Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Part 2: Texas Challenge Custom Maps
The Challenge is over and the Centex Team came in second place. I've updated the Cedar Hill State Park links so that the enhanced Centex Team maps are now available for all to download. The 2 key differences are that they have 10ft topo lines and all the named trails in the park. The Garmin file has 2 maps, one with Topo and one without.
I have also uploaded a PDF file of the Map so you can see the information on your computer rather than your GPS.
I have also uploaded a PDF file of the Map so you can see the information on your computer rather than your GPS.
Friday, March 04, 2005
Cedar Hill State Park - Texas Challenge Custom Maps
In preparation for the annual Texas Challenge event (see texasgeocaching.com) I have created custom maps of the park and surrounding areas for all the teams to use. I started with the NTCOG data mention below but unfortunately for some reason all the roads in the park are clipped at boundary line. This very strange since the other area parks show that data. Maybe because it's a State Park I guess???
Anyway, using aerial photography of the area I digitized all the roads, made corrections to the park boundary, added information on all the trails we will be allowed to use (the Dorba Yellow and Red trails are not included), and also created polygons around the federally protected grass lands that we must stay out of. I also included a GPX version of the park boundary that can be loaded into mapsource, mapsend, etc. for display. This will probably be very helpful to team leaders to verify there tokens are hidden inside the park. You could use ExpertGPS (et al) to upload this GPX track to your GPS, but I strongly recommend against that. It's better to upload the custom map I created.
One important thing to note: I changed the Cedarhill park boundary polygon so that it has no internal fill color. I tried making it a light color but the screen was still too dark, IMO. The other area parks are shaded.
If you are attending the Texas Challenge you might want to load both the Dallas/Fort Worth CityMAP and the Cedarhill custom map and toggle off the big DFW map when you arrive in the park.
If you are using a serial connection to load both maps make sure you have fresh batteries before you start (it will take some time to upload). Just be sure to upload them at the same time since each upload session erases the previously uploaded map(s). This does not apply to Magellan Meridian users with SD card writers.
Anyway, using aerial photography of the area I digitized all the roads, made corrections to the park boundary, added information on all the trails we will be allowed to use (the Dorba Yellow and Red trails are not included), and also created polygons around the federally protected grass lands that we must stay out of. I also included a GPX version of the park boundary that can be loaded into mapsource, mapsend, etc. for display. This will probably be very helpful to team leaders to verify there tokens are hidden inside the park. You could use ExpertGPS (et al) to upload this GPX track to your GPS, but I strongly recommend against that. It's better to upload the custom map I created.
One important thing to note: I changed the Cedarhill park boundary polygon so that it has no internal fill color. I tried making it a light color but the screen was still too dark, IMO. The other area parks are shaded.
If you are attending the Texas Challenge you might want to load both the Dallas/Fort Worth CityMAP and the Cedarhill custom map and toggle off the big DFW map when you arrive in the park.
If you are using a serial connection to load both maps make sure you have fresh batteries before you start (it will take some time to upload). Just be sure to upload them at the same time since each upload session erases the previously uploaded map(s). This does not apply to Magellan Meridian users with SD card writers.
