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 -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
