Creating Maps Layer By Layer

Hola! My name is Emily and it has been an exciting couple days in Costa Rica so far. The GREAT cohort has started to warm up to their individual projects and are starting to get into the route of things here in beautiful San Jose! So far, I have learned a lot concerning my area of research working with Izy and Oscar. Oscar has given Izy and I loads of information about gravity and the shape of our earth (which is not flat!). Izy and I have learned that there are three "shapes" of the earth: the topography which is what we see, the geoid; otherwise, known as sea level, and the ellipsoid which is the general shape of the earth that has been determined by really smart scientists. Our main task is to locate benchmarks around Costa Rica which are locations that allow us to collect data with a GPS satellite. This data will tell us information about the shape of the earth by providing the height of the topography compared to the ellipsoidal shape of the earth. If this makes no sense, its fine! I'm still understanding myself.

Yesterday, Izy and I have started to create maps using QGIS which will help use determine where these benchmarks are located. Thanks to Oscar we have gotten a lot better at our map making skills as you can see by the difference in the two images located below:

In other news, today is Kyle's BIRTHDAY! To celebrate this morning we gave him an avocado fresh from Super Taco Market. Unfortunately, Vadim, Steve, and Joyce are out in the field; however, Izy, Rosa, and I are bringing him to Pandas for his birthday dinner and are having ice cream and waffles for dessert!

It is almost time for dinner so I will sign off now, but before that happens, here is a picture of the views we get to experience everyday while studying at the University of Costa Rica!

Thanks for checking in! Buenos Noches!