Isuzu SUV Forum banner

Uwharrie GPS Maps/GPX Tracks

23K views 72 replies 11 participants last post by  shaggydoink 
#1 ·
Van and I had a brief chat about having the OHV trails mapped out and accessible on GPS last weekend, I was going to take it on as a project but thought I'd double check to see if someone may have already put together such a thing? i.e: detailed map files and/or GPX tracks?

Thanks in advance!

Jonathan
 
#52 ·
Somewhere inside I knew that it wouldn't take long before my curiousity got the better of me and I started to poke around at the Google Maps option. :roll: From what I have discovered thus far the process to get the trails recorded on the actual map is similar to how I did it on OpenStreetMaps - basically overlay the GPX tracking data on the map and use it as the guide to draw out the points on the actual map. Here's the Falls Dam GPX track in the context of Google Maps:



I got all of the tools installed, now just a matter of me going through the process (I think!).
 
#54 ·
I'm going to hold tight to make sure the revisions to the map are approved, but assuming they are I'll be able get the other trails added to Google Maps so there are a couple options for people in terms of map source. :)

 
#55 ·
TWO smiley faces and a happy dance. :D :D :blob2:
 
#56 ·
Taking a recon trip tomorrow, I've got both the Windows Mobile GPS and TomTom mounted in my Trooper, a Garmin in the 91 Trooper and I stuffed my work Blackberry with a GPS tracking app in the glovebox. This trip will hopefully allow me to verify the accuracy of the GPS tracks I downloaded from nc4x4.com... and oh yeah, I imagine I'll have a little fun just being out on the trails! :thumbup:
 
#57 ·
In addition to being just a heck of a lot of fun, the "mapping expedition" was a huge success! As I mentioned in the previous post, I had two devices mounted in my Trooper:



Zoe had the Garmin in her Trooper and I popped my work Blackberry in Joe D's glovebox - all recording tracks throughout the day.

My flea market GPS showed all of the trails (including names) just fine and were fairly accurate, although there were times where there was some deviation between the plot of the truck vs. the trail on the display - I'm thinking this could be due to several reasons, me taking a slightly different line on the trail, the tracks I got did not have quite enough frequency of plots to follow the actual contour of the trail, and the fact that the trails showed up as a single line due to me chosing to map them as "trails" as opposed "road". All in all, pretty neat!



Changing the classification of the trails is one item on the list, I also need to fix a couple typos like this one... oops! :roll:



I also need to extract, convert and overlay hours of tracking data from all the devices... which should prove to be interesting as we skipped all over the park throughout the day! LOL!!



I also need to get key points of interest plotted on the map (like trail heads, parking lots, etc.) so still work to be done, but yesterday helped move things along!
 
#60 ·
bsnafu1221 said:
Looks like you did a pretty dang good job to me. Now that you have actual trail data you can get even better :)
Thanks! The multiple data sources is helping to verify some areas, although creating some interesting variance puzzles in others... like this one:



The vertical white road is a service road so there shouldn't be any variation, although the turquoise lines are two GPX tracks that clearly show two different things... I've got one more data set to overlay, fingers crossed it reinforces one path as opposed to introducing a third! :roll:
 
#62 ·
bsnafu1221 said:
But the big thing that pops in my head is how accurate is the signal on each device and how often is it placing a marking point in the system? Might be part of the variation.
Yeah, I wondered about that. What's odd is that I realized is that the tracks that had the big variance in that one spot were from the same Garmin - my daughter and I made a quick trip to the campground via the service roads in the 91, so the tracks represents the to/from... although I suppose you could be right, maybe the Garmin lost signal, had a power blip or some other sort of hiccup which resulted in the weird results.

The good news is that I uploaded and layered the remaining tracking data I had, and while there are some minor variations, overall it's pretty consistent:



My plan at this stage is to re-shape the trail to be an average of the tracks, then probably hold tight until I can make another trip and see how things are looking.
 
#63 ·
If this were a software project I would probably call my current state of mapping a "version 0.1". Using 5 overlayed track sources as well as 2 aerial background sources for reference I've completed the following to the OpenStreetMap data:

  • Added all OHV trails and adjusted based on the 5 track sources[/*]
  • Corrected and/or added all of the trailhead parking lots[/*]
  • Corrected all service roads and updated attributes to reflect both road name and number[/*]
  • Added Arrowhead Campground[/*]
  • Added POI marking for restrooms within the park and Art Lilley mud pit[/*]
  • Added POI marking for the Eldorado Outpost (along with attributes of available services)[/*]

I'm not entirely sure if there's anything else I should add that would be helpful, if anyone has any ideas or suggestions I'm all ears!

The "version 0.1" map can viewed here:

http://www.openstreetmap.org - simply zoom in on the Troy, NC area

[EDITED] - both previously listed sources have not updated to the most recent OSM map so will not have the additions. I'll post source(s) when I see that they have updated.

As I have time I'll add some additional notes/instructions as it relates to getting data loaded to different devices, if anyone has questions feel free to let me know in the meantime and I'll do my best to help.

Jonathan
 
#64 ·
Last trip out my daughter said that her Garmin SAID that she was driving on XYZ trail, although nothing was visible... after fussing around a bit I determined there must have been some sort of conflict between maps, as soon as I deleted a couple older supplimental maps the latest OSM map showed up just fine! :)



There seems to be a really easy method to get this loaded onto Garmin, I'll be posting some instructions up to my blog and link to them once I'm done. I'll try to tackle other devices as well.

Jonathan
 
#66 ·
Well, it took a while but the sample addition I made to Google Maps was reviewed and approved!



Now that I know it actually will fly with Google I'll start adding the other trails so there will be two potential sources of data for people. :thumbup:

Jonathan
 
#67 ·
Just stumbled onto this thread, great stuff!! I am a GIS Specialist and total map nerd :)

What format do you have the data stored in?

*This works awesome with the Android App "Back Country Navigator". One of the many data sources it uses is open street maps, and these tracks show up. You can also use the Forest Service Topo maps which have all the trails as well.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... ense&hl=en
 
#68 ·
I've been working on getting the actual map data written to a couple different providers (Open Street Maps was the first, Google Maps will be the second) to try and provide the most options in terms of what device can actually use them. That is to say, you're right - OSM seems to be available on map apps for mobile devices, although these don't always have a good signal (or signal at all) out at URE whereas more traditional GPS units do. Between OSM and Google it should be feasible to load and view the maps on almost any major brand GPS - the one I'm still struggling with a bit is TomTom as they seem to have their devices/maps locked up pretty tight.
 
#70 ·
Storz said:
Back Country Navigator for Android allows your to download areas for "offline" viewing :)

Quite handy for areas like URE or most places up in the mountains where cell signal is poor. Awesome work on this stuff btw!!
Will it show your position on the map, or just let you browse the map offline?

Jonathan

p.s: and thanks, I'm a total project nerd so it's been a lot of fun! :)
 
#71 ·
It will show your position, provided the device has a GPS in it.
 
#72 ·
shaggydoink said:
Storz said:
Back Country Navigator for Android allows your to download areas for "offline" viewing :)

Quite handy for areas like URE or most places up in the mountains where cell signal is poor. Awesome work on this stuff btw!!
Will it show your position on the map, or just let you browse the map offline?

Jonathan

p.s: and thanks, I'm a total project nerd so it's been a lot of fun! :)
It shows your position on the map. The ArcGIS app does this as well, and accesses lots of cool free data sources. We should talk to Adam about getting some real survey grade GPS out there that does differential correction etc. We both work for the same company, he is head of our survey department...
 
#73 ·
Storz said:
We should talk to Adam about getting some real survey grade GPS out there that does differential correction etc. We both work for the same company, he is head of our survey department...
Word!! This project is not at all something I'm trying to keep proprietary, any expertise you care to bring to it would be welcome! :thumbup:

Jonathan
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top