GPS Mapping A Ranch - Any Experts

[skipdup]

Since this board is so diverse I thought I'd post here...

Father-in-law has a 3,000 acre ranch. I get lost in my backyard. I need to be able to find my way to any of ~30 different spots spread around the ranch, and back again using the existing "roads" which crisscross the land - 1/2 the time in darkness.

I already have a couple gps units - which work fine for going out and coming back. But, that only works if I know where I'm going and I need much more...

I would like to make a "map" of the property which would include all the roads and trails, around 20 fields, and the 30 (or so) specific points along these road/trails & fields. I'd like to be able to pick one of these 30 points and have my gps guide me, via roads/trails, to that point.

Is it possible to do this? Can anyone recommend good software? Any pointers?

Thanks,
Skip

[island911]

hook the gps to a laptop running Delorme street atlas, or M-soft Street & Trips, turn on "mark route" or "create GPS trail" and start moving.

. . .or just go to google maps for Satallite photos

[lm6y]

My Magellan will do this with the software it came with.

One program I use, but never see anyone reference is USA Photomaps. http://jdmcox.com/ It will display your routes, tracks, and waypoints over Photos, or Topo maps downloaded from terraserver. It will do this automatically, and save the images on your hard drive. I don't recommend it for dial-up users though. Best of all, it's free, but he does ask for a donation.

Give it a try, If you don't like it, at least you aren't out anything, and you can delete it.

[island911]

Originally posted by lm6y
My Magellan will do this with the software it came with.
. .

yeah, the Garmin I have will show the trail too; but getting it to print that map ...

[TimT]

Years ago I had an early GPS that allowed me to record "waypoints" Id go out on my boat and make a mark at every significant bouy...if it were dark or foggy Id just hit "return to home" or something...and follow the GPS back to my slip..

This was with a very early Garmin GPS

they arent that intuitive now?

[lm6y]

3000 acres isn't all that big for one of these programs. Print screen (F12 ?) Open in paint, crop out the borders, save, and print.

Or, get the image you want on the screen in USA Photomaps, go to file in the upper left corner, and select print.

[skipdup]

A paper map isn't really what I was looking for. I was hoping I could somehow tell the GPS where the different "roads" were and where the specific points I would like to go to were... Then have the gps be able to tell me how to get to a specific point, using the "roads" available.

I don't want to have to do 30 different individual "trails" or routes to each destination.

So, once I have a destination entered, I don't want the gps to tell me to head east for .83 miles. I'd like to to tell me to go north .3 miles on road 1, then head east .2 miles on road 2, etc.

Is this even possible? The more I think about it, I wonder if it is.

Thanks all,
Skip

[TimT]

What you want to do is absolutely doable.. you nbeed to record a series of waypoints for each road. The save them and label them such that they make sense to you


So if you drive out on the "Northwest road" you can hit a "home" command on the GPS and it will bring you right back..

[vash]

if you had a paper map, couldnt you figure out the long-lat coord, and simply program them into the unit, as waypoints? then i bet that gets you close. then when you get there physically, you replace it with a recorded waypoint.

sounds like you are planning a deer hunt?

[skipdup]

Originally posted by vash
sounds like you are planning a deer hunt?

I didn't want to turn off the anti-hunting folks... need all the help I can get.

We get to start a full month early since the father-in-law has some kind of special management permit from the state. We'll be eating good again in a couple months. AND, I get to hunt my first trophy buck this year.

- Skip

[Fishcop]

If you can find someone with Arcview8 or 9 and download a geo.tif of the location you want, it is pretty easy to create a shape file and polygons of the subject area. The geo.tif will allow you to easily pick out landmarks and from there you can pin and label them... all from your desk top. A trip with your gps will soon ground truth your desktop work. And as others have suggested, use your gps to create track logs which you can then upload as layers to the main file.

I do this for a living, so perhaps I've over simplified it... Basically the equipment and software has advanced dramatically in the last 3-5 years to a point where you don't need a GIS degree anymore

[mattdavis11]

Originally posted by skipdup
I didn't want to turn off the anti-hunting folks... need all the help I can get.

We get to start a full month early since the father-in-law has some kind of special management permit from the state. We'll be eating good again in a couple months. AND, I get to hunt my first trophy buck this year.

- Skip

And hunt W/T's until the end of February. Ahh....the beauty of an MLD 3. High fenced?

Wish I could help on the GPS stuff.

[kang]

This should be easy. My Garmin has what it calls a “trackback” feature. It’s purpose is to get you back to where you started, should you get lost on a hike or something. Combine this with the downloadable topo maps and you’re set. It would work like this. Buy the downloadable topo map CD for your area. Download the appropriate map (with the farm on it) to the GPS. Pick a starting point, say the ranch, and turn the trackback feature on. Drive out one of the roads. When you get to the end, turn off trackback. It will have kept a record of your journey, in the form of waypoints, in the GPS. You can configure how often you want it to store waypoints. Go back home and upload the trackback log. You will now have a map of the road you just traveled on. You can print this map out as it is, or turn this trackback log into a route. Save the route. Now go back out and travel a different road. Upload it and save it as a route. Repeat until you have traveled all desired roads.

You can also make waypoints for specific points and upload them as well.

[id10t]

Recent slashdot discussion on similar for undeveloped countries... Flip the moderation level to 4 or 5 for the good replies

http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/14/1652250&tid=126&tid=152&tid=4

[skipdup]

Originally posted by mattdavis11
High fenced?

Yup. And this will be the 6th year on a comprehensive nutrition and management plan...

F-I-L is a bit of a "mad scientist" in the WT management world. What he's done with his "small" ranch, in the relatively short amount of time, was supposed to be impossible. Cool stuff.

- Skip