First on the Power issue:
If your can get GPS receivers that run off 12VDC batteries you can always charge them with solar panels. British Petroleum made the panels we use but they have quit that business (they realized they're in the oil business)but hardware stores now have fold-out panels for boating and camping that could do the trick. I'd talk to a dealer about hooking up the panel to a charger instead of direct to the battery to prevent damage.The company I work for use older Novatel DL receivers that run off 12vdc 7amp-hour batteries that can be bought at stores that sell wheelchair or security system batts. I don't recommend the DL system though- it's heavy and cumbersome with no interface to speak of and not supported by Novatel very well. Trimble equipment is tough and designed for this type of work but is expensive.
Get a 10-foot pole and stick your antenna on the top with the receiver in a bag or around your neck. You can then take shots by placing the other pole end on the feature or trace at 1 second intervals as you walk trails without signal interference from ground vegetation (I assume there are few trees around those parts)and you should get accuracies to about 10 metres.
For the mapping side of things try this:
http://opensourcegis.org/
I've never used anything other than ESRI GIS products such as ARCINFO but all you really need is some free CAD software that imports ASCII geographic coordinates.
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First on the Power issue: If your can get GPS receivers that run off 12VDC batteries you can always charge them with solar panels. British Petroleum made the panels we use but they have quit that business (they realized they're in the oil business)but hardware stores now have fold-out panels for boating and camping that could do the trick. I'd talk to a dealer about hooking up the panel to a charger instead of direct to the battery to prevent damage.The company I work for use older Novatel DL receivers that run off 12vdc 7amp-hour batteries that can be bought at stores that sell wheelchair or security system batts. I don't recommend the DL system though- it's heavy and cumbersome with no interface to speak of and not supported by Novatel very well. Trimble equipment is tough and designed for this type of work but is expensive. Get a 10-foot pole and stick your antenna on the top with the receiver in a bag or around your neck. You can then take shots by placing the other pole end on the feature or trace at 1 second intervals as you walk trails without signal interference from ground vegetation (I assume there are few trees around those parts)and you should get accuracies to about 10 metres. For the mapping side of things try this: http://opensourcegis.org/ I've never used anything other than ESRI GIS products such as ARCINFO but all you really need is some free CAD software that imports ASCII geographic coordinates.