Post by bobonaut on Mar 14, 2018 9:54:43 GMT -5
hello community,
i'm interested to start a discussion about the maps you use for fkt's and what they look like. i'm not so much interested in specific maps but rather in their general layout. i'm asking this because i'm recently getting my head around geo information systems (gis) and their use to create topographic maps (and other stuff, like 3d images). the reason for this is not only general interest and admiration for maps and geodata, but also that i find many maps to be unsatisfying for fkts and fastpacking of specific trails: either crucial features are lacking (like shelter, water, bail out routes etc) or they are so packed with features, that it is hard to get the information needed fast and at a glance.
i understand that there's a crucial difference between maps in the us and in europe (i'm based in germany), since geodata in the us is public domain as far as i understand. in europe the situation is a lot different and geodata collected by state or federal offices is not freely available. we have a really convenient alternative, which is open street map (osm), an open source-platform where all the data is either mapped by the great community or donated by enterprises or state offices. for some areas like the netherlands, the uk or germany the data is really good (yet not 'perfect', if you can ever attribute this term to such a vast task like mapping the globe, what osm is all about), but, as i mentioned, by using osm and its derivates you get so much information that it's easy to get lost.
long story short: what is it that you want to have in such maps and how should it look like? do you think there is any necessity at all to have special maps for fkts/fastpacking/thruhiking or is it a waste of time or are (printable) maps outdated and everybody's using apps and stuff? what would be trails you are generally interested in (asking for europe in the first place here, but of course mention everything around the globe).
asking this here since this is the only online community for fkt's (to my knowledge). hope, some of you are interested in a discussion on that topic.
cheers, bob
i'm interested to start a discussion about the maps you use for fkt's and what they look like. i'm not so much interested in specific maps but rather in their general layout. i'm asking this because i'm recently getting my head around geo information systems (gis) and their use to create topographic maps (and other stuff, like 3d images). the reason for this is not only general interest and admiration for maps and geodata, but also that i find many maps to be unsatisfying for fkts and fastpacking of specific trails: either crucial features are lacking (like shelter, water, bail out routes etc) or they are so packed with features, that it is hard to get the information needed fast and at a glance.
i understand that there's a crucial difference between maps in the us and in europe (i'm based in germany), since geodata in the us is public domain as far as i understand. in europe the situation is a lot different and geodata collected by state or federal offices is not freely available. we have a really convenient alternative, which is open street map (osm), an open source-platform where all the data is either mapped by the great community or donated by enterprises or state offices. for some areas like the netherlands, the uk or germany the data is really good (yet not 'perfect', if you can ever attribute this term to such a vast task like mapping the globe, what osm is all about), but, as i mentioned, by using osm and its derivates you get so much information that it's easy to get lost.
long story short: what is it that you want to have in such maps and how should it look like? do you think there is any necessity at all to have special maps for fkts/fastpacking/thruhiking or is it a waste of time or are (printable) maps outdated and everybody's using apps and stuff? what would be trails you are generally interested in (asking for europe in the first place here, but of course mention everything around the globe).
asking this here since this is the only online community for fkt's (to my knowledge). hope, some of you are interested in a discussion on that topic.
cheers, bob