Fun Idea

[brett13]

My wife suggested we keep a log of every night spent in the camper with the date and location. Since the camper is new to us (21 nights so far) we were able to keep track of it all. Should be fun to look back on in a few years. Would probably be better to keep a picture of each spot next to the entry.

 

[Rockjok]

A couple years ago I bought a Garmin Ique 3600. Probably the best electronic purchase I've ever made and they're old enough now that refurbished units are very affordable. It has a built in GPS and comes with moving map displays etc. and, with additional inexpensive software, I can utilize downoaded or scanned maps.

I do a bit of digital cartography as a sideline and have had great success using these home made maps. If anyone is interested in a shaded relief map that I've been working on of parts of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming I've got a copy here (note that it is about 950 kb tho):

http://www.imt.net/~rockjok/100_50-region-main.jpg

Here's links to a couple more images that include an example of an oblique image and a Geologic map (about 350 kb each):

http://www.imt.net/~rockjok/50_50-crazy.jpg

http://www.imt.net/~rockjok/50_50-GEO.jpg

I use the unit on my motorcycle and in the camper as an MP3 player and ebook reader. The battery life is the main drawback but recharges quickly.

Anytime I find a good campsite I'll save the lat/long with a brief description and date. I'll take a few pics with a digital camera and when I dump them to my hard drive I make sure the date is saved. This way I've got a cross reference from GPS to pictures. I've got a 4GB SD card in the unit so eventually I'll get around to transferring pics into the Garmin.

Rob

 

[brett13]

Rockjok,

That is way cool (I'm a map geek too). I've been playing with a similar setup- Garmin and their software, plus I have TopoUSA. I find the Mapsource Garmin software very easy to use, but the TopoUSA is a bit awkward. And they don't share data well. Haven't had time to thoroughly play with the topo sw though.

That said, I've been GPS-ing my campsites (and good ones I find) too, it is just a bit of work to keep it all organized.

Now I know who to turn to for map questions! By the way, this is one of the most interesting maps I've seen. Enjoy:

 

[flinchlock]

... similar setup- Garmin and their software, plus I have TopoUSA. I find the Mapsource Garmin software very easy to use, but the TopoUSA is a bit awkward.
Same here!

Side question, does anyone use one of those USA maps to keep track of what states you have visited, driven thru, camper at, etc ? Do you stick the map to the inside camper door?

Mike

 

[EdoHart]

No surprise there are other map geeks here.

I used to highlight my travels and make notes on paper maps, but eventually they wear out and I would throw them away without transfering the information.

Now I have a Delorme handheld GPS and Delorme TopoUSA (they came as a bundle). I opted for the travel kit which allows me to power it from the cigar lighter plug and just leave it on my dash for a clear view of the sky. The battery is only good for a few hours, so I when I'm hiking I usually only power it up to get a fix and save a waypoint. The screen is pretty small, but at least it's in color. It has a Gigabyte of built in memory and will accept SD cards upto a gigabyte. I can load the handheld with topographic maps down to 20 foot contour intervals for a very large area (easily twice the size of Santa Barbara County, CA.)

I usually make a track of where I go (at least once I leave pavement), take waypoints of the interesting things - campsites, springs, photograph locations, etc. - then transfer the information to TopoUSA. I like that you can convert the waypoints to a hyperlink. If I have any pictures associated with a waypoint, I make the hyperlink go to those pictures. It's interesting to sometimes playback the tracks to see how fast (more often how slow) I was going, how often I stopped, etc.

I also have a few friends with TopoUSA, so we can easily share waypoints, routes and tracks via e-mail.