Stoleson, S.H., Kirschbaum, K.J., Frank, J. & Atwood, C.J. From the Field: Integrating GPS, GIS, and avian call-response surveys using Pocket PCs. Wildlife Society Bulletin 32, 1309-1312 (2004).

This study utilized the advances in small, personal computing devices, here Pocket PC’s, to digitize the process of conducting call-response, or tape-playback, bird counts, while also integrating GPS locations for these counts and habitat site characteristics.  Bird songs were converted into MP3 files and could be broadcast through the use of small portable speakers attached to the Pocket PC.  Additionally a small GPS unit was integrated with the Pocket PC to collect waypoints in the field.  The use of these small Pocket PCs not only significantly cut down on the amount of equipment carried by each researcher into the field, but allowed all data collected to be easily merged into one database and that database manipulated and analyzed in ArcGIS.  By running ESRI ArcPad, a GIS mapping system developed for use on PocketPC’s, all data collected in the field could be done in real time and stored as a shape file. These shape files could then be loaded into ESRI desktop software and used for spatial analysis purposes.  This short paper was a good example of researchers taking initiative in using the latest technological advances to streamline data collection and enhance the accuracy of field collected data.