[meteorite-list] Some thoughts on find coords

From: Mendy Ouzillou <ouzillou_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2012 08:44:39 -0700
Message-ID: <00d101cd8d0f$b16aba40$14402ec0$_at_com>

Seems like having the find coordinates did not help to find any more of
Sutter's Mill than would have been found once the location of the first find
was made based on your radar data. The most important benefit is in mapping
out a strewn field which will help but only if enough pieces are found and
that comes much later - assuming of course that the coordinates are captured
and made available. (sorry for the run-on sentences)

My 2c,

Mendy

-----Original Message-----
From: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
[mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] On Behalf Of Marc Fries
Sent: Friday, September 07, 2012 8:13 AM
To: Meteorite List
Subject: [meteorite-list] Some thoughts on find coords

Greetings all

        I've been talking with a few people about logging the Battle
Mountain meteorites, and I'd like to start some discussion on the topic of
find coordinates. This is NOT directed at any one person, but I would like
to editorialize a bit. I'm getting a lot of push-back about printing find
coordinates and I'd like to open the topic to general discussion.

        Historically, the locations of found meteorites have been a closely
guarded secret. That made a lot of sense when meteorite hunting relied most
heavily on eyewitness reports. A hunter could easily put in many, many miles
of walking before coming across a meteorite. For finds that are made with
weather radar, however, I don't think its the same situation. When I post
radar analyses, it is like posting a treasure map that says, "Go Here". At
that point everyone knows where the meteorites are, and it seems to me that
the locations of individual stones aren't nearly as important as they were
in the past. (Strewn fields without detailed radar data are another matter,
of course.) Where those locations do matter are to A) the science behind
describing the meteorite fall, and B) the value of the individual meteorite
since a well-documented meteorite should be worth more than a random stone
from a given fall.

        I am a scientist, and my first instinct is to collect, analyze, and
-share- data. I understand where that is at odds with the level of secrecy
needed in the past, but I think that that level of secrecy is no longer
needed and actually works contrary to the value of meteorites, both monetary
and scientific. On the Galactic Analytics website, I'm willing to go against
my better instincts and hide find locations, at least until a scientific
paper is released describing the fall. But to be honest, I think that's a
little silly - I'll basically have a table showing meteorites with the find
locations redacted, and then you can scroll down the page a bit and see a
map showing where the meteorites are.

        So let me throw this out there as a general question - is it really
important to hide the find locations?

Cheers,
Marc Fries
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Received on Fri 07 Sep 2012 11:44:39 AM PDT