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Mapping

Why Track?

We both use apps on our phones to track our hikes and stuff.  It comes in handy for a number of reasons:

  • We won’t get lost
  • We can keep track of places we’ve been
  • We can retrace our route later if we choose, and know the distance it will be

Mobile Applications

Brenda uses MapMyRun on her iPhone to track our routes.  It seems to be accurate, and is very easy to use.  It is also very easy to switch between activity types.  She chose this over a number of apps she has tried before.

I use Orux Maps on my Android to track hikes, walks, and ATV rides.  Last I checked, it was not available on the iPhone.  Orux is a bit complicated and quite powerful (lots of features).  The biggest reason I chose it was because we did a fair amount of hiking in the White Mountains where my cell phone connection was flaky at best and usually nonexistent. 
Orux was able to utilize maps I made, downloading them to the phone for offline usage.  I’m pretty sure others do this too, but at the time I couldn’t find one that supported so many formats, was free, and highly flexible on the map style.

Not that you need offline maps, I just find it convenient to have them for some areas.  I rarely create them for ATV riding, though I did finally create a base map covering all of Ride The Wilds in New Hampshire.  Incidentally, I like keeping our GPX/KML tracks, merging them (in Quantum GIS), and using them as an overlay in Orux.  It becomes the rough equivalent of having a road map for all the trails =)

Map Making

For as much as I love the ability to do this, it is not a straightforward or easy process!  I spent a LOT of time experimenting with source resolution, layers, etc.

Sources

There are many out there.  I usually start with USGS, and then check the state web sites for elevation data and other datasets.  New Hampshire had a few ArcGIS files covering all the trails in the White Mountains, peaks, and even climbing areas!
I have not used it yet, but this site also looks promising. 
I like to use multiple sources because my finished map displays different images at different zoom levels – maybe a 1:250,000 street map at zoom 12-15, then 1:25,000 topo map for 16-17 and satellite imagery 18-20 (just as an example).  Alternatively, you could keep all layers the same source type and have a secondary map of the same area with a different source type – Orux makes it easy to switch between them.

Software

Ah, the beginning of the end!  All of the software I use is free (except one) but it definitely takes time to learn.  This is why I said the process is challenging or complicated.  If I didn’t have some background in mapping software I might never have chosen to go down this path….

For now, I will just list the software and if there is interest I can go into more detail.  I use:

  • MAPC2MAPC – converting map file formats, changing resolution, merging (stitching) files together
  • Gimp or similar – if removing white borders around map images
  • MOBAC – converts maps to mobile format
  • Quantum GIS – modifying vector layers

Map Scales

Zoom levels:

Level m / pixel ~ Scale USGS map extent Examples of areas to represent
9 305.492 1:1,000,000 wide area, large metropolitan area
10 152.746 1:500,000 metropolitan area
11 76.373 1:250,000 One degree City, almost all White Mtns on screen
12 38.187 1:150,000 town, half of White Mtns (24 miles) 
1:125,000 30 x 30 minute
1:100,000 30 x 60 minute
13 19.093 1:70,000 15 x 15 minute Village, 12 mi wide – probably most reasonable “zoom out” level
14 9.547 1:35,000 6 miles wide
1:24,000 7.5 x 7.5 minute
15 4.773 1:15,000 3 mi fit screen (wide), all of Gorham?, can zoom to 600% w/ great detail
16 2.387 1:8,000 8,000 ft wide? 1:25k (7.5 min) topo w/ sat img bkground dont show topo lines well, but 1:100k topo (no background) does
17 1.193 1:4,000 block, park. 1:25k topo w/ sat bkgrnd show ok 
18 0.596 1:2,000 some buildings, trees – unnecessary detail for Orux
19 0.298 1:1,000 local highway and crossing details
20 0.149 1:500 A mid-sized building
  • Values listed in the column “m / pixels” gives the number of meters per pixel at that zoom level.
  • “~ Scale” is only an approximate size comparison and refers to distances on the Equator. In addition, the given scales assume that 256-pixel wide tiles are rendered and will be dependent on the resolution of the viewing monitor: these values are for a monitor with a 0.3 mm / pixel (85.2 pixels per inch or PPI).
11 & 12 -> Use 30×60 min maps 13 & 14 -> Use 15 min maps 15,16,17 -> Use 7.5 min maps

OruxMaps zoom (displayed values)

72@8 on display means: 72 is the measure of map visualization (in percent), the “optimum” is 100%) 8 is the zoom level zoom level 0: 256 pixel ~ 40 000 km (long of equator) zoom level 1: 256 pixel ~ 20 000 km zoom level 2: 256 pixel ~ 10 000 km

MAP SCALES

Zoom paper map scale Orux (256 pixel size)
20 1,128.497220 100 ft
19 2,256.994440 300 ft
18 4,513.988880 500 ft
17 9,027.977761 1,000 ft
16 18,055.955520 2,000 ft
15 36,111.911040 4,000 ft
14 72,223.822090 2 mi
13 144,447.644200 3 mi
12 288,895.288400 9 km
11 577,790.576700 18 km
10 1,155,581.153000 39 km
9 2,311,162.307000 78 km
8 4,622,324.614000 156 km
7 9,244,649.227000 312 km
6 18,489,298.450000 625 km
5 36,978,596.910000 1,250 km
4 73,957,193.820000 2,500 km
3 147,914,387.600000 5,000 km
2 295,828,775.300000 10,000 km
1 591,657,550.500000 20,000 km