Time-wasting Internets Map Toy

[rejectomorph]

LostOutdoors.com has a database of GPS data and on-line tools for sharing data and photos for various hikes, climbs, bike trails, etc. The site is still under construction, but they already have operating one of the greatest toys I've found on the Internet. It is their map maker. You can use it to fetch a USGS aerial photo or topo map of any U.S. location, in any of three sizes, and at scales of either 1, 2, 4, or 8 meters per pixel, simply by entering the geographic coordinates of that location. If you don't know the coordinates of the place you want to fetch, you can search the GNIS database by place name or geographic feature. Thus I was able to get the Pasadena Playhouse in the exact center of an 1800x1800 image. Can't do that with Google. Also, you can fetch maps and photos by entering locations directly from your GPS device, but I don't have one so don't know exactly how that works.

The photos are not the most recent that USGS has released, such as the color photos they have on Google maps or Microsoft's terraserver, but they are single .jpg images which can easily be saved to your hard drive. Some maps of Pasadena I fetched appeared to be from the late 1990s, and they were a bit less detailed and a bit blurrier than the color images, but so much easier to save than Google or Microsoft's clusters of tiny, piecemeal images that I don't mind. Oh, I'm going to be squandering hours at this site, I know.

Comments

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

very nifty, indeed. looking at some old images of fortlauderdale, pre-urban renewal. so many buildings have changed!

[rejectomorph]

I'd like to see this site (or maybe the National Atlas, which doesn't have any photos at all yet, as far as I can tell, but only very simple maps) add both more recent images, and the earliest available satellite images. It would be great to be able to look at aerial photographs from several decades ago. I'd also like to be able to look at some very old USGS topo maps. Those go all the way back to the 19th century.

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

never hurts to email and ask! you never know, he might add some of that functionality!