Today I was looking for a corner that was 7.5 feet from an iron pipe post. We'd tied both a dozen years ago and I needed to recover the corner (a 1/2 inch iron rod we'd set). When I got there I didn't have a metal locator, tape or compass to find the rod. The pipe post was still there, so I used the prism pole I was GPS surveying with to measure the 7.5 feet. Kicked a spot at the distance, roughly guessing the angle from the post. Then I remembered I have a compass on my android phone I roughed the calculated bearing and narrowed my search area. Finally I used an app I downloaded a couple of months ago on recommendation by Kris Morgan called Magnetometer. The Magnetometer app uses the digital compass to determine magnetic potential (just like a Schonstedt). With the magnetometer app, I was able to pin point the rod and used my machete to dig it out.
I wouldn't go and replace the Schonstedt with it, but it sure is slick when the locator isn't handy.
Thanks for your sharing.
I respect your wiseful adaptation.
Total Station Survey
is a program that seems to be attempting to use the droid as a data collector.
I like that idea!
Sounds like a 21st century dip needle.