Topo Software

[presidio]

I'm looking for opinions on topo software.  I own Delorme Topo USA and it's ok...but I always wondered about how green grass was on the other side of the hill.

Hands down, the best topo/mapping software is the Fugawi program (fugawi.com). Their Global Navigator will take any electronic map format and use it. You can buy their maps, but if you have access to the USGS DRG files you won't necessarily have to buy anything beyond the Fugawi program. While USGS sells DRG map files, the files are in the public domain, so if you can acquire them from alternate sources like map sharing sites, it is completely legal to copy and distribute them.

The principal advantage of Fugawi over most other similar programs is that it uses open source map files, thus eliminating all the headaches of programs that use proprietary map files and tie you to their specific data set with continuing fees to update maps. Plus, there is no better topo map than the USGS ones.

Fugawi also sells the 'Map of America' topo set which covers the 48 states at 1:100,000 scale. Quite a bargain. While you will want to operate on 1:24,000 scale maps for precise navigation, the 100k maps are also nice for general use while driving down the highway and looking at the big picture. You can get 100k USGS topos for free as well, but the Fugawi price is reasonable and you don't have to spend time trying to find them for the entire nation.

You can real time navigate with any GPS that has an NMEA data output, preplan routes and download/upload, waypoint anything of interest, draw real time tracks and a host of other functions. It is the most incredibly useful piece of software I have ever used for mapping purposes. You will never run out of uses for it.

Also, any map you can scan into one of the six formats supported by Fugawi can be manually calibrated and used just like the USGS maps. For example you could convert the Big Bend PDF map  into one of supported graphics formats and then use it in Fugawi as an overall park map (using the topos for detail work).

Another useful program is Microsoft Streets and Trips which give you nationwide street-level mapping and real-time navigation. Like everything MS does, it sort of works okay but is not perfect on addresses. But, it works well enough to be the only piece of MS software that I will use other than Windows. If you get it at Costco there is usually a rebate and the final price is around $20. Worth it.

I run both Fugawi and Streets/Trips and use a copy of Franson GPSGate (http://franson.com/gpsgate) which will create virtual serial ports (including USB support) and allow you to feed GPS data to 2 or more programs simultaneously. Otherwise you have to stop one program and start the other. Once you split the port you will wonder how you got along without the capability.

Because you can't navigate on a computer without taking it along, I built a homemade truck computer stand out of Lexan, pipe fittings and an airhose quick disconnect at the base so it can be easily removed from the vehicle when not in use. It securely holds the computer and has shock absorption built in to preclude hard drive crashes when off pavement. It cost all of about $30 and works way better than the numerous $500+ commerical stands that will not hold up in a rough driving environment. It works very well and has been over some very bad roads.

[WL2]

For those of you with Etrex Vixta or Legend Cx units Garmin has posted a software update.  See:

http://www.gpsinformation.org/allory/new.htm

[BigBendHiker]

Any GPSers out there - have you ever noticed that going along hwy 190 or I-10 around Irann and Fort Stockton - out in the middle of absolutely no where - no trees, no "hills" blocking the signal, blue sky, that the GPS signal "drops out" to no birds in the sky and it's not just in one spot.  I have noticed this on every trip out there when the GPS was on.  Sometimes it is just for five miles or so and sometimes it's as much as 50 miles or so.   :?:   I've wondered if there is some secret US government military base out there that blocks the signal - I know that the signal is sometimes blocked at Barkesdale AFB in Shreveport when there is an "alert" flight of B52's screaming into the air (Barksdale has a cache of nukes  there).  Someone told me that on 9/11 many signals of all types were blocked at Barkesdale when the Pres. made a quick stop there on his was to Nebraska.  "They" didn't want anyone to know where the President was at or broadcasting from or for someone to "alert" that Airforce One had touched down there.  

So, what gives out towards Fort Stockton and Irann?

Hi Shanea!
While reviewing this thread on the GPS's I found this one...I had missed it when originally posted earlier this year.  That is an interesting one.  There is nothing out in that area, save for a few towns and the wind generators on the mesa.  Makes you wonder


BBH

[Robert]

...have you ever noticed that going along hwy 190 or I-10 around Irann and Fort Stockton - out in the middle of absolutely no where - no trees, no "hills" blocking the signal, blue sky, that the GPS signal "drops out" to no birds in the sky and it's not just in one spot.  I have noticed this on every trip out there when the GPS was on.  

So, what gives out towards Fort Stockton and Irann?

...There is nothing out in that area, save for a few towns and the wind generators on the mesa.  Makes you wonder


BBH

Just a suggestion:

[Hayduke]

Those kids are just wearing AFDBs - they probably read about them here:

http://zapatopi.net/afdb/

Maybe folks should wear these when they go through Ft. Stockton!

[Robert]

That's exactly what I'm talking about.

We must start wearing aluminum foil hats.

Hats made from aluminum foil are the only known defence against spy networks capable of examining our brains and eventually taking complete control of them.

People who keep abreast of developments in this field are already disturbed by last year's report out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — ``On the Effectiveness of Aluminum Foil Helmets'' — that claimed they are not only ineffective, but that at certain frequencies coinciding with ``radio bands reserved for government use,'' they ``enhance the government's invasive abilities.''

In other words, aluminum foil hats make it easier for the government to mess with our heads.

But common sense suggests that since M.I.T. is a major recipient of U.S. government funding for clandestine projects, this is nothing but propaganda intended to make gullible individuals believe such mind-saving headgear is worse than useless, and dissuade people from wearing it.

Until reliable research is available, it would be foolish to go vulnerably bare-headed.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1137019812769&call_pageid=970599109774&col=Columnist969907625803