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		How to visit a confluence (step-by-step)

Confluence Hunting Checklist

• A shorter version, in the form of a text file, that you should print and take with you on your confluence visit, to help ensure your visit will be a success
• Disclaimer and warning: Seeking and visiting confluences may entail risks and unknowns of various types. While confluence seekers may submit their results to the project, they are acting on their own behalf. The project will not be responsible for any damages or injuries caused or incurred. Seekers need to evaluate potential risks and damage, make informed judgments on their own, and only pursue activities where they accept all responsibility.
• Note: In addition to the information below, we suggest you check out the entire website before planning your first visit, including reading the contents of our Information pages.

1. Select a confluence: You can find confluences using the Search page or from the Country Index list or via the Worldwide Confluence Navigator page.
2. Check the status: for the confluence you're planning on visiting:
   • Check the Pending Confluence Visits page. Keep in mind that not all information on these lists has been verified, and we only know of visits which people have recorded on the site.
   • Check the confluence detail page for the confluence. If the confluence has not been indexed, use the Contact page to ask for more information, and explain why you want to visit that confluence. If the confluence detail page indicates that other people have made Plans to visit this confluence, we suggest you either try and contact them, or delay your visit until after the time of their planned visit.
   • If you are planning to visit a confluence with a latitude of 49 degrees or greater (North or South), make sure it meets the goals of the project. See the information on the Poles Problem.
3. Let Us Know: Create an account or log in to your existing account and create a confluence plan. From the plans page (log in required) you can create plans to visit a confluence, or ask to receive e-mail when other people make plans or submit visits. If two people visit the same confluence, both visits will be posted.
4. Maps: The first step is finding a good map of the area. If you don't have a GPS (global positioning system) receiver , the map must be extremely detailed, such as a 1:24,000 (sometimes 1:25,000) USGS topo map, or a map program such as Street Atlas USA, or a map from a good internet mapping site (see the links page). If you have a GPS, you'll still need a decent map to get you in the general vicinity, and then you can zero in on the confluence with the GPS. It is very helpful to know the length of your stride through varied terrain.
5. Compass: A compass is recommended even if you have a GPS. You should never rely solely on a GPS device for navigation - always carry a map and compass, and have the skills to use them. Also, some GPS receivers will only give bearing information while you are in motion. Remember that true north and magnetic north are often different, sometimes substantially. This amount changes depending on your longitude and the year. Most USGS topo maps will state the amount of the magnetic deviation for the year they were published.
6. Get Permission: If the confluence is located on private land, get permission of the landowner, especially if the land is posted "No Trespassing". Take along a copy of the Letter to Landowners to help with this.
7. Accuracy:
   • You must be on the Earth's surface, and have travelled to within 100 meters of the WGS84 degree confluence to have a successfull confluence visit.
   • Visits that do not get within 100 meters will be posted as incomplete. For example, getting to 110 meters from the confluence and taking a picture of the confluence spot would be an incomplete visit.
   • The official datum of the project is the WGS84 datum. This is the standard for GPS devices. Make sure your GPS device is set to use WGS84 when you are determining if you have reached the confluence.
   • The accuracy of a standard consumer-grade GPS is around 35 meters in poor conditions. Often the accuracy will be much better.
   • Check if your GPS has an averaging mode, which, if you can afford to sit still for awhile, will cause the GPS to settle down to a point where it knows its position more accurately.
   • If you're using a map that uses a different datum than WGS84, such as NAD27, you may need to convert between them. A web site with more information on this subject is http://www.colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/notes/datum/datum_f.html.
8. Cameras: A camera is of course required. Photo images that you upload during your visit submission must meet or exceed a resolution of 600 by 400 pixels (or 400 by 600), with a 16-bit or greater color depth. This applies whether you are using a digital camera, scans of pictures from a film camera, or frame captures from a video camera. Many film developers will scan the film onto a disk or CDROM when you get the film developed. We will scan already developed film, or you may send the undeveloped film to us and we will develop and scan it for you, but in either case we will keep the film for the archives. If required, we will automatically reduce images you submit to us when we process your confluence visit submission, so we want you to submit "full sized" images, subject to our maximum file size limitation, which is 2 megabytes per file. Neither the above minimum specifications, nor what you see when viewing a confluence visit page, are our required or suggested image size.
9. Pictures of?
   • PREFERRED
     For items 1 and 2, confluence visitor(s) and items belonging to them are not allowed in the photos. The photos must be single-view shots (no montages), however panoramic photos are allowed.
     1. One (1) picture OF the general area of the confluence, taken within 100 meters of the confluence.
     2. Four (4) pictures FROM the confluence, taken in the four cardinal compass directions (north, south, east, west), or one or more panoramic views FROM the confluence.
     3. One (1) GPS photo (if a GPS was used) taken at the same location as the other photos. The photo must show the WGS84 position, and if your GPS allows for it, the altitude, reported error, and date/time.
     4. A maximum of four (4) additional photos may be submitted, which have no content restrictions.
     Movies and audio files may also be submitted.
   
   
   • MINIMUM
     
     • Two (2) pictures OF or FROM the confluence, taken within 100 meters of the confluence.
     • Confluence visitor(s) and items belonging to them are not allowed in these photos.
     • These photos must be single-view shots (no montages), however panoramic photos are allowed.
     NOTE: The minimum requirements should not be used as a guideline for taking photos of the confluence - they exist to allow for cases such as when some photos fail to turn out.

   Unless you possess an advanced GPS, you typically can't achieve better than around 5 meter accuracy, so pinpointing the confluence spot with personal items is not very meaningful, and introduces elements that are not normally at the confluence. Try to have your pictures give the same impression you got when you were there. It is optional to take a picture of the GPS reading the confluence location. Taking a picture of the GPS may be easier if you place it on the ground. We prefer you do not annotate the photos of the confluence, including date/time stamps. Please read our Copyrights/Permissions section and Photo Requirements section.

10. Narrative: When you submit your visit, you will have to supply a narrative. Please read our Narrative Requirements.
11. At the confluence:
    • Celebrate!
    • Make sure your GPS is set to WGS84 datum. Mark a waypoint in your GPS. This will record your actual position, as it is not always possible to get "all zeros". Also record the Estimated Position Error (EPE) reported by your GPS (some GPS devices report this as "Accuracy"). The EPE + the distance from the confluence (if you didn't get "all zeros") is what you should use as the "accuracy" when submitting your visit.
    • If your GPS displays it, you should also record the elevation.
    • Take your pictures, making sure they meet our photo requirements.
    • You may wish to make some notes about your journey thus far, or the area of the confluence.
12. When you get home: Create a "Visited but not submitted" Plan. You can log in to your existing account and change your "plan to visit" Plan, so others will know you have made your visit.
13. Submit your visit: Once you have everything ready, use the submission form to submit your confluence visit. You will need:
    • the latitute and longitude of the confluence
    • the date of the visit
    • the "accuracy" of your visit, which is the sum of the GPS error (EPE) and how close you came (in meters) to the WGS84 confluence
    • the names, e-mail addresses (if any) and web page addresses (if any) of all of the visitors to the confluence
    • your narrative - we suggest you compose it beforehand, and then you can use "cut and paste" to enter it into the submission form. It should have breaks between paragraphs, and should be checked with a spell checker.
    • captions for the pictures, and the picture images themselves
    We have a How to submit a confluence visit page with examples of all the steps involved in the submission process.

• Good luck, have fun, and be adventurous!