+Cleenjeep & Danger Girl Posted November 25, 2002 Share Posted November 25, 2002 I am charged with aiding the production of a new map for my local park's mountain biking trails. This is an entirely volunteer postion, but that is okay, I volunteered for it because I like it! We need to make a new trail map for our park, it has about 9 to ten miles of trails which change every year. Our problem is getting the map correct. So, I thought we could use the my garmin GPS 12 to make a route of all the trails, then place that on a map. The trails run near a river, and some roads, so I would like to put the route on a real map that would show fairly accurate locations of all the above, especially for showing where trailheads are at. What software would be especially useful here? I dont need super detailed maps, since I am hoping to export as a JPG or BMP file. I can edit out the junk I don't need, but probably not looking to use a topo map. On the other hand, a topo map would be neat for the web version of our map. First priority is a useful map for all users, put into print form, stationed at kiosks at the trailheads. Pretty standard Fare. Suggestions? Programs to avoid? Thanks in advance.. Michael Quote Link to comment
+CCrew Posted November 25, 2002 Share Posted November 25, 2002 I'm assuming that your GPS will do tracks? Couldn't you travel the trail and then download the track to Topo or Roads and Recreation then just print? Just a thought... Quote Link to comment
+Cleenjeep & Danger Girl Posted November 25, 2002 Author Share Posted November 25, 2002 I just checked out roads and rec, it looks like a useful product. I don't have it though. My garmin didnt come with any software when I bought it new, about three years ago. How much is R&R? Michael Quote Link to comment
+Cleenjeep & Danger Girl Posted November 25, 2002 Author Share Posted November 25, 2002 Oh, err, sorry forgot to reply. Yes, the GPS 12 does tracking. I used it rather extensively in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan a few weeks ago to track my progress on really rough two tracks, locating an abandoned NASA launch site. It was invaluable, as the return trip was in the rain, and darkness. Michael Quote Link to comment
+CCrew Posted November 25, 2002 Share Posted November 25, 2002 Well, GPSCity has it for $90, but I don't know if that's your best option. the 12 doesn't have much memory, so uploading maps isn't going to be feasable, you'll just be doing tracks and waypoints. Probably find it cheaper on eBay. I can do it with my Vista, but not really sure if I'd consider it a "presentation" quality map. I think if I were looking for presentation for the same $90 I'd look at DeLorme's TOPO or something similar, which has some nice terrain routing features and you could print screen if nothing else.I don't know what the program's printing capabilities are. I'm throwing out thoughts more than anything else here, just to give you some ideas you may have overlooked... Quote Link to comment
+PDOP's Posted November 25, 2002 Share Posted November 25, 2002 GPS Trackmaker will download tracks from your GPS12 (I use it with mine) and allows you to overlay them over a scanned or digital maps. Quote Link to comment
+RobRee Posted November 26, 2002 Share Posted November 26, 2002 the only problem i see is in an attempt to do the same using tracks.. i could not produce a "sticky track." i ended up with a close representation of the trail, but alot of the track was vectored off of points.. ie a straight line (line of sight at times) from one point to the next. i am going out today and setting the tracks to update at a much higher rate. we'll see what happens then. my goal with this is to document a really travelled route here in ny. good luck on your end. robbie required reading Quote Link to comment
JDMC Posted November 27, 2002 Share Posted November 27, 2002 Check out this web site: http://myweb.cableone.net/cdwissenbach/map.html Quote Link to comment
+geospotter Posted November 27, 2002 Share Posted November 27, 2002 Rather than using maps why not overlay your tracks on an aerial photo. Then trace the obvious objects (lake, etc.) by hand. Add as much or as little detail as you want. ExpertGPS does this easily. Trails are usually visible on the photos anyway. I'm not sure of the age of the photos so newer trails might not appear, but you could draw them on using your tracks. For added accuracy I would save my coordinates at each trailhead. geospotter Quote Link to comment
JDMC Posted November 27, 2002 Share Posted November 27, 2002 USAPhotoMaps can also do it. Quote Link to comment
+Poindexter Posted November 27, 2002 Share Posted November 27, 2002 You don't need to spend much money at all to do this. You can download USGS topo maps for free or minimal cost, join them together and crop the area you want, download your tracks and print them out. I do this all the time and have never "had" to purchase any commercial sofware to do it although I have purchased several programs because I like playing around with this stuff. See my web page for details. Poindexter, www.geocities.com/fairbank56 Quote Link to comment
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