meaningless. In 119-feet of heavy cover I could hide a U-Haul truck.
I agree that different gps units may come up with slight differences when recording a LAT/LONG. My current units have an averaging feature which upgrades accuracy when used. It just takes a little time to do, and I do not normally use the feature. I would use it if I was hiding a chest of gold.
http://egsc.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/factsheets/fs17199.htmlA good question regarding the couple. While a vector from dispatch could be helpful and direct line in that country could put you at the top or bottom of a cliff. Your earlier post regarding them creating waypoints was on the money. A paper map, Topo mapping software in the gps, and waypoints at the trailhead should have got them back to their vehicle. I bet they were exhausted from hiking in the steep wilderness, and dehydrated. A condition commonly called Mountain Sickness, normal cured with water, and rest. Hits people that live at low altitude hard at times. While elevations above 8000 are critical I have seen it numerous times at 5000 feet. It has a lot to do with the fitness of the hiker.
As I mention before I would have created a track. There are a lot of options when creating and saving tracks. To avoid confusion one might want to change track colors daily. (When using a color unit.)
You are right the helicopter mission was expensive, normally that class of helicopter runs about a $1000 an hour for aircraft and pilot. In California the out of county jurisdiction can be billed for the rescue. In turn the jurisdiction they live in can look at the circumstances and determined if they will be billed. Mountain counties in California and other states spend a lot of money rescuing city slickers. Every once and while locals need help too!
Back in the last century when that was an area I worked in we received a call just about quitting time that a woman was hemorrhaging at Lower Wright Lake N41 35.001 W123 05.217 which is located about 8.44 air miles from Bear Lake which was mentioned in the recent incident. After taking the call I relayed the information to the Dispatch who relayed it to the County Sheriff. In California the County Sheriff is responsible for all search and rescues. Other agencies take part but the Sheriff is the man.
This was in the days before gps and the location of Lower Wright Lake did the job. I believe a helicopter came from the Redding area. I do not know if the highway patrol had a helicopter there in those days are not. The lady was having a real medical emergency, and she was flown directly to the hospital. I rather doubt if there was billing for the rescue.
Now days private or contract medical helicopters are common. A friend was hiking in the Desolation Wilderness area West of Lake Tahoe. She passed out on the trail and private medical helicopter took her out to a hospital in Nevada. A few hours in the hospital on an I.V. she felt like she could go home. Like most of us we want to get home and out of the hospital. A little birdie advised her that if she was not admitted to the hospital overnight it was likely her health insurance would not cover the helicopter. Feeling very weak and concerned about the event that put her in the hospital she spent the night; the insurance company pickup the bill for the helicopter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desolation_WildernessI made a couple of phone calls today concerning the rescue. I did not learn much, but a cellphone tower has been installed at the old Slater Butte L.O. site that is about 18 miles Northwest of Bear Lake. The old lookout is about 4500 + foot elevation. Here is a good look from the lookout.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VI_xX7OS9nELate August 1965 I was on a major forest fire that burn all around Slater Butte. The first day of the fire it made a major run and trapped men and equipment on a logging road below the lookout. I arrived on the fire on day two. A few fire fighters ran for their lives and made it to the highway miles below. Others took shelter under tarps. Coming on to the burn vehicles was a little shocking with melted turn sign covers, headlights broke out, and blacken fire trucks. The melted covers looked like big tears.
There were no gps units, and we did real good using topo maps and Forest Service maps getting around on the fire. I believe it was 14,000 acres.
