EOI: Prospector Digital Map Training session WA

[Westaus]

Hi Everyone

I have had this idea for sometime now and like a lot of things unless you just do it, then you may as well call me Gunna Westaus I have cleared this by Harri, so thanks Mate for allowing me to give it a go !

At this stage I am looking for Expression of Interest from people who may be interested in attending a short course on Digital Mapping, this is WA based mapping. Some of the details I have that I can share are -

Location - Mandurah
When - Approx early December 2014
Time - 9.00 - 3.00pm approximately
Max Participants - Approx 10/12
Requirements needed - Laptop, otherwise you can not go through the training in real time. Happy to have you attend
Computer Skill level - Basic

What you will get training on -

- Geoview WA
- Geomap WA
- Google Earth
- Tengraph (Touch on)
- How to overlay Tenements, Live, Pending, and even old areas
- Save Maps and print them, what to look for on topo and geo maps
- Setup a trip and save way points
- How to understand formats and what program can use what
and much, much more.

To take away and use you will get -
Digital copies of all WA maps Topograhical, Geographical and other specific data.
Software programs were applicable
Historical data and stories from the region and world PDF format relating to Gold Mining
Many other extras, checklists, first aid, survival guides.
Gigabytes of data that would take hours to download, but even longer to find it all.

Costs -
$75 per person
Includes all data on a USB drive ready to go and use no restrictions or limits applied. Save it to your desktop etc...
Light Lunch
Tea and Coffee
Internet connection on the day
Soft Drinks will be available to purchase on the day.

So if this sounds like something you are interested in and would like to attend, please register your interest below. No commitments at all at this stage. If you have any questions let me know, either below or via PM. It is a good chance to network a little and share some stores as well.

Fine Print - All of the information given and trained on is freely available on the internet. This course is to help you understand the programs and run them efficiently, so you can have more time prospecting.
This is also not a prospecting course in how to find gold, that is coming What this does is gives you the resources to find that special spot yourself.

Hopefully this is of interest and I look forward to your responses.

Westaus

 

[Beagleboy]

I wish there was something like this in Victoria. Good on you mate for arranging it.

 

[Westaus]

Thanks BB, appreciate the support. I have had a couple of inquiries via PM so a bit of interest. Thought a few more may be interested, but still very early days.

If anyone has comments please let me know, such as North of the River, which I hope to do as well. I have a venue in mind, that may be of interest to many ?

Again, this is based for the person who struggles with computers, even if you have a fair understanding. I am pretty sure you will get something from the day regardless. I have spent many hours playing and fine tuning the ways to get around these programs.

I will also show you a handy way to connect these up and run them live in the field so you know EXACTLY where you are. We had a person question our location once when we were out. Thought we had come across a bit too much. Once we showed him how we do our planning and how we knew exactly where we were. He said ah ! and said sorry and good luck and walked off.

You will be able to plan a trip, know the geography of the area you are going. You will also know the current status of tenements in the area up to the day you leave. Or if you can get internet you can keep updating as you wish. I had planned a trip to a spot that had a nice blue (pending) tenement available for a swing. So planning the trip that was one of the locations set. The night before our trip I loaded the latest tenements and yup, guess what it had gone Live (green) so that is why we have a plan A, B, C and usually a few more... This can save any issues in the field as well. In saying that you can only go on the data you have, if you had been bush for weeks then you could not know it had changed status, but you could show why you were there. Based on the data you had.

Take care

Westaus

 

[flashhunter]

Its a great idea . 12 months ago I would have been all over it but ive spent the last year figuring it all out. It would have saved me a sh@# load of time. It is well worth knowing how to use it in the field . Im so confident now when i go out by myself of where Im allowed to go and not allowed to go. So much easier to navigate arnd out there too, with all tracks twisting and turning then disappearing altogether

 

[Westaus]

Thanks Flashhunter for the support, as you said it has taken sometime to become efficient at these programs. While they are not hard programs they can be very frustrating to get around initially.

What I will be able to do is significantly reduce that learning curve time. Also show some short cuts and ways to get around the programs. What information you are seeing and how you can use this to find Gold. After all that's what we are looking for.

An example of a map you can customize and print yourself. This is a large overview of Kalgoorlie-Boulder you can see how heavily it is covered, yet there are still patches free ? You can zoom right down to the selected area you want and print that area, showing boundaries and coordinates. Of course this is a low resolution picture, just showing an example. This is with a topo map, you can do the same with the geo also. You can add lots of variable to suit what you want.

Each of those different coloured dots mean a different thing, what would be the ones we are mainly interested in as prospectors ? If you know the answer then you probably don't need the course. If you don't know or even how to add them, yes I can make your life a little easier and you will get something from the course.

Don't be shy, I don't bite

Take care

Westaus

 

[Nanjim]

Westaus

Would be interested.....
Early Dec ...
I will be back in town aprox 02/12/14....
Keep me in the loop please.....

Cheers Nanjim
Jim

 

[Westaus]

Thanks Nanjim really appreciate your interest. I will add you to my list and send and post further details a little closer for confirmation from everyone.

I am thinking Saturday the 6th of December (or Sunday 7th is fine also) seems to be enough time before Christmas starts to get in the way for most people, also gives enough time for people to use the software and what they have learned and plan a trip over the Holiday period perhaps. Though it will be DAMN hot out there and probably not recommended as a first trip :8 though you can use this to plan a trip anywhere in the state. Doesn't have to be just prospecting. Plan and map your holiday in the sth west as example.

Feel free to PM if you want to know anything and don't want to post it.

Cheers

Westaus

 

[Nanjim]

Westeaus

Sounds good ..will be able to make those dates ....

Anything over 35 is hot....
Where I work the temps have been in the late 30's early 40's already ...
This tells me Summer is going to be a little warm.....

Cheers Nanjim
Jim

 

[Westaus]

A quick update, I have had 4 EOI so far, which leaves about 8 seats left. So if you are even a little interested it would pay to just drop me a line and I can put you on the list just in case.

Another example of some of the things you will be able to do. The below shows a Google Earth image with a Live Tenement on it. The red line is my GPS coming in to the area and doing a search. We found two little pieces in this area. This was not the complete overview. Just an example.

Any questions let me know.

Westaus 8)

 

[Westaus]

Hi All

Just sharing the small questionnaire I have sent out to the people that have responded. I thought I would put it up here so you could use it as a gauge for yourself as well.

All questions are optional of course but just to get an idea so I can tailor it to the group -

1. Have you ever used any of the programs in the training course Y/N
2. If Yes what would you rate your skill level on them, please list by program-
Geo Maps
Geo View
Google Maps
Tengraph
Other mapping software you may have used -
3. How would you rate your level of computer experience -
4. Have you been prospecting if so how often, or times
5. If yes do you normally go Nth (Gt Nth Hwy) or to the East (Kal, Laverton etc..)
6. Do you have any special experience in Geology or Mining Y/N
7. What would you most like to get out of the course offered.

The responses have been in general, that they have used some type of software before and medium PC users. All have been prospecting with varied experience.
- This is good because you already know a bit about the ground you have seen and what you are looking for. You will learn how this can help in the short course.

The other common question which I believe everyone has, is how/where do I find new ground to prospect.
- Again you will learn how to identify areas that are available for prospecting and have found gold before. If you wanted to know more about an area you can do this.

I still need a few more people to actually make this happen so please any interest let me know.

Thanks

Westaus

 

[Westaus]

Hi All

ME again, just a little bump for the course, please any interest at all let me know. You can contact me via PM, Post here, or email in my signature.

Happy to answer any questions and I am confident you will walk away with a lot more knowledge in mapping than when you started.

If anyone is interested but timing is not right or location is no good, please let me know. I would like to run a couple of these a year. Some North of the river, some South of the river, I will be putting an ad in a local paper (classified) hence why I wanted to lock in forum members first.

Take care everyone

Westaus

 

[Wheelz]

Gooday fellow Mandurian,what you have on offer sounds interesting.Have some associates who would be interested as well.The majority are FIFOs so we would need to look at our rosters.Looking forward to ur reply.Cheers.Wheelz.

 

[Westaus]

Hi Wheelz that would be great certainly good to have a few mates attend, that way you can all share the knowledge and assist each other as needed.

At this stage the dates are not set in concrete, however they are what has been listed and people may not be able to move it around. I could look at early January if the other participants feel that would be better, and of course depending on how many you are talking about. If you have enough I could always work out a day just for yourselves ?

I can't send you a PM (private message) yet due to being under post limits. If there is something in particular you would like to know feel free to email me via the link under my signature. Just put Mapping Course in the subject so I know it is you, or similar.

Thanks again for the interest and it would be great to see you there.

Cheers

Westaus

 

[peterau]

Westaus,

1/ You should make a dvd when you do your training courses, have this as well as your USB drive stuff. Very hard and expensive for most to attend in W.A. Something idiot proof and very very easily followable. I would buy one

2/ Have a course in say June in Kalgoorlie. Easteners, grey nomads etc will be making their way there then. Probably would need to charge more but would be well worth it.

3/ Approach Minelab about sponsoring you for the costs to do a one off seminar for eastern staters. Serves everyones interests. You still keep the course fee for your part. Maybe Bendigo Minelab would be a good central point for eastern states. Or include it as a training course at the Laanacoorie Bash if prebooked numbers were sufficient.

Maybe too hard basket but thought I might throw in some options.

 

[Westaus]

Hi Peter

Thanks so much for your suggestions, you certainly have given me something to think about. I will look into those or variations of a little further. I like the idea of the training videos. I just need to put a bit more thought into how they could be done, but I see merit as you said for anyone who cannot attend, can still go through the lessons.

I am planning on doing webinars for the East Coast or for that matter anyone globally could log on and attend. It would be based on a program (Geomap, Geoview etc..) at a time. So you can just log in to the program training you want to learn about. This would be run several times throughout the year being web based can also keep costs low.

After the first training I will have a better idea if it is worth the effort and the trainees got a lot of benefit from it. I know they will leave with a massive overload of information. I just want to be confident that they believe it is value also. That is very important to me.

Any other comments or thoughts or EOI please let me know. I am about to confirm with the owner of the premise the dates so if anyone has anything to add or wants to attend please contact me.

Thanks again

Westaus