Archive for the 'maps' Category

Like-Minded Hiker

Published
by
Modern Hiker
on January 31, 2008
in GPS, Web Sites and Apps, hiking, maps and snowshoeing
. 0 Comments

A nasty strain of the flu wiped out half the floor in my office building this week, myself included, so I haven’t been up to date on the latest developments of our little hiking blogosphere.

Rick at BestHike dug up a site called Trailspotting, which has one of the best implementations of in-line Google Maps on a hiking site that I’ve seen.

Its “Just the facts, Ma’am” approach, clean design, an excellent organization make this a highly-recommended site for checking out trails in Northern California. I’ll be checking back on this one often.

More L.A. Maps

Published
by
Modern Hiker
on January 12, 2008
in Web Sites and Apps and maps
. 0 Comments

After poking around Nikolas Schiller’s page from the last post, I stumbled upon an online collection of maps of Los Angeles from the turn of the century.

The Library of Congress Exhibition, called “Los Angeles Mapped,” documents the history of how people viewed L.A. — from its late 1600s existence as a theoretical island to its orchard & oil existence to the early freeways, it’s a fascinating little collection of images.

Even though they’re not exactly the easiest things to navigate around, they are still great to look at. Of particular interest is the full map of L.A. County’s rail system from 1912, when the SouthLand was covered in over 1000 miles of track.

I just got an email from someone asking how to get to some good long distance trails in L.A. without a car. Sadly, the easiest answer is “go back to 1912 and take the rail to Echo Mountain or Chantry Flats.”

But hey, in November we might be able to vote for an additional tax to fund that Subway to the Sea we’ve heard so much about …

Oil in L.A.

Published
by
Modern Hiker
on January 12, 2008
in City Life, Geek Stuff, Web Sites and Apps and maps
. 0 Comments

I remember one of the first (of many) things that freaked me out about L.A. when I first moved here was the post apocalyptic wasteland of oil derricks you see when you’re driving north out of LAX on La Cienega. Coming from New England, I always assumed that sort of thing was reserved for the more rural, wide-open west — not urban, world-class-city Los Angeles.

It was the first of many of my assumptions about L.A. that turned out to be very, very wrong. The city, as it turns out, used to be mostly farmland, orchards, and oil fields — fairly recently in its history, too.

While searching for an unrelated map, fellow map nerd Nikolas Schiller came upon an old map of downtown and West L.A. from 1905, showing the locations of all the oil wells and derricks that used to dot the landscape. He used the map to create a Google Earth Overlay, which is pretty fascinating.

Click through to see if you’re sitting on an old filled-in well. Then worry.

Then be sure to check out the rest of Nikolas’ site. Especially if you like maps, fractals, computer art, and small doses of radical progressive political thought.

Via Curbed L.A.

Float in Thermals

Published
by
Modern Hiker
on January 7, 2008
in Web Sites and Apps and maps
. 2 Comments

With the rainy weather and (relatively) cold temperatures hitting Southern California lately, maybe you’re thinking it’s time to stuff a swimsuit in your backpack and head out toward some hot springs. But maybe you don’t know where any good springs are.

Fear not! The internet is here to help!

The helpful folks at NOAA have a clickable map of all the thermal springs in the United States. The interface is a bit Windows 3.1-y, and it won’t necessarily tell you how to get to each hot spring — or whether they’re accessible at all — but it will spit out a ton of other information, like latitude and longitude, USGS quadrangle, and even average water temperature.

The Southwest is covered with the things, so get out there and enjoy ‘em during these cold months.

Via Free Geography Tools.

Garmin Colorado?

Published
by
Modern Hiker
on December 11, 2007
in Gadgets and Gear and maps
. 0 Comments

The Groundspeak forums were all a-twitter about the possibilities of a new model called the Colorado.

It’s rumored to have all the goodies of the current Garmin line - altimeter, electronic compass, SiRFSTARIII chipset, etc. But this bad boy’s also supposed to showcase a giant, high-color display, a temperature sensor, wireless communication between devices, and - most awesomely - the ability to display aerial photos and shaded topographical maps.

It’s expected to hit stores in Spring ‘08, and retail for around $500. If that’s not true, then hopefully they’ll at least start offering some good rebates on the excellent GPSMap 60CSx.




Via GPS Tracklog.

Free Garmin GPS Maps

Published
by
Modern Hiker
on December 7, 2007
in Geek Stuff, National Forests and Recreation Areas, Technology, Web Sites and Apps and maps
. 3 Comments

One of the most frustrating (and lame) things I learned when researching GPS units was their crippled map capabilities. I really liked the features and price of the Garmins, but National Geographic TOPO (which, in my opinion, has the most comprehensive and powerful mapping tools) aren’t able to be displayed on the GPS unit’s screen.

Garmin has its own map software, but it’s overpriced, out of date, and missing giant chunks of hikers’ territories in the 1:24k resolution that’s best for the trail. Garmin’s MapSource TOPO West, for instance, covers the Santa Monica Mountains and the San Bernardino National Forest, but not the Angeles, Cleveland, or Los Padres. Until they update their data and give me more detailed maps, I ain’t handin’ over any hard-earned cash.

It’s not easy, but a temporary solution is here — free, user-created, Garmin-compatible GPS maps.

The gearheads over at GPS Tracklog have put together a comprehensive list of sources and instructions on how to get some free 24k maps from the internets into your Garmin GPS. It requires a bunch of different web sites and a Windows freeware download, but hey — that’s what we hax0rs have to do when The Man doesn’t give us what we need, right?

Some of the map sites they link to have great, detailed maps of Sequoia and Kings Canyon, Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, and Lassen — but still no Angeles National Forest. So we’ve still got a ways to go.

Still, it’s free. So don’t complain.

Google Maps Terrain Mode

Published
by
Modern Hiker
on November 28, 2007
in Web Sites and Apps and maps
. 1 Comment

Yesterday, Google pulled back the curtain on Google Maps’ new “Terrain Mode.”

It takes everyone’s favorite driving directions / traffic advice / stalking tool and gives it a fresh new layer for us outdoorspeople.

Terrain Mode will basically take the underlying topographical data and render a 3-d shaded image that looks pretty dang close to those fancy shaded trail maps you can pick up at your local REI for 9 bucks. I was surprised (and pleased) to see that prominent peaks and features are clearly labeled, as are Forest Service roads. No trails, though.

It’s definitely not a replacement for actual topo maps … but given Google’s track record of adding features and the internet’s track record of coming up with great Maps mashups and hacks, it’s probably not too far off.

Via Google Earth Blog.

Better GPS On The Way?

Published
by
Modern Hiker
on May 23, 2007
in Gadgets and Gear, Technology and maps
. 0 Comments

I love my GPS receiver, but one of my big gripes about my little electronic pathfinder is the lack of on-device map detail.

When I first started shopping around for a GPS, I assumed I’d be able to run some of the superdetailed National Geographic TOPO maps on screen.

Turned out, no.

It seems like no matter what brand of GPS you go with, on-unit maps are pretty much limited to first-party software - most of which are extremely lacking. Garmin’s got a nation-wide 1:100k offering, which is fine for driving to the trailhead, but not all that great once you actually get on the trail.

They also have a much more detailed 1:24k version, but that one’s limited to specific national parks and forests and can leave some big chunks of map off your screen. Their “Western” edition has the Santa Monica Mountains and San Bernardino National Forest, for instance, but leaves out the Cleveland and Angeles National Forests.

Frustrating.

But GPS Tracklog thinks this era might be coming to an end.

The site reports the Italian cartography company Navionics wants to have comprehensive U.S. GPS maps available by the end of the year, and they’re pretty sure they’re going to at least have a 1:24k version offered. Maybe even one that’s so fancy it will require me to purchase a new GPS receiver.

Not that I really need any more encouragement to spend money on electronics…

Google Earth Hiking Trails

Published
by
Modern Hiker
on April 16, 2007
in Geek Stuff, Web Sites and Apps, hiking and maps
. 4 Comments

Well, it figures.

Google Earth comes out with a brand new viewing layer devoted entirely to hiking trails, and my company’s IT department decides to completely cripple my work machine, removing all the programs I use for this site and limiting my internet access to Internet Explorer 6. Blech.

That said, I probably shouldn’t be doing this stuff at work in the first place, but I don’t go on smoke breaks - or leave for lunch most of the time - so I should be allowed this.

Anyway.

Google Earth has a brand new layer, courtesy of Trimble Outdoors and the venerable Backpacker Magazine.

It looks pretty robust, too. Clicking on trailhead icons will get you a detailed map, GPS coordinates and - if you’re lucky - some pictures and a paragraph description. If you’ve got a GPS phone, you can even have the maps sent straight to your gadget. Although if you’re going on the trail solely trusting a phone as your guide, then I hope you won’t be straying too far from civilization.

That said, it looks like it could be pretty cool, eventually. I don’t know about your home area, but right now the map’s Los Angeles hiking trail map looks pretty dang barren.

The trail difficulties seem a bit arbitrary, too. A boulder-hop down the Arroyo Seco is rated the same difficulty as a 12 mile trip up Mount Baldy with almost 4000 feet of elevation gain.

OK. I’m a little jealous. But know that - at least for now - Modern Hiker is your number one source for all things hiking in Los Angeles. Maybe not all. But some. And my write-ups are longer than a paragraph.

So go fool around with Google Earth, but make sure you come back ’round here, alright?

via Besthike.com, via Lifehacker.

Google Maps for Everyone!

Published
by
Modern Hiker
on April 5, 2007
in Geek Stuff, Web Sites and Apps and maps
. 1 Comment

Earlier today (or yesterday, depending on when you’re reading this) the Great Google opened up their Google Maps application to everyone.

While it’s not necessarily news - Mountain View’s offered up its Google Maps source code for a long time - you had to be a serious code junkie to get under the hood and do anything useful with it. Now, Google’s made it streamlined, slick, and easy enough for anyone to use.

The new feature’s called MyMaps, and you can see it as soon as you hit up the Google Maps homepage. Right away, you can see some examples of just how versatile this thing is.

It’s very, very easy to make your own pushpin photoblog … just a few clicks and some descriptions, and you can make yourself a nice phototour of the Googleplex:

You can also overlay your own shapes, shading, and information, like this example of the state-by-state results of the 2004 Presidential election:

… and if you want to start getting fancy - and I know you do - each form can be customized with a built-in rich HTML editor, so you can make a self-contained travel-blog, with pictures, audio, and all other sorts of web goodies.

When you’re done, you can save your map as a static HTML file and link to it like a regular web page, or download it to your computer as a Google Earth KML file. If you make your map public, Google will index it and serve it up on searches.

Pretty neat. And it’s free.

Now you technophobic hiking bloggers have no excuse to start offering up Google Map visuals for your treks.

But if you want to have a bit more control over your data and presentation - or maybe don’t trust Google with all your data - Modern Hiker recommends Cyberhobo’s Hobomap Wordpress plugin. With a little know-how, it’s pretty easy to get running. And his new version 1.0.1 is even more powerful and simple than the earlier builds.