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postholer.com
05-14-2012, 20:58
Finally, a topographic map set worthy of the Appalachian Trail.

These are not scanned 20-50 year old topos maps.

Here are the details including a preview of all New Hampshire:
http://postholer.com/ATMaps

The 3 volume Appalachian Trail Map series is created digitally using the most current landcover, hydrology, elevation, etc, data available. Most of the data is less than 6 years old.

Along with absolute clarity, seamless digitized maps mean uniformity in color, style, fonts, textures and unit of measure from Georgia to Maine.

Features:
+ 349 full color, digitized topographic maps
+ Beautiful 3D hill shading
+ Useful, highly detailed elevation chart on each map
+ Divided into 23 sections with section overview maps
+ 6" x 9" (15.2cm x 22.9cm) format for easy pack stowage
+ Accumulated trail mileage every mile
+ Resupply locations within 90 miles of map center
+ 1:40,000 scale with WGS84 decimal degree tick marks
+ 7 landcover types, evergreen, deciduous, mixed, shrub, bare, moderate/heavy urban
+ Trail trace, parking and shelter data from AppalachianTrail.org
+ Over 850 shelter, parking and resupply locations
+ Partial proceeds donated to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy

These maps and elevation profiles cost less than half of the traditional map set, yet embody the latest technology and data available.

K. Scott Parks, aka, postholer
[email protected]

http://postholer.com/mapbooks/images/atSample.jpg

T.S.Kobzol
05-14-2012, 21:49
What is trade paper? Are they waterproof?

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

rocketsocks
05-15-2012, 00:15
I like it.Not necessary for hiking the trail,lot of detail,but a nice collection of maps.What does it weigh?per book

postholer.com
05-15-2012, 00:41
Each book weighs about 7oz (http://postholer.com/ATMaps). If you were inclined to carry them, you need to only carry one at a time.

The paper is a bright white bond, very good quality. It's not waterproof, but it would hold up well in dampness. Even if creating a bound book with waterproof paper was an option, the cost would be prohibitive. Think ziplock! :)

I think folks will really like these, on or off the trail. Planning or hiking they really stand out.

-postholer

rocketsocks
05-15-2012, 00:44
Oh yeah 7oz, they'll sale.thanks

ki0eh
05-15-2012, 09:01
Wondering about the 1:40,000 scale, is this for the day hiker more than the thru? Or does it vary by locale, maybe the Whites on a larger scale than, say, the middle of PA or VA?

Mags
05-15-2012, 09:16
Surprised no one has done their own AT maps yet until now. They have them for the CDT, PCT and other trails (GDT, Heyduke and so on). One map for 1/3rd of the trail would make logistics super easy, too...

gearfreak
05-15-2012, 10:07
Surprised no one has done their own AT maps yet until now. They have them for the CDT, PCT and other trails (GDT, Heyduke and so on). One map for 1/3rd of the trail would make logistics super easy, too...

I'm very surprised at this as well. These maps (http://www.at-topo.com/index.html) were advertised on this site for over a year. The waypoints on these maps (http://www.at-topo.com/index.html) are much more relevant as they are tied to the official mileage in the trail guides and they reflect dependable water sources. I do wish postholer success with his endeavor, a tremendous amount of work goes into these types of projects.

Mags
05-15-2012, 10:27
I'm very surprised at this as well. These maps (http://www.at-topo.com/index.html) were advertised on this site for over a year. The waypoints on these maps (http://www.at-topo.com/index.html) are much more relevant as they are tied to the official mileage in the trail guides and they reflect dependable water sources. I do wish postholer success with his endeavor, a tremendous amount of work goes into these types of projects.

Poor advertisement and promotion then. I'm reasonably active and that is the first I've heard of them. :)

postholer.com
05-15-2012, 11:05
The Postholer AT Maps (http://postholer.com/ATMaps) are created with data that is very recent. The landcover data used was simply not available prior to Feb. 2011.

Further, an enormous, gigantic hurdle had to be overcome before these maps could be realized. While I won't say what that was, it took over 2 months to address that single issue. Overcoming that made it possible for a complete, digitally created map set.

The postholer AT maps (http://postholer.com/ATMaps) simply weren't possible until very recently, that is why I stress don't compare them to any map set created the 20-50 old scanned maps. :) That's not a slam, it's just a progression in technology. My hat's off to anyone who has walked this path!

Map scale. A 1:40K map scale is a great compromise between detail and coverage. While retaining detail, you get good coverage in a smaller package which is a huge concern when lugging 1:24K maps around. The maps have 200/40 major/minor contours just like the 1:24K maps do with excellent detail.

-postholer

Feral Bill
05-15-2012, 11:08
I'm drooling over these.

ki0eh
05-15-2012, 11:30
Map scale is a real balancing act, right here I have one of the newer Keystone Trails Association (KTA) A.T. maps, current color generation (not the vague dots on muddy old topo repro what Bill Bryson famously swore at), and its scale is 1:63,360. So I would have thought that 1:40k would be more detail than the average thru would be interested in, but you can lose a lot in 100' contour interval though.

Regenerating the basemap is more difficult than it sometimes seems as well. It appears road name information is missing, I admit that's always tough to get. What is the source of elevation information for the profiles?

WingedMonkey
05-15-2012, 11:50
Poor advertisement and promotion then. I'm reasonably active and that is the first I've heard of them. :)

Maybe I misunderstood, are you saying that AT-Topo was using poor advertising in his purchase of banner adds on Whiteblaze. Is there a better way of promotion?

Mags
05-15-2012, 12:25
Maybe I misunderstood, are you saying that AT-Topo was using poor advertising in his purchase of banner adds on Whiteblaze. Is there a better way of promotion?

Many people use ad blocker software and may have missed it. If it has been out a year and is not widely known it seems.

Purchasing ads can help, but it has its limitations. So yes, there are better ways of promoting. Just saying...

Not looking to thread jack, so if you'd like to discuss this further please PM me and/or start a new thread. :)

postholer.com
05-15-2012, 12:40
On the AT map page (http://postholer.com/ATMaps) click the 'Read exhaustive details' link or just go here (http://postholer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1550) for all the gory details on data sources and map creation. The info is PCT map book centric, but still applies.

Ironically, creating the base maps is a no brainer. Getting the data ducks in a row is the tedious part. The map creation process 'follows' the trail trace and 36 hours later of computer crunching it spits out all 349 maps as you see them. As data changes it's just a matter of swapping data and re-running the process. I can't tell you how painless map updates are!

-postholer

Odd Man Out
05-15-2012, 13:02
I have a question. for those parts of the trail that don't run mostly north and south, would it be possible to orient the map so each page gets as much of the trail as possible on the long dimension of the page, even if it means that up is not north. This would allow you to get more of the trail on each map and also allow you to have fewer pages to cover the whole trail (both pluses, I think). The downside is that we are so used to having up be north, it could be confusing. But it seems that digital cartography is getting us away from that. I know that GPS navigation systems in cars orient the display so that up on the screen is the direction you are driving. If you are used to "up is always north", it takes a little getting use to, but after a while it works just as well. Of course you would have a compass rose on the map and presumably travel with a compass, so it should till work. Any thoughts on that?

ki0eh
05-15-2012, 13:48
The thought of auto-generating tiles is quite impressive! I guess you would have to stick to those tile bounds for updates and not auto-generate again, one would hope that the A.T. is able to be accommodated within static tile bounds at this point. It looks from your sample you have corridor land data as well, that doesn't seem an easy thing to chase down for the entire A.T., knowing how much of a pain in the neck it is to get conforming data from each of the land managing agencies in PA.

I think 1 arc second NED at some level still often defaults to "bored grad student years ago digitizing an analog topo from 1946," but I would also imagine such a setup would be able to accommodate LiDAR-based data when it's more commonly available.

Road names and classifications in the East is a bear, maybe TIGER files for the next census will go further into classification, and I can understand not paying the NAVTEQ/Tele Atlas/Google who underlay the automotive GPS, as in the mountains they often get it wrong anyway.

Rain Man
05-15-2012, 14:21
How is it that this,-- besides being in the wrong forum (correctly would be in "Media" (maps)),-- isn't in violation of the User Agreement, which says "6. No commercial posts are allowed...."

Am I missing two or three things?

Rain Man

.

postholer.com
05-15-2012, 14:31
...for those parts of the trail that don't run mostly north and south, would it be possible to orient the map so each page gets as much of the trail as possible on the long dimension of the page, even if it means that up is not north.

That is by far the most optimized way, converting between portrait and landscape. Early on that is what I did. However, I often found myself not making the mental adjustment and that was without any pressure. For the sake of the hiker on the trail, under pressure, in the time of need, I left them all oriented the same way. It would use less paper, be cheaper and generally more efficicent to mix and match surely. Weighing all that, I opted for utter simplicity.


...I guess you would have to stick to those tile bounds for updates and not auto-generate again, one would hope that the A.T. is able to be accommodated within static tile bounds at this point.

Specifying the scale, paper size, margins and dpi in the configuration dictates the resulting tiles. Change those values and rerun. If data is required outside of those bounds, just download from one of the above mentioned sources. Painless! :)

It's impressive the NED data you can get. 1/9 arc sec is available if you want to get the contour of the hood of your car! ;)

-postholer

Feral Bill
05-15-2012, 14:39
How is it that this,-- besides being in the wrong forum (correctly would be in "Media" (maps)),-- isn't in violation of the User Agreement, which says "6. No commercial posts are allowed...."

Am I missing two or three things?

Rain Man

.
Perhps we need as "Shameless Commerce" forum for commercial items of legitimate interest to WB. For a small posting fee, of course.

kidchill
05-15-2012, 16:41
If it came in PDF format for my smart phone I'd be all over it...

House of Payne
05-15-2012, 16:56
We all know that other parties that promote their gear weigh in heavily on these furums as well. And since I had never heard of them either I'm happy I saw this thread in order to check it out.

kayaker4ever
05-15-2012, 17:52
Each book weighs about 7oz (http://postholer.com/ATMaps). If you were inclined to carry them, you need to only carry one at a time.

The paper is a bright white bond, very good quality. It's not waterproof, but it would hold up well in dampness. Even if creating a bound book with waterproof paper was an option, the cost would be prohibitive. Think ziplock! :)

I think folks will really like these, on or off the trail. Planning or hiking they really stand out.

-postholer

Just take some "Thompson's Water seal" and paint it on both sides of the maps. That's what I do with all my canoeing maps. Waterproof and you can still write on them.

rocketsocks
05-15-2012, 18:05
I'm very surprised at this as well. These maps (http://www.at-topo.com/index.html) were advertised on this site for over a year. The waypoints on these maps (http://www.at-topo.com/index.html) are much more relevant as they are tied to the official mileage in the trail guides and they reflect dependable water sources. I do wish postholer success with his endeavor, a tremendous amount of work goes into these types of projects.The price of Ink and paper would steer me away from this,and that a CD does me no good on the trail.On the flip side you'd be only printing the ones you need at the time,and therefore not printing an area that you never intend to visit,also allowing for home planning,this would be superior to work with on the computer.Six one way and half dozen the other,or some derivative there of,Both have there place.....but I like books jm2c and imho.

scree
05-24-2012, 23:03
Just thought I'd give this a bump now that my books arrived - great quality and value! I can confirm that all data appears current for the areas I know well and studied.

I might take mine in to get them spiral bound so I can lay flat / use compass easier, but other than that this is a very cost effective and usable presentation. Happy I paid up.

rocketsocks
05-24-2012, 23:55
Just thought I'd give this a bump now that my books arrived - great quality and value! I can confirm that all data appears current for the areas I know well and studied.

I might take mine in to get them spiral bound so I can lay flat / use compass easier, but other than that this is a very cost effective and usable presentation. Happy I paid up.Good to now,It's on my wish list.I had a feelin that was gonna be a home run.cool!

postholer.com
05-29-2012, 00:51
Thanks for the great feedback on the maps!

For those who have been dragging their feet, I've reduced the price by $15 for the entire set. Put another way, if you were going to print these maps out yourself from a digital copy it would cost about the same to print it!

As usual, you can find the previews and info here:
http://postholer.com/ATMaps

-postholer

thelowend
05-29-2012, 01:02
I'm very surprised at this as well. These maps (http://www.at-topo.com/index.html) were advertised on this site for over a year. The waypoints on these maps (http://www.at-topo.com/index.html) are much more relevant as they are tied to the official mileage in the trail guides and they reflect dependable water sources. I do wish postholer success with his endeavor, a tremendous amount of work goes into these types of projects.

It says "Springer Mountain to Mt. Katahdin on DVD"... is that included with the maps or are the maps on the DVD?...

10-K
05-31-2012, 09:02
If you ever got bored and needed something to do making a set of maps like this for the BMT would be awesome and welcomed.

postholer.com
05-31-2012, 21:50
If you ever got bored and needed something to do making a set of maps like this for the BMT would be awesome and welcomed.

Hmmmm....:-?

gearfreak
06-01-2012, 09:12
It says "Springer Mountain to Mt. Katahdin on DVD"... is that included with the maps or are the maps on the DVD?...

The AT-TOPO (http://www.at-topo.com/index.html) maps are state-by-state PDF files on DVD. Additional files included on the disk are shelter and parking listings containing a description, mileage and coordinates (also available on the web site). Trail Notes which contain a description of each waypoint with mileage, elevation and whether or not reliable water is available. Unless a water source is in close proximity to the trail, it isn't shown in the mileage landmarks. Colored slope indicators provide a general idea of the terrain in a particular area, although some slopes within the area may me more or less steep. A soon to be released update will display elevations at the waypoints and the base maps have all been updated to the new USGS standard. These are newly updated and no longer contain the colors depicting ground cover. The maps can now be printed quickly and cost effectively at home. Scale is 1" = 1/2 mile.

rocketsocks
06-05-2012, 21:47
Good to now,It's on my wish list.I had a feelin that was gonna be a home run.cool!

Just had to move it up in the wish list que,and orderd the centeral states book!psyched,thanks Postholer.

karo
06-05-2012, 22:04
If it came in PDF format for my smart phone I'd be all over it...
So I finally got a smart phone and it is for sure smarter than I am. Anyhow my question is....what software or pdf files could I use for the AT. I probably will not be thru hiking anytime soon due to a pinched nerve in my neck, but would like to have the southern section on my phone.

rocketsocks
06-07-2012, 21:36
I received my book today,and it is awesome,and a welcome piece to the other maps and books I have.If I wanted to carry the equivalent maps that are contained within this map book,it would be a Lotta maps,and just fumbling through them would be a pain(but not really,cause I like maps)but this book allows me to be in High Point NJ,and in a flip of a few pages,Boom,I'm in Harpers Ferry,another whim,Bam,I'm there.It's a great little book,And I'm glad I bought it.You could hike the whole trail with nothing but this book,or add it to have an exceptional map kit by which to navigate,Great job! Postholer.com looking forward to picking up the other two at some point.

brooklynkayak
06-15-2012, 07:48
The web site is missing the most important specification, the weight.
Although I know the weight from this forum, I'm sure it would sell a lot more if it was listed in the specs.

MyName1sMud
06-15-2012, 17:08
That's awesome! Thanks for the heads up!