View Full Version : AT on Google Maps?
Tree Nerd
12-22-2012, 16:52
I wish good would load the AT onto their maps.....this would be super beneficial to hikers and to let people know where you are at. If would be cool if google maps had a trail map in general. Just a though, but it would probably never happen, it would be too much maintainence to keep up with the changes every year.
Google Earth has the overlay if that helps.
Tree Nerd
12-22-2012, 17:02
Terds....I didnt know that. So much for my million dollar idea haha
http://fivemillionsteps.com/trailmap.php
Is this what you were looking for? Cool link, got it from WB
TheYoungOne
12-26-2012, 11:52
The AT does show up on google maps web based, I'm not sure about the cell phone version. Its not exact, and its just a thin line but its there if you zoom in enough. Definately helpful for road crossing and basic planning.
MDSection12
12-26-2012, 13:49
The AT does show up on google maps web based, I'm not sure about the cell phone version. Its not exact, and its just a thin line but its there if you zoom in enough. Definately helpful for road crossing and basic planning.
+1
You have to zoom in is the trick.
There's no way you'd be able to use a cellphone for maps or navigation on a daily basis, if not for the battery life, for the cell reception. If you're a map person, you'll be looking at your maps constantly, so you'd at least have to have them in the phones memory for offline use.
SCRUB HIKER
12-26-2012, 14:44
It's definitely there, and on all the viewing layers now--it used to be there only on the most zoomed-in Terrain layer. Someone on Whiteblaze noticed this back in March too (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?82134-The-AT-is-on-Google-Maps).
If you have Google Earth, you can download an overlay (http://guymott.com/atgps.html), turn on the Panoramio option, and follow the trail up and down looking at photos that users have uploaded. Most of the photos are accurately geolocated located, some really aren't, but there is enough content that you can basically get a virtual tour of the whole trail. Some Panoramio photos are on regular Google Maps now (they're the little blue square dots that sometimes show up when you're zoomed in all the way), but I haven't found any AT photos.
But soon enough, the Panoramio thing might be obsolete because Google is doing a version of Street View, called Trekker, for trails all across the country (http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2012/10/24/163499448/googles-street-view-goes-into-the-wild?utm_source=NPR&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20121024). I can certainly see how the AT would be a relatively easy goal because it's motor-vehicle accessible every ten miles or so for almost its entire length. Someone from Google apparently went out and captured the Bright Angel Trail at Grand Canyon NP (http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/hiking-and-backpacking/Google-Trekker-Hikes-Street-View-into-the-Backcountry.html) as a test run for Trekker, but it's not visible on Google Maps yet, although a million Panoramio photos are.
SCRUB HIKER
12-26-2012, 15:27
It's definitely there, and on all the viewing layers now--it used to be there only on the most zoomed-in Terrain layer. Someone on Whiteblaze noticed this back in March too (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?82134-The-AT-is-on-Google-Maps).
If you have Google Earth, you can download an overlay (http://guymott.com/atgps.html), turn on the Panoramio option, and follow the trail up and down looking at photos that users have uploaded. Most of the photos are accurately geolocated located, some really aren't, but there is enough content that you can basically get a virtual tour of the whole trail. Some Panoramio photos are on regular Google Maps now (they're the little blue square dots that sometimes show up when you're zoomed in all the way), but I haven't found any AT photos.
But soon enough, the Panoramio thing might be obsolete because Google is doing a version of Street View, called Trekker, for trails all across the country (http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2012/10/24/163499448/googles-street-view-goes-into-the-wild?utm_source=NPR&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20121024). I can certainly see how the AT would be a relatively easy goal because it's motor-vehicle accessible every ten miles or so for almost its entire length. Someone from Google apparently went out and captured the Bright Angel Trail at Grand Canyon NP (http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/hiking-and-backpacking/Google-Trekker-Hikes-Street-View-into-the-Backcountry.html) as a test run for Trekker, but it's not visible on Google Maps yet, although a million Panoramio photos are.
fredmugs
12-31-2012, 10:17
The AT on Google maps is also wrong in several places that I have seen. Mostly in the Whites where there are so many other trails. I would never use Google maps as my main source of info.
There is an App for the Iphone called AT Trail which is pretty good. It shows the trail on a topographical background with all the "main points of interest" ie shelters, water, mountian tops, road crossings, ect. The GPS will position you on the trail and there is an elevation profile so you can see what is coming up. It also tracks the milage from Springer onward which I love since I can determine if I can make the next shelter before dark. The maps are broken into 14 different sections each is about $1.99 from the App Store. I use it about four times a day to check my progress when I turn my phone on during breaks. So far I have had pretty good cell coverage on the AT.
Cuddy
Wise Old Owl
01-31-2013, 21:21
There's no way you'd be able to use a cellphone for maps or navigation on a daily basis, if not for the battery life, for the cell reception. If you're a map person, you'll be looking at your maps constantly, so you'd at least have to have them in the phones memory for offline use.
Oh Sly - wrong wrong wrong.... THERE IS AN APP FOR THAT!
Porkroll
02-02-2013, 21:18
There is an App for the Iphone called AT Trail which is pretty good. It shows the trail on a topographical background with all the "main points of interest" ie shelters, water, mountian tops, road crossings, ect. The GPS will position you on the trail and there is an elevation profile so you can see what is coming up. It also tracks the milage from Springer onward which I love since I can determine if I can make the next shelter before dark. The maps are broken into 14 different sections each is about $1.99 from the App Store. I use it about four times a day to check my progress when I turn my phone on during breaks. So far I have had pretty good cell coverage on the AT.
Cuddy
+1 on this app cuddy
kentucky android
03-08-2013, 04:56
The play store on google play has an app for iphone and android devices called backpacker gps pro. You can store and view offline maps of all types, track your entire trip, mark waypoints, add video, photos, and audio to your maps. Also it allows you to upload to youtube, facebook, twitter, etc thru gps satalites even when no mobile network is available... Its a great tool for the backcountry hiker!!! You can download the free lite version to try it out, then download the pro version to get all of your topos and other maps downloaded for free for offline viewing. Maps are available in bundles by states, or national parks, etc... every hiker that carries an iphone, or droid should check it out!!! Happy Hiking!!!
Monkeywrench
03-08-2013, 07:52
Also it allows you to upload to youtube, facebook, twitter, etc thru gps satalites even when no mobile network is available...
I think you had better check again.
I am not very hi-tech, no smartphone, I am dumb enough. But check this out if interested in smartphone apps.
http://www.guthookhikes.com/
I have an APP for that.
Two hands. To hold a map.
Two eyes. To view a map.
One brain. To process the map's information.
All still functioning more or less properly.
Batteries not required.
Thinking seriously about adding a 3 axis steps & distance pedometer to my dead reckoning navigation system. What say Ye?
Wayne
FatHead64
03-10-2013, 11:38
Inertial guidance? And how many personalities to run all that? Kinda like a multi-core CPU! :banana
Chuckie V
03-10-2013, 12:18
I have an APP for that.
Two hands. To hold a map.
Two eyes. To view a map.
One brain. To process the map's information.
All still functioning more or less properly.
Batteries not required.
Thinking seriously about adding a 3 axis steps & distance pedometer to my dead reckoning navigation system. What say Ye? Wayne
LOVE IT! The problem is most people don't seem to come equipped with this APP.
Indeed, it's amazing to think that people ever ventured outdoors without all our modern technology!
Wise Old Owl
03-10-2013, 12:38
Trimble Backpacker PRO for smartphone has the AT and all the others well marked. - The common Google Map App only highlights Bicycle trails
I use Google Earth and grab the KML's from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy Website.
royalusa
03-10-2013, 12:44
I have an APP for that.
Two hands. To hold a map.
Two eyes. To view a map.
One brain. To process the map's information.
All still functioning more or less properly.
Batteries not required.
Thinking seriously about adding a 3 axis steps & distance pedometer to my dead reckoning navigation system. What say Ye?
Wayne
Too funny. Reminds me of our PCT hike in California where the hikers carrying GPS were getting "temporarily lost" more often than us with just our map and compass. We joked that the GPS units needed to start talking to them saying "you have now walked off the trail by x feet/miles, turn around....turn around NOW...". We also chuckled when we saw folks in the desert section at a water source, firing up their GPS to see if this was the "last water source for a good many miles before filling up". So I guess the GPS units also need to say, "this is your last water source for x miles" as hikers approach it. Then there was the hiker who waited for us at a junction with two PCT route options and when we approached and asked, which route he was going to take, he responded, "I'm just going to follow you"! He didn't even fire up his GPS to make a decision on his own! It seemed to us that map reading or even data book reading was a lost skill. And those carrying a GPS didn't want to turn on the unit and waste precious battery power, or they fired it up after they were lost too far off the trail to figure out how to get back on it. Map and compass worked for us every time.
Oh Sly - wrong wrong wrong.... THERE IS AN APP FOR THAT!
I know there are Apps but it seems as though if you depend on them daily you may be SOL if you need it and your battery is dead.