A virtual drive through the pines

[Boyd]

NJDEP recently posted new land use/land cover (LU/LC) data and I've been spending the past few weeks with it. They created this dataset by tracing outlines of features on the 2007 aerials and assigning special codes to them. When combined with my own secret sauce, the result is closer to an art project than a map. I haven't decided if I will make it publicly available yet; it's still work in progress.

Since it was a beautiful day, I took a long detour to road test the map on the Nuvi 3790, which is Garmin's most advanced unit yet with impressive realtime 3d rendering. The trip starts in Evesham and ends in Mays Landing.... sit back and enjoy the ride!

 

[Boyd]

Click on the map below for BIG screenshot from Garmin's nRoute software. They don't support nRoute anymore, but it works well and can track your position on a laptop:

 

[bobpbx]

Damn...that is fine!

 

[46er]

Good stuff Boyd. I sure hope you had your eyes on the road most of the time during the road trip Can you just imagine when they get 3-D GPS screens perfected....

 

[Boyd]

Thanks! Haha... I made it home alive, and that's all that counts in the end.

 

[gipsie]

They look absolutely awesome Boyd! Great job!

 

[Boyd]

This map is now available for download at GPSFileDepot here: http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/441/

You will find installers for both Macs and Windows. It really pushes the limits of both GPS'es and computers however. For some reason, my Oregon isn't very happy with it, and it looks pretty bad on the screen. It works very well on my Nuvi 3790, and will probably also be acceptable on other models of the Nuvi.

But you might find it most useful on your computer. Curiously, it works with 3d view in the Mac version of Basecamp but will only display in 2d in Windows Basecamp. Click on parts of the map and the type of landcover will be identified.

This has been sort of a labor of love for me... I made it so I could use it myself. But maybe you'll enjoy it also?

 

[46er]

Looks great Boyd. I'll download it later today and let you know how it works on the Oregon 450. Can it be used for navigation on the NUVI's?

 

[Boyd]

It does not contain routing data, so it will display your position but can't give you driving directions. However, if you also have Garmin's Northeast 24k topo, that map does have routable roads. If you enable it at the same time, my map will hide Garmin's, and you will be able to do routing. The shaded terrain will also be applied to my map. It will probably slow things down noticeably to have two maps enabled together however.

Let me know what you think on your Oregon. I was not happy with the way it looked on my 400t. The screen just isn't capable of displaying enough contrast.

 

[46er]

Boyd, I loaded this map on the Oregon 450 with no issues. Performance is equal to the other maps I use on it, either enabled alone or with a TOPO enabled as well. Good stuff!!

I had a problem buying BirdsEye with registering the Oregon. Never resolved the issue with Garmin support. It found that it worked on my laptop. Weird stuff.

 

[Boyd]

I recently decided to revisit the New Jersey 2007 land use/land cover (LU/LC) data - something I've wanted to do for awhile. I'm trying to create a pseudo-realistic 3d map of New Jersey. Garmin's vector map format has a lot of limitations and seems stuck in 1999 technology in some ways. But the new high-end Nuvi's are fast and do a beautiful job of 3d map rendering, so the challenge is to push the map format to its limit using a bag of tricks I've accumulated.

This map is still in the experimental stage and only covers a small Southern part of the state near me. But I thought some of you might enjoy a sneak peak. The Nuvi 3000 series (3790, 3450, 3490, 3550, 3590, 3597) all support the high quality 3d mode in these screenshots and can display it in realtime at highway speed.

Remember, these are not really aerial photographs but simulated terrain based on data that specifies what covers the landscape. It's more art than science.

Since it's just a standard Garmin map, it should be compatible in 2d mode with any Garmin GPS. Here's a screenshot from the 60csx and the Nuvi 205.

 

[Teegate]

Very nice Boyd! You sure have put quite a bit of work into these maps.

Guy

 

[Boyd]

Thanks Guy! There is still a lot to do before this one is finished. Spent the past couple days adding simulated buildings to urban/suburban areas. This is a procedural thing, with generic buildings based on the map data about their density.

I'm also finding the patterns of oaks and pines interesting (again, the mix is based on the map data). Some places have more oaks than I expected.