I was collecting aerial photos from the web to plan my path to my BOL using trails through the woods etc and thought that there had to be a better way so I wrote a program that goes out and gets the photos from the web and saves each of them as a .jpg. Photos are about 1” to 2000ft. Running the app now to get photos of all of Florida.
Was wondering if this would be something that others may be interested in. Will let you all know how it turns out.
The idea is to print out the pictures of the areas immediately surrounding the rout to BOL on waterproof paper and throw in the BOB.
Will next write an app to navigate through the pictures so that I can use a laptop with no internet to view the rest of them in the event I need that capability.
You should check your local state's webpages for some GIS. Maine is really good about it, and has lots of aerial photo's with 1 foot pixels, meaning a 2-liter bottle of coke on the ground will appear in the picture (as a dot, but it will appear).
You can also label Maine GIS images with GPS coordinates (built in with similar programs), and can thus navigate to points with a handheld GPS and maps. No need for a bulky laptop
I have used our county GIS to get maps around my home to locate area's that "trouble" may come from. I have printed them out and keep them updated as new homes and buisness are built.
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If total goverment control will make us all safer, then why are prisons so dangerous?
If you use the sat pics for plotting BO routes - get out there and ride them!!
I thought I had located a 'backdoor' routeinto the local National Forest from my road, without needing to go a mile down the highway - WRONG! The sat image DID NOT show the danged FENCE stretched across the dirtroad!!
So my BO bag now carries a good pair of wire-cutters! Emergency use only!
I've also plotted the areas on other roads that get mucky and impassable during heavy rain - such as during Hurricane Evac!
Know your route!
I aslo use the sat pics to locate points of interest in the woods - found a few good camping spots that way!
I used to be the Quality Assistant for Aerial Films at Eastman Kodak. Most of our aerial films wound up on govt' aircraft, notably the SR-71 Blackbird. I have several great photos of various parts of the planet taken from thousands of feet up. Great idea you have there. Some people get a better feel of the topography when they see an overhead of the area they're interested in.Maps and compasses are great for navigating, but I believe you can get a better feel of the land where looked from above. Good luck.
I've done a good portion of my route using Google Earth. I do suggest you drive your route at least twice a year. Things change and many sat pics are several years old and don't get updated that often, depending on your area. I can drive pass Lake Okeechobee from the Miami area w/o ever getting on a paved road. This route is only viable during the dry season, come the rain it's muddy for anything less than a swamp buggy. Map out your route and at least three alternative routes. Know what bridges must be crossed and how to cross the obstacle if the bridge is out. Many of these will be dependent of the season and the weather.
And for those of us on Dial-Up - we are SOL for GE.
Google Maps is out of date here, in a spotty way.
The sat pic of my local range (even shows my 'Anonymous Little White Car' - Toyota Tercel in the parking area!) is a couple years old - it shows the new 50 yard addition from about four years back but not the new outhouse from about a year & a half back.
The view of my yard has finally been updated - it now shows my house and out buildings - I moved onto this property in late 2001!
Some Google maps images are old, but they are still very good, and often better than conventional maps (like a DeLorme). As long as you can make out landmarks and place GPS coordinates on them, you can get there.
Well we used to say one of the most dangerous things was an Officer with a map!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I take it being a pilot, you were an officer???
I think it is only our(British) Army that has NCO pilots, in our other services they're all officers!
Google shut me down. Looks like they are blocking my IP address from accessing sat pictures. I guess after 20000+ page loads they figured I had had enough.
Yes, I was, but I'm alot less dangerous when I know where I am .
I really don't miss the old days of clock, map, ground...... It wasn't a good feeling scud-running in an OV-10 when you "kinda" knew where you were (especially in low-vis with radio towers around).
It's better now. Mr. GPS and Ms. INS is a boon. That being said, when the lights go out everywhere on earth and space, Mr. Compass will still be working.
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God gives us free will; the statist tries to take it away
[QUOTE][ when the lights go out everywhere on earth and space, Mr. Compass will still be working./QUOTE]
Yup I know what you mean. I reckon to many people rely too much on the technology. It's good to have but it's also good to know how to do things without it. Just look at car breakdowns these days, majority of them are due to electrics/electronics, one little sensor failing and you stop! Fully automated industrial power plants where nothing can go wrong, go wrong, go wrong, go wrong...............
