Technology

Technology
1.	I want to use electronic calipers to do data entry. How is this done?
2.	How do you make 360 panoramas?
3.	How do you make time-lapse movies?
4.	How do you create web pages that access databases?

Answers
1.	Taking electronic caliper measurements is simple, fast and not terribly expensive. We use Mitutoyo calipers with an interface (typically called a keyboard wedge) that transfers the data to the computer through its keyboard port. With this equipment installed you can send measurements directly to any software including Excel and Access. We use our own data entry program that allows you to make custom data entry forms. If your computer does not have a keyboard port, USB connections are also possible. Note: The interface box contains an additional port so that a keyboard and calipers can be connected at the same time (as you would need with a desktop computer). We have found that on some machines you must have a keyboard attached to this port for the calipers to work (ie. even when using it on a laptop).
2.	There are a number of expensive ways to make 360 degree panoramas, but it is surprisingly easy to do it on the cheap and the results are still quite good. First, you can shoot a series of hand-held photos. Try your best to keep the camera at the same height. Use a wide-angle and be sure to overlap your photos by about 1/4 to 1/3. Don't forget to overlap your first photo with the last photo. Use an obvious landmark on the horizon to start the series. Also, it can sometimes be difficult to identify where the series starts and stops when you look at the images later. So, it is useful to take a shot of the ground before starting and then take that exact same shot after finishing the series. Second, you can use a tripod. They make fancy and expensive mounting devices that let you level and rotate your camera at fixed intervals. Save the money and simply use an archaeological level to either level your tripod (if you are using a survey tripod) or the camera on the tripod (if you are using a normal camera tripod). Then follow the steps in the previous paragraph again being careful to include some overlap. When it comes to stitching the photos together, many digital cameras come with free software that does this rather well. You can also find software on the Internet to do the job. Type "360 panorama software" into a search engine or try this one. A more sophisticated approach is outlined at this link. Save the resulting image as a QuickTime file (MOV extension). Then, when you make your web page, simply provide a link to that file (eg. this link). If QuickTime is installed on the computer, the panorama will automatically load.
3.	Time-lapse photography is a little tricky, but once you find the right equipment and software it is easily done. You can see examples of our work on these pages (one, two, and three). We describe how we do it on this page, and there is a great write-up by folks who make plant motion time-lapse movies at this page.
4.	There are a number of ways to create dynamic web pages that interact with databases. However, none of these methods are particularly easy and knowledge of HTML and some programming may be required. All of our pages that use links to databases (examples one, two and three) are written in ASP. ASP is a Microsoft product similar to Visual Basic. ASP codes are embedded in a web page. When a request is made for that page, the web server runs the ASP page and returns the results to the user (client) as an HTML page (with the ASP code removed). Links to databases are easily done in ASP using an ODBC connection on the server. To use ASP you will need a Microsoft Internet Server. Several years ago FileMaker Pro supported simple, one-button, Internet publishing of databases. This program is particularly nice since it supports Mac and PC.