On Dec. 13th we will be using the Mobile Demand very rugged tablet on a survey trip in Raders Valley http://www.ruggedtabletpc.com/ it is a bit heavy but other devices are coming on the market now that will change our options significantly for drawing on a PC in the cave utilizing Walls/Illustrator combo.
Mobile Demand Unit
Much more has been published here http://incavedigitalsurvey.com/board/Ya ... 1224130164 but I will paste some additional things below.
Here is The Panasonic Toughbook U1 only 2.3 pounds!
Front View
Head on View
Split Screen Mode View
Another device we picked up real cheap on ebay for entering the data real quick is a Sidearm 1(Note the Sidearm2 will be out soon http://www.novamobility.com )
The Sidearm 1 is a Windows CE device with long battery life and very rugged. Data for Walls is entered into Microsoft Word in the following format:
C13,C14,8.2,170/350.5,22/-23,<1 7 0 12>
which is then transferred to the PC and opened in Microsoft Excel with commas chosen as the delimiter. Once it is opened a simple copy/paste to get it into Walls and "compile"....export the SVG and begin drawing in Walls etc. We generally shoot 4-6 shots marking each clearly then transfer that data to the PC. The digital sketcher then has the job of drawing the passage/details for those 4-6 shots while the data crew continues to collect more data.
SideArm 1 Windows CE device - Rugged
Mark Passerby, IncaveDigitalsurvey.com