Instructor Virtual Workshop: Teaching in the field with SfM and RTK-GPS/GNSS

August 11-15, 2025
Virtual

1st daily session: 6-8 am HI | 8-10 am AK | 9-11 am PT | 10 am-12 pm MT | 11 am-1 pm CT | 12-2 pm ET
2nd daily session: 11 am-12 pm HI | 12-1 pm AK | 2-3 pm PT | 3-4 pm MT | 4-5 pm CT | 5-6 pm ET (see Agenda for details)

Overview

Interested in getting hands-on experience with RTK-GPS and SfM methods, even if you cannot attend a workshop in person?
This workshop offers a great opportunity to learn field instrumentation methods you can integrate into a wide variety of undergraduate geoscience courses.

Workshop participants will learn practical approaches for creating georeferenced point clouds of high-resolution topography data using Structure from Motion (SfM) photogrammetry and Global Positioning System (GPS) -- which can be used to address geoscience research questions. Methods are appropriate for both summer field camps and academic-year courses with field components.

Participants will be sent a pair of GPS survey instruments to use during and the week after the workshop. Synchronous online sessions alternate with time to practice the methods somewhere outdoors, near where you are located. See Agenda.

Teaching materials are drawn from the free online NSF-funded GETSI modules:

Fieldwork is an integral part of the geosciences and there is a longstanding tradition of teaching field methods as part of the undergraduate curriculum. As Earth science research technologies have grown, there is more interest in introducing instrumentation into more geoscience courses. Technology integration into field education has several advantages, including student engagement and workforce development. This workshop has been developed in response to community interest and input and builds on successful pioneering efforts of EarthScope community members.

Attendees*

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Geoscience students learning to do RTK GPS surveying.
Provenance: Andy Moore (Earlham College)
Reuse: If you wish to use this item outside this site in ways that exceed fair use (see http://fairuse.stanford.edu/) you must seek permission from its creator.

This workshop is for US-based instructors interested in incorporating GPS and SfM field methods into undergraduate Earth and environmental science courses. We strongly recommend multiple participants from the same or near-by institutions. This will provide you with the opportunity for local collaborators on the field components AND allow the workshop to reach more people for the same number of instruments.

Community college and introductory-level instructors, as well as majors-level instructors, are all encouraged to apply. Later-stage graduate students with significant teaching responsibilities are also eligible, particularly if multiple people from the same (or near-by) institution participate.

*Participants must be at U.S. institutions for the instrument shipping. If you are interested in participating from outside the U.S. and have access to Emlid GPS receivers locally, please contact the email below.

Expectations

Participants in the workshop are expected to:

Adhere to the EarthScope Code of Conduct
Attend the entire virtual workshop (August 11-15, 2025)
Return the instruments on time after the workshop (shipping labels will be supplied).

Goals

Participants will be able to:

Create a georeferenced SfM point cloud (this requires being able to successfully conduct both SfM and RTK-GPS/GNSS surveys) applied to a geoscience research question.
Develop a geodesy field teaching implementation plan