Repair Lat/Long Coordinate Errors on the Fly

Every once in a while, someone misses a step in processing raw lat/long coordinates. Sometimes data was transferred incorrectly, sometimes the data wasn't available.

Here's some data I threw together as an example - these are my favorite caving diving sites in Florida:

ID	Name	Latitude	Longitude
1	Jackson Blue	30.790475	-85.140083
2	Madison Blue	30.480518	83.244421
3	Orange Grove	30.127215	-83.13053
4	Peacock	30.122503	-83.1324
5	Little River	29.996677	-82.966328
6	Devil's Eye	29.83509	-82.69659
7	Devil's Ear	29.835297	-82.696568
8	Ginnie Spring	29.836178	-82.700148

Initial projection of data is missing a location

Something's wrong. I expected to see Madison Blue just north of that group of three points. (some of those spots are springs that are within a few hundred yards of each other.

! When projecting data, immediately zoom to that layer, or hit the Full Extent button  to ensure that all points were plotted properly.

ArcMap's Zoom to Full Extent tool

After I zoomed to the full extent of the data, I realized what must be wrong with the data (see below). Obviously there's a Longitude value that's missing its negative sign because I haven't been diving in India/Tibet before.

Zoom to full extent to check for mis-projected data.

A few quick tips:

• Locations on the same latitude, but on the other side of the world are probably missing or adding a negative sign
• Points off the coast of Nigeria/Ghana/Gabon, down under of Africa's west coast are probably inheriting a Null or erroneous value, so they're defaulting to the coordinate (0, 0).

• After zooming to the full extent of a map, use the Select Features tool to select those incorrect locations. In the Attribute Table, choose Show selected Records to take a look at the incorrect data.

Fix the Data

1. Start an Edit Session on that layer in question
2. Select the erroneous site. Mine is ID = 2, or Name = Madison Blue
3. From the Editor toolbar, choose the Sketch Properties button to open the Edit Sketch Properties window
4. Add a negative in front of the selected X value and press Enter or click Finish Sketch to apply the update

5. Save and Stop Editing

That's it! Piece of cake..

Corrected data plot

Custom Scuba Diving Logs

Near the end of my first diving log book (≈100 dives), I started looking for for a new set of logs that would be a bit more advanced and provide enough space for the detailed descriptions of dives like I wanted to write.  Unfortunately I could only find log books that were unnecessarily complex (individual check boxes for wetsuit gloves, a full suit, shortie, jacket, how much weight was used, etc. - overkill)  I can see how that level of detail could be useful if you end  up only doing 10 dives in a lifetime, or for your first dozen dives, but that was ridiculous.

I ended up making my own and used them through cavern training with a lot of enjoyment, however I ended up losing the whole pack of logs (from dive #1 to Dive #154) due to some unknown event (likely slid off the top of my car or something terrible), so this is my second shot at creating advanced (enough) custom scuba diving logs.

Download: PNG (single) / PDF (print on 8.5" x 11" paper) / DOC (template to edit)

Updates:
Over time I will update the template to be the most clear, concise, and easy to use.  Here's a list of previous versions and their changes:

Date	Downloads	Description
August 1, 2012	PNG / PDF / DOC	Added space for Equivalent Air Depth (EAD) and Dive-turn time
May 13, 2012	PNG / PDF / DOC	Highly updated draft uploaded. Print formatting applied and formatted for advanced diving. Space is provided on each page for 2-sided printing, which leaves enough room for binding
July 19, 2011	PNG	Original basic dive log template

Overview: 

• Printing: The PDF & DOC templates are setup for printing on standard 8.5" x 11" paper, which will give you 4 log spaces per sheet of paper (using a 2-sided printing option). A small margin has been set in case you choose to bind the logs at any point.  I recommend taking a stack of written logs to Office Depot, etc. to be bound with a coil binding.  Be sure to punch holes in a test page so your logs are not ruined. Add a clear plastic cover and a colored back to protect it.

Finished log: 25 pages bound with a ¼" coil binding

25 sheets of paper (100 entries) fit very well into a ¼" coil binding, and at least twice as many fit into a ½" binding.  Since binding is so cheap ($5 to bind 25 pages with a clear front cover and a black rear cover), it may be worth binding smaller groups of logs and combining them as volumes later.  One could even replace the smaller coil with a larger one when additional groups o flogs are completed

• Editing: Download the .DOC file, which was created using Microsoft Word 2003 & 2007. Much of the formatting includes tables with invisible borders.  It may help to select an area and apply borders to better understand how things are set up.  Additionally, custom cell padding is attained by adding blank lines of text with very small pixel values (1-4 pixels) above or below lines of text.  Use the Show Paragraph & Formatting Marks tool in Microsoft Word, etc. for further assistance.
  
  Finally, I suggest editing only the first of the four tables in the document.  Delete the remaining three tables from the document. Copy the updated table and paste it below (now 2 identical log entries will be present on one page) and align it to the bottom of the page.  Now copy the contents of the first page and past it onto page 2 (four log entries will be present on 2 pages).  Select one table at a time on page 2 and adjust the alignment to the left side of the page, leaving room for a binding on the correct side of the page; when these 2 pages are printed on a single sheet of paper, the borders should align if you gaze through the paper when help up to a light.

•  Chronology: Write the dive number in increasing order for every new dive so it's easy to see how many dives have been completed.  The date follows.  I have two methods of recording how much time a diver has spent underwater: the first is the accrual of dive time in total hours/minutes, then again in days/hours/minutes (i.e. 25 hours 1 minute (25:01), or 1 day 0 hours 1 minute (1:00:01).  It's fun/interesting to track blocks of hours as milestones (dozens, hundreds of hours, etc.) while being able to quickly see each "day underwater" pass, as well as each block of hours pass.  Additionally, it serves as error checking - if a dive was miscalculated, simply calculate between hours and days until you find where they two figures no longer disagree

•  Location: Enough room is provided to describe the location/sub location (i.e. Orange Grove Sink @ Peacock Springs State Park), along with a lat/long coordinate if a GPS is available

•  Purpose: Self explanatory, check boxes

• Dive type conditions: More simple check boxes are available to describe the dive, however there are now multiple opportunities to circle parameters of a given condition.  For instance, there was some flow during this Intro-level cave dive.  Otherwise, if this were an open water drift dive, "drift" would be circled instead.
  An Emergency option is also available.  I've logged this a few times where there was a situation that needed to be responded to (signs of a near-panicking diver, a diver that was caught in a slight rip current, divers were very low on gas at depth, etc.).  This is interesting to note, even if the "emergency" situation does not escalate into a serious event.
  Additionally, a user can track how many dives have been completed at various levels of overhead training: including Wreck penetration / Cavern / Intro Cave / Apprentice Cave / Full Cave.  This was my 19th cave dive, but I could also use the number that corresponds to another type of overhead diving (i.e. 7 Wreck penetrations, or 43 Cavern dives).
  Further, I have been jotting a small note about how much current (slight/med/strong) was present on a dive in the blank space

Conditions, with multiple types of overhead diving, including:
Wreck penetration / Cavern / Intro cave / Apprentice cave / Full Cave

• Weather conditions: There is space to jot down the weather (hot/warm/chilly/windy/air temperature), water temperature (with space for two temperatures in case a thermocline is present), and visibility under water (here I put 40' to unlimited/infinite).
  Weather.gov is a good tool to use to find a 3 day history of temperatures and weather data for anywhere in the country.  For an example at Little River, use this link and look for the "3 Day History" link in the "Current Conditions" box. Pan around using the embedded Google map and click on an area of interest to update the forecast location.  Once you are centered over an area of interest, click on the "3 day history" link for that area to find your data.

• Time: Include a time to assist with repetitive dive planning

• Gear: Use check boxes and circle any gear or equipment that is used on a dive.
  I placed a check box to the RIGHT of the Reels item because I had two safety reels on me, however I did not run line and I did not run any lost line/lost buddy drills in the cave so I placed a check beside the item, indicating that they were present but not used.
  Additionally, a blank space is provided for unlisted items.  For instance I usually dive with a hood/beanie cap when I dive my wetsuit so I wouldn't bother noting that, though I rarely dive with gloves unless I'm on a deep wreck with an up-line, so I would likely include that in the blank space.

• Tec parameters & O2 exposure: There is optional space to note a diver's Surface Air Consumption (SAC rate), Oxygen to Central Nervous System Exposure percentage, and Oxygen Tolerance Units (OTU) & Unit Pulmonary Toxic Dose (UPTD) units for advanced planning and decompression diving.  These information are usually reserved for decompression or repetitive dives with significant exposure to high concentrations of oxygen.

• Repetitive dive profile: This is a slightly updated version of a basic repetitive dive profile diagram.  A diver can denote whether the profile will be a generally square dive strictly using tables, a multi-level dive, or a dive with a decompression stop.  Since a majority of the time was spent traveling to or from 93' (a true "bottom time" of 22 minutes, recorded in the Turn time) this single cave dive (with no Surface Interval Time calculated on either upper side of the profile) is treated as a multi-level dive and a repetitive group will not be calculated (in the circles at the top of the profile).
  Additionally for Nitrox divers, spaces are available for recording the Equivalent Air Depth (EAD) and the maximum partial pressure of oxygen (PO₂) reached on the dive.

• Gas Supplies: Breathing gas and cylinder information have been placed together, which just makes more sense from a data management standpoint.  The back gas, or primary gas source, has the option of reporting single or double cylinders, cylinder material, type/rated volume (reported in this example is a low pressure steel cylinder rated to 95 cubic feet (LP95), gas mix, and starting/ending pressures.
  
  Additionally, a decompression cylinder or a stage cylinder can be recorded.  There is blank space directly below these for additional cylinders that are used on a dive.

• Comments / Diagrams: The remaining blank space is reserved for a description of the dive and other important details and information.  The grid is available to help sketch maps or illustrations of fish or other objects observed during the dive.  Often I'll just use the space for text if an illustration is not necessary.

Example:
Here is an example of a completed log for this example above (using the original template).

Click to enlarge

Running Line in a Cave

Here's my first shot at an illustration of running line from open water into an overhead environment such as a cavern or cave.

[Click to enlarge]

I suggest practicing in open water or even on land so you won't have to worry about holding a flash light on your knot (though it's much easier to run line in water; the line won't fall to the ground as quickly because it will be suspended better in the water column.).  Run a course around a spring basin where there will usually be plenty of large rocks and tree branches to use as tie-off points.

Here's a video example.  Watch at 0:40 and 1:10 for this technique.  The only difference is that the diver does not wrap the line back around a couple times - but that is not always necessary if the spot is secure.




Things to consider:

• Another technique is to wrap first, then pull the tension from the incoming line last.  This will help keep tension on your line between tie-offs, however I like to pull the tension first to shore up previous segments.  Practice on your own and use whatever works best for you and  the situations you regularly face.
• Running the reel close to the floor of a cave/cavern can easily stir up the bottom, or even cause a silt-out.  Try making a loop with the line and fixing the loop around the rock or spur without moving the reel through the sediment.  Watch the video above from 3:38 to 3:56 for an example of how to do this.  Simply make a loop, attach the loop to a good spot, and pull tight.  The diver above makes two loops before pulling to secure the loops.
• Not all tie-off locations can actually be tied.  Often turning a corner around a large rock or other firm piece of debris will be a sufficient way to secure line as long as there is enough tension on the line.  This can serve as an intermediate spot between two tie-offs.  Further, if there are only loose rocks (football-basketball sized) available, don't bother wrapping.  Just lay your line and put a rock on top of it to hold it down.  It's easy for a line to become unwrapped, thus losing tension, and this will also conserve some line as well.