On a related note, I found that if I set my phone to only allow the
eBird app to access location data while the app is in use, it didn't
behave as expected. I thought that if I had it set that way, it would
continue to access the location as long as the app was running, even if
the phone screen was turned off. But as it turned out, it was only
getting GPS updates when I took out the phone to record a species. If I
walked half a mile between two sightings, it would show as a straight
line between the two locations. Allowing the eBird app to access
location data at all times solved the issue.
John Kent
Selkirk NY
On 8/25/2020 11:57 AM, AJIT ANTONY wrote:
GPS Lag at times can cause you to locate your checklist in the wrong breeding
block or even the wrong state!
I have noticed that this happens in an area without good internet access.There
is a lag between my looking at GPS location and where I really am.
Some months ago while birding at the Port Jervis Watershed Park in the
northwest corner of Orange County New York, I noticed that when I noted where a
block border was, and ended my checklist within it using Google Earth for my
location in relation to the block borders, when I looked at the eBird app track
later I found that I had overshot and gone beyond the block border and I had to
add a note stating that I had not seen any birds in the “wrong block.” (This
was before we had block borders on the eBird app or the ability to edit the
track on the eBird app). This happened a few times and I wondered whether the
GPS was taking a finite amount of time to register my location, so that when I
ended the checklist at the block border using Google Earth it was showing me my
location sometime ago, so that my final eBird track was beyond the block when
GPS finally caught up with my actual location.
I kept checking this on various Atlasing walks and found out that there is
about a two minute delay on the GPS. I found this specifically when I set out
to place ribbon markers on either side of each block crossing for myself and
our club members at the Port Jervis Watershed Park where there are four
different borders meeting, and where on one bird Atlasing walk I took I had to
cross 5 block borders and use 6 checklists!
Knowing of a roughly 2 minute delay, I would initially open a new eBird mobile
app checklist when I crossed into a different block (only to be able to find
the precise block border) and even though I was stationary I could see my track
moving over the two minutes. I waited till it was no further movement and that
I wasn’t in the wrong block before putting my ribbon markers on trees. I would
then delete that checklist. This was very tedious doing this for the 5 block
borders I crossed over a distance of 7.5 miles.
The practical importance of this is that when I begin a eBird app checklist
where I think the block border is, that I have mapped out earlier using Google
Earth, I am actually two minutes behind and can be in the wrong block, call it
block A. If I then choose the location of the beginning of my track as the
Location, and my observations are all in block B, the final checklist will be
for block A if I use the recommended eBird location closest. I have seen that
happening to myself and had to correct/change my location.
If one doesn’t know this is possible, the checklist would be shown for the
wrong BBA block.
Knowing what I know now, when I start a checklist I wait at least 2 minutes on
the other side of a block border. As soon as I start the checklist I look at
the distance icon which brings up my location on relation to the nearest block
border. If it still shows me in the wrong block, I delete that checklist. I
haven't had to do that at all since I had the epiphany.
I described all this to eBird more than a month ago, without any response.
To maybe mitigate the problem, try Solution 6.
https://www.technobezz.com/fix-android-gps-issues/
Ajit I Antony MD
Cornwall on Hudson, NY
E A Mearns Bird Club
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ARCHIVES:
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