Good mapping tools for your computer?

[+TFulton42]

Hi folks,

 

We just entered our 2nd week caching and are up to 19 finds! :-) I'm working on a puzzle cache and was curious if there are any good software for mapping. Specifically, I wish to mark a point with longitude and latitude, draw a line from a point in a specific direction and with a specific distance, and measure the distance between two points.

 

Thanks!

Tom

[+Arndtwe]

Hi folks,

 

We just entered our 2nd week caching and are up to 19 finds! :-) I'm working on a puzzle cache and was curious if there are any good software for mapping. Specifically, I wish to mark a point with longitude and latitude, draw a line from a point in a specific direction and with a specific distance, and measure the distance between two points.

 

Thanks!

Tom

Some popular tools are Google Earth, Easy/Expert GPS, GSAK and I am sure there are others. Now, for what you want to do, if you are drawing a line a specific distance, won't you know how far apart the to points are?

 

More information on what you want to do would be great!

Edited April 2, 2012 by Arndtwe

[+TFulton42]

 

...

 

More information on what you want to do would be great!

 

Specifically, the puzzle gives a starting point and bearing, and then a second point from which you can compute the latitude point and longitude point based on intersections to the original line. The second point is exactly 2 miles from the original line at 2 places. Those intersections give the cache coordinates. Since the distances are short, great circle isn't a necessity. I can do it by hand if I have too. (The last part should be said in a whinny teenagers voice. :->

 

Thanks!

[+The A-Team]

To be honest, the only mapping tool I use is Google Earth! More often I use online calculators to do things like project a waypoint. One of the most widely used of these sites is the Javascript Great Circle Calculator by Ed Williams. Others I use are this great circle calculator that is good for finding the intersection of two lines, and this National Geodetic Survey calculator which will project a waypoint with VERY high precision.

I don't personally use it, but a lot of people use a Windows program called FizzyCalc, which was created by experienced cacher (and forum regular) fizzymagic.