View Full Version : Maptech software vs ATC Trail Maps?
grrickar
09-05-2004, 19:12
Anyone using the Maptech software for making their own AT maps? I know that you can buy the paper to print your own, and the software looks fairly robust.
http://www.maptech.com/land/appalachiantrail/index.cfm
The maps are produced in conjuntion with the ATC. It's $50 for the entire trail, versus buying each map for each section, plus you can add your own notes, references, and pictures.
I am interested in it for this - I want to scale down sections of the map, along with an elevation profile, and the details of that day's hike. I had a friend who did that, and I tried scanning, cutting, pasting and printing and did not get very good results. I am hopeful that I could accomplish that with the Maptech software.
Jersey Bob
09-05-2004, 21:05
at least 10 characters
I own this software. The tech support from mapquest is worthless. They do show the trail real nice with all elevation changes. They also enclude a lot of pictures from the trail along lot of other info about the trail. The thing I dont like about mapquest is that it can not be down loaded in to your compter, so you have to allways put the disk into your system to use it. Another problem is that it can not be down loaded in to a gps system either. All maps can be printed out. I will use the software more as a planing tool rather then try to take it on my thru hike in 2006. It would be great to carry this software on the trail..but do i want to carry a lap top?:confused:
grrickar
09-06-2004, 09:01
kyergerNot sure about a solution for the GPS since I do not own one, but check out Alcohol 120 to create a virtual drive (it creates an image of the CD on your hard drive so you would not have to swap disks. Maptech even states that would likely work. I use it for other thinigs and have never had it fail.
http://www.alcohol-software.com/
Do you know if there is a way to get updates for the trail when it is relocated, and the guidebook as well?
Kerosene
09-06-2004, 09:15
I purchased the MapTech AT software last year and played around with it for awhile. I would echo the concerns mentioned above. In addition, despite my years in the software business, I found it tedious to set up section hikes by planned daily mileage. You could do quite a bit with editing down the trail description text to what you really need, but in the end I went back to purchasing the ATC guidebook and map and reducing everything down to 8 guidebook pages per side of paper (16 per piece). This low-tech method has worked quite well for my last 5 hikes.
grrickar
09-06-2004, 09:34
Is there such a thing as a software copy of the guidebook? I have the book, along with some others but the frustrating thing is that sometimes the sections overlap and if you do the cut and paste thing you end up with redundant information, and since one of the books I have assumes you are going NOBO, the information is backwards (you have to read from the bottom up, or back of the book to the front).
Mainly I just want an easy way to put the section highlights for the day, along with shelter info and an elevation profile on a card and laminate it for ease of use. Then I can reuse the cards if I do that hike again.
Any suggestions?
Kerosene
09-06-2004, 10:46
I have not found an electronic version of the guidebooks to this point. You could consider scanning in the contents of a guidebook, applying a good optical character recognition (OCR) utility to turn the results into a text document, and then using an editor to tailor and reduce the output for your needs. As of 2002, OCR utilities had a tough time with the older version of the guidebook layouts, but they may be better now and the newer format is more readable.
Received the Maptech software and ATC Trail Mate. Love AT Trail mate use it very often. I find Maptech difficult to use. and preferr the maps from ATC. Would have been great if AT Trail Mate and Maptech integrated so you could develop a hike in Trail Mate and once finished Maptech would produce map of that trip. Feel like the Maptech was a waste of money. Appalachian Trail Mate is well worth the price especially for section hikers
grrickar
09-28-2004, 17:21
Just ordered AT Trail Mate myself - I hope to get it by this weekend so I can get some details on my section hike that is coming up on Monday of next week.
trippclark
09-28-2004, 17:30
I have the software and find it useful, but limited. I am pretty proficient with software in general, but find the product cumbersome to use. That said, it does have some value. I use it for every trip in place of the guidebooks. Since the guides are on the CD in electronic form (albeit without recent re-routes since the software came out), I use this to create my own custom guides just for the section I plan to do. . . shrink font and place on letter size pages. To these I can highlight things I want to emphasize and delete things that are unimportant to me. I also add in waypoints and then log those same points in my GPS (Garmin Geko).
So, the software does eliminate my need for the section guidebooks, but I still carry the official maps. For me, they are much more useful that anything I have been able to get out of the software.
All in all, the software was worth the purchase price, but not as good as I had hoped.
nthadley
10-09-2004, 01:46
I bought the software and printed out the trail in it's entirety several months ago using the "quickprint" option. This prints only what you see on the screen, and it took about 500 images for the whole trail at the scale that showed elevation numbers clearly. I printed them back to back and wound them into 4 booklets (roughly 2.5"x3.5") which took a lot of time and several ink cartridges. It's quicker if you have a usb link though.
Flash Hand
10-09-2004, 06:57
Will this software show ALL elevation profile from Springer Mt. GA to Mt. Katahdin, ME and can be able printed out? I really don't care about the map but care more about elevation as we might want to avoid the unwanted hike in the dark due to PUDS.
Flash Hand :jump
Kerosene
10-09-2004, 14:23
The software is capable of showing the elevation profile for the entire AT, but not always using the same scale. For a thru-hike I'd probably go with the ATC maps.
Pencil Pusher
10-09-2004, 15:57
A free alternative to purchasing maps or the software: http://www.topozone.com (http://www.topozone.com/) Though it would be more time-consuming and not have the extras.
As for an online version of a guidebook, the AT Thru-Hikers Companion: http://www.aldha.org/comp_pdf.htm
A free alternative to purchasing maps or the software: http://www.topozone.com (http://www.topozone.com/) Though it would be more time-consuming and not have the extras.
Software, based on USGS maps, is frequently not up to date. I know. I have the Topo! software for one state, and it does not show relocations done within the last decade and beyond.