Map Website

[ski3pin]

Here is a website that I use for trip planning - CalTopo - and a thanks to WTW member Lighthawk for mentioning it - HERE

The base map is the familiar 7.5' USGS quad, the gold standard topographic map. I use the shaded relief for a quick visual of the lay of the land. Also nice is to bring up the USFS 7.5' map with the road numbers and facilities labeled. On the right I am able to add additional map layers. The Land Management layer is very useful to me as private inholdings are shown so I am aware of potential private property issues with places or things I wish to visit.

Disclaimer - this site can eat up your time

 

[dakozicki]

That is a great site. Thanks

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

A big thanks to Lighthawk and Ski3Pin!!! What a great resource!

 

[ski3pin]

Our friend we skied with last weekend mentioned to us he uses the slope angle shading feature when he guides ski mountaineering trips so he can quickly see potential avalanche terrain on his printed maps.

 

[craig333]

Man I wish I had access to the big printer at work. I don't see any dates on there. Looked at Taylor Lake (Plumas NF) and it still shows Kettle Rock Lookout which was removed years ago and no longer shows even on my older NF maps. Guessing they're using the most recent USGS topos which in some cases aren't very recent.

Wow, found the fire mapping overlay. Very cool! And recent too. I may have to break out my checkbook.

 

[GroovyDad]

Cool, and it's not just for California as the name suggests.

Thanks for sharing this.

 

[Cayuse]

It also interfaces with the Backcountry Navigator app for phones/tablets.

 

[Tuff Guy 62]

Thanks for posting Ski. Already used it for a project I'm working on!

 

[craig333]

The ability to see the old maps had me up way past my bedtime. I had a couple questions and he promptly answered my emails. You may be interested in this one.

"The flash drives only have GPS maps; they're not for running a copy of the site offline. I'm probably going to stop selling them as there hasn't been enough interest to justify the hassle . . . because Garmin GPSs don't support image transparency, I have to pre-pick combinations rather than supplying layers separately, and the fire history isn't on the drive."

 

[Doc Foster]

Very cool, I just read about this the other day.
I have been using http://mapper.acme.com/ in addition to Google Earth and Google Maps.

 

[N'kwala]

Wow. but yeah, it does eat up time. Thanks.