[Killietalk] GPS on locations

[Wright Huntley <whuntley at verizon_net>]

 From a scientific standpoint, the more location accuracy the better.

 From a hobby/public standpoint, high accuracy can be a disaster.

Greedy individual collectors or commercial operations have been known to 
strip a desirable location, leaving no fish for wild propagation.

The exact details of the collectors' maps should be privately kept by 
the collections recorder (currently Lee), to be shared only with 
qualified researchers, trustworthy collectors, etc.

Bag labels should have a good description of the general area (Caprivi 
Strip, Cape Lopez) and a collection code, but never enough detail to 
locate the exact site.

Commercial shipments should never be labeled with the port  (Lagos, 
Monrovia, etc.) or large country (Cameroon, Nigeria, Gabon), but with a 
shipper name/code and numerical and/or date code. It could be simple, 
modeled after the private collection codes -- a two or three letter 
shipper designation and a yymm-## code giving year, month (maybe) and 
shipment number. If the shipment has a known collection location, it 
should be included for labels, with any detailed data forwarded to Lee 
if available. Initially, the importers would need to do some of this, 
until it becomes a simple routine. They would have to take the lead to 
assure we have useful bag labels. The AKA could maintain a simple 
shipper-code-address registry so we could know where (city, country) our 
bag came from, exactly. Importers should not have to reveal actual 
contact data for their sources.

That's my opinion. Fortunately, everyone has one, like certain 
anatomical parts. :-)   YMMV.

Wright

-- 
Wright Huntley - 805 Valley West Cir., Bishop CA 93514 - whuntley at verizon_net 760 872-3995.

I was born in the United States of America. 
Now I live in something called The Homeland. 
If we aren't careful, we're going to die in New East Germany.

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