A Backpackers Dream
OK… first of all I have to introduce the man behind this amazing creation.
None other than Mr. Bill Snead. I was fortunate enough to get to hike (and double-turtle) with Bill on our WCT trip last year.
Bill currently works at Microsoft and is a very talented developer. While he may blow off his creation as “no big deal”, I’m blown away every time I use it and am excited to see it stable enough that he’s willing to share it with others.
So what is this “creation” I speak of?
Bill took the Windows Live mapping engine and overlayed on it, USGS trail maps.
Yeah yeah, big deal… Google has been doing this for a while, right?
Bill one-upped them.
The Windows Live guys didn’t just stop at building a simple GPS satellite view mapping service, they integrated with the Microsoft Flight Simulator Engine which allows you to get very detailed 3-D style views of supported terrain.
Bill’s mapping data has altitude information that allows for an incredible 3-D experience when viewing hiking trails and terrain.
Remember the topo-style pictures in my recent post about Little Annapurna? This is the tool I used to take those snapshots.
It now supports both FireFox and Internet Explorer (Windows Only, no Mac), and you can check it out for yourself at:
http://www.midstation.com/topo/
Usage Hints:
- Make sure you put the map in “3D mode” and download the necessary plugins.
- Hold down the CTRL key and LEFT mouse button and move the mouse around the rotate the image.
- Use the mouse-wheel to zoom in/out.
- Hold down the SHIFT key and LEFT mouse button and move the mouse around the pan the image.
- Depending on how “Zoomed-in” you are, different scale maps will load, over the topography.
IMHO - the results are staggering. Find your favourite trail and zoom right in and follow the contours and enjoy.
Great job Bill!
6 Responses to “A Backpackers Dream”
March 21st, 2008 at 8:16 am
I’ve been waiting patiently for you to release this information, Brett!!!
March 21st, 2008 at 2:53 pm
How is this different from the what the delorme program did 6-7 years ago and what the add on NGS Topo can do? Is it the fact that it is web based and maybe free?
March 21st, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Kirk - a fair question! I have not seen those software packages - but beleive they are desktop software.
What’s exciting to me about Bill’s site is the potential. Imagine if he put some ‘community’ aspects around it - so hikers like you and I could contribute trail GPS data, photo taken at the time we were there, trail notes and information. Think Wikipedia for hiking data. Or trails.com without having to pay. I think an open platform for the hiking community would be a very very interesting thing.
March 22nd, 2008 at 1:18 pm
If it does not cause you undue hardship and take too many hours away from your loved ones [two-legged, four-legged, and/or legless], please, please, please make available for those of us who are Mac-addicted [we can only drink so much coffee @ our 12-step meetings].
Thank you for creating this “backpacker’s dream” — it’s superb!
Thomas
March 22nd, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Hey Thomas - Getting this to work on the Mac is unfortunatley in Microsofts hands. The application uses the Windows Live “Virtual Earth 3D” engine - and it currently does not appear to support Macs. I’m not sure what MSFT’s plans are for that. I’ll try and find out. For now, you’re stuck w/XP on Parallels I’m afraid.
March 31st, 2008 at 7:04 am
> For now, you’re stuck w/XP on Parallels I’m afraid.
That is assuming you have a Macbook PRO with a quality video card. I opted for the Macbook when I bought my new laptop and I can’t run the 3D aspects of this site. I’m still waiting to get in front of a sexy machine with the graphics capability to really check this out.