GMDE Lite
8.0 | 2.3.5
GMDE Lite has been designed from the ground up with small phone-sized screens in mind although it also works very well on iPads and spectacularly on iPads with an Apple Pencil. The basic idea is to borrow the best from both GMDE Mobile and Stereonet Mobile and present that functionality in a clean, simple, map-centric interface. Data can be exchanged between GMDE Lite and Desktop, and imported from Stereonet Mobile, as well as uploaded or downloaded to/from StraboSpot.
Things GMDE Lite CAN do:
• Set a point of interest (POI) at your current location or anywhere on the map which is immediately tagged with location time and date and to which you can attach a photo and an extended description. You can email a POI, complete with photo, to a field partner, Advisor, etc.
• Annotate photos or make digital sketches attached to points of interest.
• Enter an orientation by any of four methods: (1) using the device orientation, (2) tapping three points on the map and having the device calculate the orientation, (3) best fit plane to selected vertices on a path, or (4) type typing in the orientation at the location that you specify. You can project a contact temporarily as a check on the validity of the orientation (but you cannot save projected contacts).
• Read in and display POIs, orientations, and contacts on the map data from Stereonet Mobile, GMDE Mobile, or GMDE Desktop. Use copy and paste between devices registered to the same Apple ID using Apple HandOff technology.
• Enter contacts by tapping and dragging a path, by recording a GPS track, or by projecting a planar orientation across the landscape. Edit contacts by lassoing and deleting vertices or tapping and dragging individual vertices (this works way better on an iPad with Apple Pencil than it does with your finger on a relatively tiny iPhone screen.
• Use the device camera/orientation as a rangefinder and plot a point of interest at the sighted location. Rapidly use the rangefinder to determine azimuth, inclination, slope, horizontal, and vertical distance to the sighted location.
• Display orientation data on an equal area, lower hemisphere projection which can be filtered by data type. Mean vectors, cylindrical best fits, poles to planes, and rose diagrams can be displayed in this Stereonet Screen.
• If you have a data connection, GMDE Lite can display a subset of your data closest to you on Apple Maps within the program.
• Use a variety of icons and colors to represent different types of data.
• Access all of your data on your device from, and upload to and download from, the Files app on the device. From the Files app, data can be sent to other programs.
Things GMDE Lite CANNOT do
• There are a variety of advanced orientation calculations that can be done in Stereonet Mobile but cannot be done in GMDE Lite. However, you can copy and paste between Stereonet Mobile and GMDE Lite to carry out those calculations.
• GMDE Lite has more limited data filtering capabilities than either GMDE Mobile or Stereonet Mobile.
Skills you need to take full advantage of GMDE Lite
• Produce base maps from whatever source you want in MBTiles format. Because you are producing your own base maps you can use whatever you want (existing geologic maps, USGS Topo Maps, LiDAR hill shade images, etc.) and not just the few option available from online mapping companies.
• Download and format digital elevation models (DEMs) in GridFloat format. Having a DEM on the device is what allows GMDE Lite to perform its magic, whether calculating an orientation from three points or acting as a pretty accurate rangefinder.
• Know enough about your digital devices to understand how to move files onto or off the device from/to your desktop computer. Apple provides a variety of technologies, especially if you use a Mac desktop computer. If you use a Windows computer with your iPhone, you will probably use iCloud on the web, or install Apple’s iCloud software on your PC to move the files around.