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ryanb
climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Original Post - May 23, 2011 - 01:33pm PT
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I've been laid up with a sit start related sprained ankle and finally finished a project I started last winter to write a google maps based site that didn't suck for planing backcountry/off road/off trail use. Check it out: http://www.hillmap.com/. It has a bunch of features:
* Topo maps from a number of different open webservices covering the US and Canada in detail and the rest of the world somewhat.
* Satellite imagery and split screen display for planing a rout that minimizes bushwhacking.
* Slope angle estimation at a point and along a line (this is mostly a skiing feature but you can use it on cliffs though it may underestimate them).
* Easy path construction, add pins to create a path then drag them around or click on the lines to add more to refine the path.
* Measure the distance and elevation change along the path, plot the elevation and slope.
* Make notes (the show up as white pins).
* Share/save the results by generating a link like this one:
http://www.hillmap.com/m/agtzbG9wZW1hcHBlcnIOCxIIU2F2ZWRNYXAYDQw
(Hit profile path on that link and check out the slope angle along the Nose)
* Print a high resolution topo of an area using USGS tiles.
I have a lot of time to work on improving and refining it as my ankle keeps me off the rocks and I'd love to hear any suggestions, requests or criticisms you guys have. I apologize if this is spamy, at least it is on topic.
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rnevius
Sport climber
San Luis Obispo, CA
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May 23, 2011 - 01:39pm PT
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More than anything, I'm digging the ability to see a topo and satellite view side by side updating simultaneously. Thanks for the work!
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Prezwoodz
climber
Anchorage
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May 23, 2011 - 01:44pm PT
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Dude seriously good work!
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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May 23, 2011 - 02:35pm PT
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just did a quick hit--
looks really nice. i'll try it out in the next few weeks.
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
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May 23, 2011 - 02:35pm PT
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pretty cool!
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Mike Bolte
Trad climber
Planet Earth
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May 23, 2011 - 02:47pm PT
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wow - this is really nice.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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May 23, 2011 - 02:49pm PT
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Pretty good, with one big problem: you appear to be showing that there might just be cliffs to be discovered in NW Washington.
Everybody knows there is nothing worth climbing there except the few cliffs that have already been discovered. So I think you should just blank out that part of the map. Maybe leave Index, the Exits, and Leavenworth on, but show everything else as impenetrable flat jungle.
Okay?
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Nate D
climber
San Francisco
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May 23, 2011 - 05:35pm PT
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Very very cool, thank you!
I'm map obsessed. The print feature is awesome.
Wondering if the profile feature can be more intuitive. I'm having a hard time making sense of the pink profile, but I'm also not versed in other topo profile software. I realize that each point is at zero, but don't understand why.
I'm also wondering if there's any way to adjust the length of the profile (created by a path) to map to distance being relative to height.
Right now the distance on the profile constrains to the width of the window, if that makes sense. Whether it's 500 ft. or 5 miles, the profile shows the same length for the distance. In a nutshell, can there be a way to essentially draw a line from one point to another, and get a "cross section" of that bit of land, with an accurate visual representation of the steepness/flatness of the terrain.
Hoping that is possible.
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nah000
Mountain climber
Calgary
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May 23, 2011 - 06:52pm PT
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first: this site you made, is wicked. what i like is that it makes quick work of getting a better understanding of traverses. most of the features i wanted were already there once i figured things out. (saving, mouseover elevations and distances on the profile path output window, etc.) so thanks, alot!
second: there were a couple of things i looked for, but didn't find. i'd like to be able to delete pins and i'd like to be able to correspond between pin locations on the map and points on the profile path graphs. ex. if i'm doing a long traverse i'd like to be able to know where pin no. 7 is on the profile graphs.
that said, these are pretty minor points, so mostly just wanted to say thanks!
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Marshall
climber
bay area
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May 23, 2011 - 07:15pm PT
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whoa, this is really cool - thanks a ton for putting it together!
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aguacaliente
climber
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May 23, 2011 - 08:00pm PT
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Hey, this is really nice. The side by side display already solves many of the issues that drive me a little bananas about trying to use the Google terrain view. Thank you very much for writing this and putting it out there in public.
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bergbryce
Mountain climber
Oakland -> SLT
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May 23, 2011 - 09:30pm PT
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This is REALLY great!
I've been waiting for something that will allow you to plot routes and get mileage/profile, EASILY and FREE.
Well done!
btw... I'm a GIS guy, way to take advantage of that free data.
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ryanb
climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - May 23, 2011 - 09:34pm PT
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Thanks for the feedback everyone!
I'll keep keep working on the site after I heal but down time was instrumental in knocking out the key features and putting it up somewhere public...any features that don't get in before I fully recover might have to wait for rainy days...but i do live in Seattle.
QITNL, the ui definitely needs a lot of refinement but you should be able to start a path by switching the tool drop down to path mode and then just clicking on the map a few times...if it isn't working let me know what browser and os you are using as I haven't tested all of them.
I think the path suggestions nah000 makes should be doable. It will be easy enough to link up the mouse-overs on the graph and path or something so you can see what parts correspond to what. I haven't added delete mostly because I feel like I need to do undo if I let people delete things. What do you guys think? I have also thought I should let you combine a pin with its neighbor on a path by dragging one onto the other.
I've also been looking into adding geological maps which, incidentally, show that all of NW washington is chossy basalt ... besides the glacial erratics at Index, Darrington and Leavenworth of course.
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Brian
climber
California
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May 23, 2011 - 09:41pm PT
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This is great! Thanks.
Brian
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JayMark
Social climber
Oxnard, CA
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May 23, 2011 - 09:58pm PT
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Yeah, that's great. Nice work. I was interpreting an area on the satellite map completely wrong. Thanks
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Nibs
Trad climber
Humboldt, CA
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May 24, 2011 - 11:48am PT
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wow, great job. It IS a great trip planning tool. I spent a couple of hours looking at trip options for this weekend. the various map options are really helpful.
Thanks for sharing.
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The Wedge
Boulder climber
Santa Rosa & Bishop, CA
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May 24, 2011 - 12:39pm PT
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Way cool. I see lat and long. Can you switch over to UTM???
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NotIt
Trad climber
SF, CA
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very very cool.
Thanks for the resource!
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Baggins
Boulder climber
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This is great! At first I have to say I thought it was an amateur programmars job at recreating the features in google earth.. BUT shame on me because the range of surface overlays is fantastic and very very useful.
Actually it has helped me determine some boundaries of private vs USFS ground that show up in the MyTopo overlay.
As other ppl have said, deleting pins would be useful.. but Im sure you'll jazz up the route design features in good time.
Maybe one day all these sites... mountainproject, wikiboulder, 27crags, sendage will all come together and make some huge infinitely useful resource... probably for the best? or maybe not!
As for apologizing for "spamming" ST... yeah I was greviously disappointed when I opened this thread and didnt find 3,213 replies relating to the color blue vs red...
PS. Good luck with ankle. I dislocated mine 6 months ago, basically healed now, just gotta be patient
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ryanb
climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 8, 2011 - 12:07pm PT
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So I spent some more time working on hillmap and made some improvements to the path tool based on nah000 and others suggestions. Path node icons are now less intrusive and you can now mouse over them to see the distance along the path. I would like to make the mouse over highlight the graph as well put the library I'm using for plotting doesn't support that.
I also added a short changlog to the about page at QITNL's suggestion.
And Baggins, I lost my amateur programer status long ago ;) ... though professionally i mostly write software to analyze cancer data and Hillmap is showing off how amateur my graphic design skills are. I am trying to extend google maps to be more useful for planing trips away from roads using free api's provided by google and others.
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