Re: [RC] [AERC_CT_Region] How to find the coordinates of AERC ridecamps to help in clendar mapping - David Fant
I tried this link. Seems to work fine.
As always there are other ways to do the same thing.
www.topozone.com lets you type in the
name of the nearest mapped object (typically a town). Then you can get with in
short distance of the actual goal. Each time you click on the map it recenters
according to where you click. You can reset the size of the map and the
magnification of the map. If you make the changes (blue boxes) in the default
settings you can read the Lat/Long straight off the screen or copy and paste
into another program.
On a related but different topic we created custom topo maps from this site
and then I bought copies of the maps. They are very large and being topo maps
very detailed. We sue them to be sure the trail is where we think it is. If you
know how to use a topo map and a GPS then you can plot specific trail points and
verify the trail maps you are handing out for your ride. It may not be too
critical to your riders if your ride maps are slightly inaccurate as to relative
positions but if you have to involve horse or people rescue personnel they will
not likely be following the trail as your riders are but will need to know for
sure that Point "A" that you have on your ride map is exactly where you say it
is.
The accompanying picture includes a USGS benchmark which is about 4" in
diameter and sticks above the ground a few inches. This map is centered on that
benchmark. I'm sure if someone went to search at those coordinates they would
not have any trouble finding the benchmark and I am positive that an 800 lb
horse would be an easy find.
Subject: [AERC_CT_Region] How to find the
coordinates of AERC ridecamps to help in clendar mapping
We now have a way of showing the location of rides on a map
that goes along with the ride calendar. I posted earlier today about
this new feature.
Our difficulty has been getting ridecamp
coordinates to add to the maps. We have been depending on getting GPS
coordinates from ride managers or riders who attended the
ride.
There's a way to do this online that will enable anyone who has
been to a ride - and is location oriented - to get the coordinates and
send them for addition to the ride calendar.
then
click on the approximate area of the state where the ride is - progressive
zooms in will bring you to a very detailed map with the coordinates we
need.
The only difficulty is that for the first 3 levels - you only see
white space. At the 4th level you can see cities/roads, and on the
5th level you get names.
Unless you are good at guessing where in a
large white space the nearest city is - I'd suggest keeping another window
open to yahoo or google maps(with names) centered on the nearest city so
you can select the right area to get to level 5.
Once you have the
coordinates for the rides you are willing to look up - please send them to
Bob Morris - bobmorris@xxxxxxxx - for the
calendar.
