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Post by antoniadodge on Sept 5, 2007 13:24:21 GMT -9
For those that may be interested, here's a quick tip: To import Garmin's .gdb files (anything that ends up in Mapsource, like your tracks, waypoints, routes...) into a number of formats (including Google Earth and Google Maps), a website called GPS Visualizer (www.gpsvisualizer.com) will allow you to browse your system for saved GPS files and then will convert them into Google Earth, Google Maps, .gpx, elevation, .jpgs, etc... If you choose Google Maps it will automatically show your (say) track in Google Maps on the very next screen. If you choose Google Earth it will convert the file into a .kml. Then simply click on the link and it opens Google Earth (if you have it loaded onto your system) and imports the track for you. Super, super simple. If you're extra schnazzy and have an ESRI program (like ArcGIS) you can manage the .kml file and clean up tracks. I imported our trip to The Castle Table from Mapsource (I was using a Garmin 76CS), cleaned it up a bit and came out with a pretty nice track on Google Earth: The Castle TableAnyway, hopefully that's helpful. I have the advantage of playing around with mapping at work and thought I'd pass some of it on.
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Post by NorthWes on Sept 5, 2007 14:03:33 GMT -9
Oh wow!
Thanks for the step by step explanation... that should help all-thumbs kinda guys like me make a Google Earth page like this one... I have just the track to try this out with!
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Post by ladybugkids on Sept 5, 2007 16:13:40 GMT -9
Way cool!
A friend of mine did the same thing for some of the mushing trails around Fairbanks. Invaluable!
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Post by FrostG1anT on Sept 5, 2007 16:41:46 GMT -9
This is sort of a mixed bag as to where this post belongs, but I will start it here as the idea came about while searching for Castle Table this weekend.
After the Kincaid Intro event would anybody be interested in participating in another geocaching event at Kincaid Park? We (Team FLAMO) came up with the idea of making a route map of Kincaid Park (for a start, then other trail systems eventually) which could be imported into your GPSr as a route with all the trails (published and social trails). We would like to get a group of folks together and use the Chalet as the jumping of point and then have everyone walk/roll/bike/crawl out across the park and then after we have blanketed the park, gather the routes from the trip and drop them into Map Source and create an ubber route of the park. Add this to the great maps oleruns has made and we would have an awesome cache along a route for the Kincaid Park hides, which could be updated easily.
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Post by ladybugkids on Sept 5, 2007 19:38:15 GMT -9
Sounds like a fun project for a number of people to work together on.
If one wanted to take the lazy cacher's way, one could contact the Arctic Orienteering Club since they produce the most accurate maps around (5' contours) for the local parks. The ski trails have been extensively mapped going back at least fifteen years using GPS technology by the Nordic Ski Club of Anchorage. So, there could be some real good starting points on a really neat collaborative effort between the major user groups of the park.
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Post by NorthWes on Sept 5, 2007 20:46:59 GMT -9
Wow... great minds & all that... this is an excellent idea!
I'm doing prep work for the NSAA Competition Director for the upcoming 2008 Junior Olympics (to be held in March at Kincaid Park). During our discussion yesterday about signage on the course, I casually asked if their GIS data was available for the mapwork... He's going to see if it can be swapped across. No promises yet - but that trail system has been mapped by UAA's GIS student group for the NSAA already. As the mapwork was done as part of the NSAA usage agreement with MOA Parks for Kincaid, I'm hoping they'll see that data as being in the public domain.
I spoke with another individual today about acquiring GIS data for the Eagle River / Chugiak trail network... which is being updated right now. We're to make trail map signs using the CAD output. And... I sent the final proof south tonite for the Homer-based 'SNOMAD' snowmobiling club's gigantic (45" x 50") trail map of the southwestern portion of the Kenai Peninsula - complete with a list of about two dozen known landmarks and their GPS coordinates.
As Ladybugs says - it would be a cool integrative effort. In the meantime, the data we could collect would be AWESOME to have! I have some trails logged, but not anything approaching 25% of the park....
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Post by oleruns on Sept 5, 2007 21:00:06 GMT -9
My 2 cents. if we could do it on mountain bikes starting at three or four locations we could make short work of it. NorthWes gets to do the Lekisch system Plus take all the track logs we already have we could knock it down.
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Post by oleruns on Sept 5, 2007 21:07:54 GMT -9
Another note: The trails by the Chalet are closed for repair and I am note sure when they will be ready.
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Post by oleruns on Sept 5, 2007 21:29:45 GMT -9
I like your idea better than mine. Let's build our own map with the social trails too. Save each trail as a name so we can break it down.
First I think the main trails should be done and as you're doing the main trails mark the offshoot trail heads but don't follow them.
Plus I think there are enough names out there. So we should name the social trails by where they fall on the main trail in the trail flow direction. So the first social trail on the Mize's Folly would be Mize's Folly Alpha and the second would be Beta.
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Post by ladybugkids on Sept 6, 2007 6:22:59 GMT -9
I like your idea better than mine. Let's build our own map with the social trails too. Save each trail as a name so we can break it down. The Arctic Orienteering Club maps show the social trails and terrain features down to knolls and rocks of one meter in size. They really are a nice piece of work. One suggestion I have is to take the preexisting orienteering or NSAA maps and waypoint the key features/intersections/etc. if we can't get the data from the groups NorthWes mentioned. The orienteering maps have MUCH more detail (contours, vegetation types, terrain features, N/S grids, etc.) than the NSAA maps, so they might be the better starting point. I'm certainly not trying to ruin anyone's fun of creating maps from scratch, but there is A LOT of data out there that's been accumunlated by "professionals" over the past two decades that would lead to a really slick end product.
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