ridecamp@endurance.net: Re: accurate distance

Re: accurate distance

Lynn Kinsky (lkinsky@silcom.com)
Mon, 22 Dec 1997 05:51:34 -0800

>Paddi~
>
>In a message dated 97-12-21 10:38:14 EST, you write:
>
><< One of the goals set for my
> committee is to find a way for ride managers to be more accurate on the
> miles. >>
>
>1) Most obvious is a vehicle (4x4 if possible)
>
>2) Motor bike or ATV with an odometer
>
>3) Bicycle with an odometer
>
>~Nora

Another possibility is to use the software available from TOPO! (see
http://www.topo.com). They have scanned in and digitized large chunks of
topo maps, said chunks being available for sale for about $60. If you are
lucky enough to be in one of the areas available it's a great tool: you
just take your mouse and trace over the trail and the software will give
you a map with the trail marked out (and you can add annotations), the
mileage involved AND will also produce an altitude profile, with calculated
altitude change!

I have the one for Los Padres, Angeles, San Bernardino National Forests (I
trailmaster two NATRC rides near Santa Barbara) and have checked it against
a couple trails for which I already have bicycle or car odometer mileage --
the s/w calculated mileage matches the "ground-truth" to within 0.1 miles
over 15 miles (discrepancy probably due to my wobbly mouse hand). If you
have a GPS unit you can input your waypoints -- it will find them on the
map (our house shows up on the local topo map and the software found it
using the GPS data I gave it). This feature can be very handy where the cow
path being used doesn't show on the topo.

Definitely a slick tool ---

-- Lynn K. (Santa Ynez, CA)
http://www.silcom.com/~lkinsky

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