November 14th, 2007
We’ve added a new map and packaging to our Big South Fork trail guide. Our new map is a 1:126,720 scale trail map of the entire Big South Fork area including the trails around Stearns in the Daniel Boone National Forest and the new horse and multi-purpose trails along Darrow Ridge.
The map is sized at 13.5 x 18.5 inches and is 2-spot colors, black and a metallic ink that looks similar to anodized aluminum. The metallic ink has the useful property of shining under a headlamp and makes reading the trails easier in low light conditions. The map has a 2-minute GPS graticule for navigation and geocaching. The map shows all recreation areas for park and adjoining public lands from Straight Creek in the Daniel Boone NF to Peters Ford in the Big South Fork. On the reverse, we have our classic 3D map of the park.
For the new packaging, we’ve added a 2-color cardstock overwrap that makes a more impressive retail display. The wrap describes the historic trail signs that you might find in the Big South Fork. Gone are the rustic old wooden stencil-painted signs. Over the next year, the park will replace the original trail signage with new blazes and trailhead markers. The blazes are recycled plastic tags that indestructible and hardly distracting since they’re hard to see. While I prefer the old wooden signs, I understand the new signage will be easier to maintain and is more informative at trailheads.
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October 14th, 2007
Lunch-time excursions to Forest Park. That’s how I spent my free time at the North American Cartographic Information Society conference in St. Louis. While it was exciting to see new maps and presentations about cartographic history and even making maps, I had to visit a prominent swath of green on my St. Louis Map.
Enter Forest Park; an urban park established after the Civil War and used as the site for the 1904 World’s Fair. Today you can freely walk along a sculpted archipelago of scenic lakes & historic monuments, freely visit an art museum and fantastically intimate zoo. I wish my city had a Forest Park.
Some photos: http://www.outragegis.com/pixel/071009_14-ForestParkMO
note: these photos were shot with a camera phone, so at best they’re distinctive.
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September 18th, 2007
The Great Smoky Mountains Trail Atlas
Over the past few months, we’ve been designing this new map/atlas of the Great Smoky Mountains. The atlas will contain 1:96,500 scale full-color maps that show all trails, high points, low points, waterfalls, forest cover, spot elevations, backcountry campsites, and a UTM grid and GEO graticule for use with GPS. A companion booklet and insets will discuss trail statistics, such cumulative elevation gain/loss and start/end points, climate for different elevations, park amenities, and historic structures found along the trails. Read the rest of this entry »
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September 15th, 2007
We’re developing our latest map for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and we had a question. As a hiker and user of maps, do you prefer a detailed GEO graticule (you know…the degrees, minutes, seconds…) or do you prefer the military grid, UTM, which is in meters?
We have both on most of our maps, but which would you use most?
Of course the graticule would be most useful with a GPS unit in default configuration. If you choose a GEO graticule, do your prefer units in decimal minutes (e.g., 36° 45.35′) or decimal degrees (e.g., 84.2546°).
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July 10th, 2007
Red River Gorge Sports Map
Distance: Varied mileage for approaches to climbing areas
Difficulty: ++++
Scenic Views: ++++
Elevation Relief: 800ft
Ownership: Daniel Boone National Forest, USFS, Red River Gorge Climber’s Coalition, The Muir Valley, and private lands
Google to trailhead
The Red River Gorge is internationally known for rock climbing. With the expansive development of climbing areas in the Gorge, numerous guidebooks have been published to help climbers find new routes. The current definitive publication and website is RedRiverClimbing.com. An interactive map locating climbing areas pulls from redriverclimbing.com’s online guidebook and shows the myriad of publications currently available. While the basic GPS-gridded map with 50 crags, the Muir Valley, and the Southern Gorge can be purchased here.
Tags: Hiking Maps
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