I Like Maps!

[Phoenix2001]

Me too! They tell me what I can find (go visit) and where I can find it. Who says you need a cache or geocaching.com for a hunt? Older maps give some history too or an historical hunt.

[+planetrobert]

maybe you would be interested in THIS

[+papade]

I love maps. Have since I was a kid. I was always intriqued by them. I love so much that I create both hand drawn and painted maps. I got started when I asked my oldest son what he wanted for X-Mas. He said, "A treasure map!" So I painted one for him. Then he was invited to a friends birthday party, which had a Willy Wonka theme. My son didn't know what to get his friend, so I painted a map of the Oompa-Loompa's home. It was a fun exercise, because I incorporated both the Oompa-Loompa's from the movie and from the book. For those not familiar with the book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the Oompa-Loompa's a described as pigmy's from the darkest part of Africa. The painting turned out great.

 

So yeah, I love maps.

[solohiker]

A GPS without mapping software is like a pen without paper.

I am forced to dissagree. Without a map maybe. But, although convenient, software is only one way of viewing a map, paper with a GPS is often better than software (bigger view, less weight, no batteries).

I don't think we are on the same paper page here. The mapping software that I am talking about (Maptech Terrain Navigator, Delorme Stree Atlas) produce paper maps. I have access to an 11 x 17 printer which is a very user friendly size for a map. Even 8 x 10 maps contain enough info to navigate with. Print a book of them if necessary. The abilty to transfer data, between GPS and map is a real bonus. I can plot a route to the top of a peak with my mapping software and dump the coordinates into the GPS and print the map.

 

I don't own a mapping GPS, but I have owned one and I did not find it to be a big improvement over my Garmin 12 which is what I still use today.

[+evergreenhiker!]

A GPS without mapping software is like a pen without paper.

I am forced to dissagree. Without a map maybe. But, although convenient, software is only one way of viewing a map, paper with a GPS is often better than software (bigger view, less weight, no batteries).

I don't think we are on the same paper page here. The mapping software that I am talking about (Maptech Terrain Navigator, Delorme Stree Atlas) produce paper maps. I have access to an 11 x 17 printer which is a very user friendly size for a map. Even 8 x 10 maps contain enough info to navigate with. Print a book of them if necessary. The abilty to transfer data, between GPS and map is a real bonus. I can plot a route to the top of a peak with my mapping software and dump the coordinates into the GPS and print the map.

 

I don't own a mapping GPS, but I have owned one and I did not find it to be a big improvement over my Garmin 12 which is what I still use today.

I use MS streets adn trips for city caching and National Geo topo! for hiking, off trailing, etc. They go nicely with the gps...mine is the Vista. It does have mapping ability and that's useful,but it's much easier to have a paper map in hand to get a quick snapshot of the area or to make decisions on where/how I should go next.

 

I love being able to create waypoints with the software and uploading ot the gps. This really helps out on off trailing. National geo topo allows me to build elev profiles and draw routes so I can estimate my best route. But no matter the prep involved, you'll always run into unforseen obstacles going off trail...cliffs not shown...fit neatly between the contour lines, etc. But being able to pull waypoints keeps one from getting too turned around. And the printed maps allow me to look for handlines and prominent features to keep me oriented.

[+2qwerqE]

You all might enjoy this book, the story of an antique dealer who stole historic maps from libraries and book archives all over the world. I was fascinated.

 

Island of Lost Maps

 

Here is the Amazon page, complete with mixed reviews:

 

Amazon's page

 

For a map lover, this is hard ro beat.

[+graveyard mom]

This seems as good a place as any for my first post!

That is because I love maps too!!! (and I'm a female!)

Always loved geography class, always was the one in the family who read the maps on trips, mom and I spent alot of time "getting lost" around the town I grew up in.

 

And now, I collect em, have em hanging all over my walls(oh yeah, hubby loves my sense of decorating style!), and absolutely can spend hours on the USGS website just looking for places or "virtually driving" to so many places!

 

I'm teaching my 5 yr old to read maps now, so at least someone else in the car will be able to read one while I am driving(mom or sis won't even LOOK at the map to help while I drive!)

 

I can't believe that I have just now FINALLY gotten a GPS!

[+cache_test_dummies]

It has been nearly six years since I started this topic, and I still really, really like maps.

 

Things are a bit different now six years later, thanks mostly to maps.google.com. I still enjoy my paper maps of course, but these days, even when planning a hike in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, or planning a Geocaching or Waymarking excursion, I tend to spend more time looking at Google maps than I do studying my worn-out Appalachian Mountain Club maps or one of my decades-old DeLorme Gazetteer paper atlases.

 

I have a minimal set of maps loaded on my trusty ETrex, and while they come in handy from time to time, they really don't do it for me. Visually, I need a larger map area to really properly orient myself.

 

You all might enjoy this book, the story of an antique dealer who stole historic maps from libraries and book archives all over the world. I was fascinated.

 

Island of Lost Maps

I don't remember ever seeing this 2qwerqE post back in 2004, but I guess not surprisingly, I stumbled into this book a number of years ago at a bookstore. I bought it (in hardcover), and loved it, and still have it. I'm not sure if you still follow the forums 2qwerqE, but thanks for the suggestion!

[+coralteach]

It has been nearly six years since I started this topic, and I still really, really like maps.

 

Things are a bit different now six years later, thanks mostly to maps.google.com. I still enjoy my paper maps of course, but these days, even when planning a hike in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, or planning a Geocaching or Waymarking excursion, I tend to spend more time looking at Google maps than I do studying my worn-out Appalachian Mountain Club maps or one of my decades-old DeLorme Gazetteer paper atlases.

 

I have a minimal set of maps loaded on my trusty ETrex, and while they come in handy from time to time, they really don't do it for me. Visually, I need a larger map area to really properly orient myself.

 

You all might enjoy this book, the story of an antique dealer who stole historic maps from libraries and book archives all over the world. I was fascinated.

 

Island of Lost Maps

I don't remember ever seeing this 2qwerqE post back in 2004, but I guess not surprisingly, I stumbled into this book a number of years ago at a bookstore. I bought it (in hardcover), and loved it, and still have it. I'm not sure if you still follow the forums 2qwerqE, but thanks for the suggestion!

I love maps too, and I've read that book but had forgotten the title. Coincidental. Anyway, I buy maps for my class to do out of my own pocket because I think they're so cool, and the maps are poster sized and awesome. I always do one first as an example. I think you can safely say that a lot of geocachers love maps.

[+coralteach]

It has been nearly six years since I started this topic, and I still really, really like maps.

 

Things are a bit different now six years later, thanks mostly to maps.google.com. I still enjoy my paper maps of course, but these days, even when planning a hike in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, or planning a Geocaching or Waymarking excursion, I tend to spend more time looking at Google maps than I do studying my worn-out Appalachian Mountain Club maps or one of my decades-old DeLorme Gazetteer paper atlases.

 

I have a minimal set of maps loaded on my trusty ETrex, and while they come in handy from time to time, they really don't do it for me. Visually, I need a larger map area to really properly orient myself.

 

You all might enjoy this book, the story of an antique dealer who stole historic maps from libraries and book archives all over the world. I was fascinated.

 

Island of Lost Maps

I don't remember ever seeing this 2qwerqE post back in 2004, but I guess not surprisingly, I stumbled into this book a number of years ago at a bookstore. I bought it (in hardcover), and loved it, and still have it. I'm not sure if you still follow the forums 2qwerqE, but thanks for the suggestion!

I love maps too, and I've read that book but had forgotten the title. Coincidental. Anyway, I buy maps for my class to do out of my own pocket because I think they're so cool, and the maps are poster sized and awesome. I always do one first as an example. I think you can safely say that a lot of geocachers love maps.

[+birder428]

thanks for bumping this one up!

 

I Love Maps! I college I took a class 'The Lure and Logic of Maps' as an elective. I thought it sounded like a fun class (and an 'easy' one) so I talked four of my friends into taking it with me. I got an A, my friends got a B, a C, a D, and the other one dropped the class. Oh well. It was a fun class!

 

Nowadays, as hubby is driving us to a cache, I'll be watching the gpsr as we go, even though we are miles from the cache. I just like looking at the live map to see where we are!

[+NYPaddleCacher]

thanks for bumping this one up!

 

I Love Maps! I college I took a class 'The Lure and Logic of Maps' as an elective. I thought it sounded like a fun class (and an 'easy' one) so I talked four of my friends into taking it with me. I got an A, my friends got a B, a C, a D, and the other one dropped the class. Oh well. It was a fun class!

 

Nowadays, as hubby is driving us to a cache, I'll be watching the gpsr as we go, even though we are miles from the cache. I just like looking at the live map to see where we are!

 

My 7 year old son likes playing with the Google Earth app on my iPhone when we're driving on vacation and following the blue dot. He'll make announcements of our progress like, "we just went over a bridge", "there's a big lake over there", or "a big road coming up". It's too bad most airlines no longer allow the use of a GPS while in flight because it's fun to watch your current location travel across the landscape at 500 mph.

 

For a different book on maps, and one for techies, check out "Mapping Hacks". It describes all sorts of applications one can use (or how to develop them) for creating some really interesting maps. One of my colleagues recently did a presentation on GIS and showed a map which showed the location of all of Bernie Madoff's victims. I've been doing some work recently with a software package called OpenLayers that allows you to create all sort of interesting maps using a variety of sources as a base map then layering on all sorts of data on top. I've been thinking about taking the result from the cache saturation thread where there are 140 or so responses which indicate how many caches they have within 10 miles. It might be fun to create a heatmap which shows where the geocaching hot spots are located.

[SlayerOfBunnies]

Cool thread - thanks for resuscitating it! I've always been a map guy as well. Think the first time I read The Hobbit, I spent nearly as much time fantasizing about that map in the front of the book as I did reading the thing. My cube walls feature some business stuff, one interesting poster and a map of the GSMNP.

[+edscott]

Count me as being in the map loving group.

[+jeepdelfuego]

Count me as being in the map loving group.

 

There should be a statute of limitations on resurrecting a thread! Just kidding. I love maps too. I've been fascinated since way back when people navigated with a Thomas Guide. How long ago was that? My GPSr has City Navigator NT, Topo 2008, Ibycus, marine maps, custom maps, and since recently, BirdsEyes satellite imagery.

[+DavidMac]

Another map aficionado here

 

In particular I enjoy comparing old maps of an area to current maps. This is a great to way to discover lost places and forgotten landmarks. It is a terrific way to learn and feel history. And then take that knowledge into the outdoors and see in person what the map has been telling you.

 

Indeed. I spent nearly four hours yesterday on this site. I'm not sure how I came across it, but I was sucked in with childlike fascination and time just got away from me . Their Smokies maps are especially interesting. We have several manmade lakes around here that cover over old towns, farms, railroads, lumber camps, and even a state highway or two. It's fascinating to me to find out what used to be under those lakes.

 

A series of antique maps (reproductions) currently decorate my office wall. Lately I've been using old maps to find old abandoned trails and railroad grades in the Smoky Mountains. It's amazing how much evidence still remains of what used to be. Just last week I used a 1934 topo map to discover a hiking trail that had not been maintained since the 20's. To my surprise, much of it was still evident despite being overgrown. Too bad it's in a national park, or it would have made a great cache spot.

[+Team MacKenzie]

Oh My, and here I thought I was alone with my fascination with maps.

 

I don't know when the fascination started, maybe around the time I started driving and had to find my way by myself!

 

Some weeks I spend as much time looking at maps planning caching trips as I spend caching. That doesn't include the time I spend looking at maps wishing I could go there!!

 

Many thanks for reviving the thread...hopefully it won't be another 6 years before it gets brought back up!