Mapping out Wharton

[gipsie]

So this idea was thrown out there about a year ago by a friend and kind of went by the wayside.

Now, as I am taking this certification course at the college, it is bringing up whole new possibilities. I have been looking at a project to do and this was brought to my attention again. Difference now is I have access to all the software and tools to do it.

The idea would be to take a map of Wharton State Forest and add all the roads, trails, fire roads and fire breaks, naming some as we go along. We could divide the woods into sections and then grids and take our time and using our GPSrs track logs to follow the trails, load them into the computer and super impose them on the maps.

I am going to talk to the professor today to see if this is something he would be interested in and also to the park superintendent and gauge his interest. If it is feasible, I will be asking you guys if you would be interested in spending some time walking the trails. We could do it a few weekends.

So this is my first step, gauging your interest to see if I have enough interest by you guys. I will be talking to the professor tonight and the superintendent either this afternoon or tomorrow during the day.

Let me know what you think....

 

[Boyd]

You might want to use my map of NJ as a starting point. I used the 1 foot per pixel aerial imagery to update many of the roads and trails, and also used the USGS 24k topo's. It is a huge project, so I haven't done everything. But I'm pretty sure it is the most detailed map you will currently find.

http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/294/

Track logs from GPS'es can have some significant errors, depending on how they are produced. Try walking the same trails several times, and you will see what I mean. (see this for some examples: http://forums.gpsreview.net/viewtopic.php?t=19442) When possible, I would use the full resolution 2007 orthoimagery to trace what you can see.

 

[gipsie]

Thanks Boyd! I am taking a certification course right now on geospatial technology from the GIS department at ACCC. This would make a great project even though I know it is going to take FOREVER!

I will be looking at your maps and other sources and probably use it for my STARS certification.

I have ArcGIS which is awesome software....

 

[Teegate]

The operative word is as you say FOREVER. Good luck!


Guy

 

[Boyd]

Welcome to the world of map making.

I think that if your goal is just Wharton, that's a reasonably sized project. Of course, there's always "one more thing" to do, but you should be able to create something pretty good just using publicly available data sources as I have done. If you really want to walk every trail and record track.... that is something different. But anything that can be seen and traced from the 2007 orthoimagery should be more accurate than a GPS track.

That will give you 1 foot per pixel resolution. If you have professional GIS software and zoom way in, your trails and roads can easily be accurate within +/- 1 meter. Your GPS track will be more like +/- 5 meters.

But what is the ultimate goal of your project? Paper map? Map to use on your computer (with what software)? Map for your GPS? If you want to make a Garmin compatible map, that is another whole aspect of the project that will take some time to learn and will introduce a number of other issues related to how the map is displayed on the GPS. Garmin's vector map format uses 24 bit coordinates which limits resolution to +/- 2.5 meters. I ran into an issue with this when trying to make a very accurate map of the trails on my own property. In this example, the pink lines are accurate traces of the trails created in GlobalMapper. The blue lines are the result of converting the same trails to Garmin's format.

Of course, we are zoomed WAY in - comparable to the 30 foot scale on your GPS.

 

[gipsie]

Very cool info Boyd! I am using ArcGIS and have the full version. I also have groups of people willing to help. I am thinking walking the trails will be a lot of fun if it is done with groups of friends. So far I have about 15 people willing to help. 5 groups of 3 will suffice. I am thinking of doing the west side of 206 first because it is smaller and see how that goes. I would like it as accurate as possible. When I finish this course, I may have an internship set up and this would be a great project to show. I may even use it for my STARS certification.
I was thinking of doing this with orthoimagery and may resort to using just that, but there are many trails and firebreaks that won't show because of the canopy and I want to include them as well.

I really appreciate your input as this is all new to me......

 

[Kevinhooa]

Seems like a cool project. It might take forever, but look at the bright side - you will be a walking gps by the time you're done!

 

[gipsie]

Seems like a cool project. It might take forever, but look at the bright side - you will be a walking gps by the time you're done!

I'll already be a geospatial technician and I already feel like a walking GPS....this is a great way to combine the two!

Hey Kevin....it would be cool to make Amatol a "test" project!