Mekshat.com ..a rich source of info?

[+mhfares]

As Walzuhair pointed out in another post, there is a rich source of info for camping in kingdom but it is all in Arabic (mekshat.com).

 

The site contains some good material like coordinates of towns, villages, gas stations, wadis, ..etc. It also got pictures, maps for hot spots like Summan and some advice on keeping the environment clean.

 

The forums are particularly interesting and are varied, covering many topics. There are forums for wildlife, birds and their migration seasons, hunting equipment, electronic navigation, GPS uses (no mention of geocaching), tents and tools, and yes my favorite, cooking in the desert, among others.

 

It is a site for all with interest in camping and related activities (professionals and novice alike). The forums are very active (3071 members, more than 33000 participations) and judging from the posts, there seems to be a wealth of information there.

 

Perhaps those of us who read Arabic can post here some relevant and interesting material from that site (specially the GPS group) ..

[+mhfares]

Ok .. Here is one example I came across and was posted by a member named: Majellan (Dec. 31, 2002) which talks about downloading layers of data for the kingdom and displaying them in a map. I tried it and worked fine with me, here are the steps:

 

1. Goto this link (Penn state university):

 

http://www.maproom.psu.edu/dcw/

 

This web site will allow you to download boundaries and layers of different countries, in Arc/INFO export format

 

2. Select Asia by clicking on it and then select Saudi Arabia

 

3. Click on Download data (in ARC/INFO and ARCVIEW formats.)

 

4. Click categories you want to download (e.g., populated places, roads, ..etc, use polygons not points)

 

5. Press continue

 

6. Choose the type of computer (most probably PC/NT)

 

7. Press “Compute Data”

 

8. Download the file generated which contains the layers selected and unzip it.

 

9. Now you need to download & install trackmaker from this link : www.gpstm.com

 

10. Run trackmaker and open the unzipped file above .. you will have a map showing the layers you elected to display .. enjoy.

[M&Ms]

This is all very interesting and helpful.

 

Thank you.

 

M of M&Ms

[walzuhair]

Thanks for info Abo Hamad..

I met a group of young men who are frequent campers, and I asked them about the gear they carry when they go camping during weekends. “A GPS” was a common answer between them and they depend on them a lot, so they carry a bunch of them when they go.

 

Geocaching was not known, but they pointed me to mekshat.com and I was impressed with the wealth of knowledge and positive attitude I saw among them.. It was refreshing..

 

waleedsgallery.biz

[swdecato]

Another interesting GPS hobby.

 

http://www.confluence.org/