Enhanced Google map viewer from a former Eagle Scout

[Jelf]

(I was not able to make the links work correctly. Hopefully an admin can fix them.)

 

Scouts like good maps, right?

 

I am the developer of Gmap4 which can display detailed topographic maps for the USA and Canada as well as the standard Google map views worldwide. All scouts are welcome to use Gmap4 to surf maps and to include Gmap4 links in emails, blogs, forums, websites, Facebook, etc.

 

What kind of map can you display with a Gmap4 link? Below are some examples.

 

Here is a topographic map of the Philmont area. To see a very high resolution topographic map, please first zoom in anywhere and then click the button in the upper right corner and select t4 Topo High'.

href="http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?q=https://sites.google.com/site/gmap4files/p/temp/philmont_boundary.kml&t=t3'>http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?q=https://sites.google.com/site/gmap4files/p/temp/philmont_boundary.kml&t=t3

 

Here is a high resolution topographic map showing a loop hike in the SW part of Philmont. I made this GPX data file by using the Menu ==> Make a map feature of Gmap4.

http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?q=https://sites.google.com/site/gmap4files/p/demo/philmont_loop.gpx&t=t4&hillshade=22

 

Would you like to fly in 3D over the hike on the prior map? Sure, you can do that. Click the button in the upper right corner and select Earth.

 

The above links display data files containing coordinates. You can also build Gmap4 links without using any data file at all if you know the latitude and longitude (WGA84 datum) where you want the center of the map. The following link shows a small red symbol along Philmont's Tooth of Time Ridge:

http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?ll=36.447924,-105.008141&t=t4&symbol=prs

 

Have you been to the BWCA or are you going? The following link opens a map showing the Google aerial view and red lines marking each canoe portage.

http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?q=http://www.friends-bwca.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/portages.kml&t=h

 

When I was a Boy Scout, my troop always went to the Many Point Scout Camp in northern Minnesota and camped about here on Round Lake:

www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?ll=47.050284,-95.541184&t=t4&z=14&hillshade=28&symbol=prs

 

How can you make a Gmap4 link to display a map of your favorite area? I recommend that you start with the default map:

http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php

Use the search feature (Manu ==> Search) along with zooming and panning to find your spot. Make the map look the way you want it to look. Now click Menu ==> Show map URL. Copy that URL and use it for your link. That URL will replicate the map you see on your screen.

 

Since Gmap4 runs in your browser there is nothing to download, nothing to install. It runs in most browsers on phones, iPads, iPods, notebooks, laptops and desktops. However, the browser has to be online to the internet. If the browser is not online, then Gmap4 will not work. The next update will include a more usable skin when Gmap4 is running on phones, iPods and Blackberries.

 

The Gmap4 homepage has a new user FAQ, examples, a detailed Help file with a Quick Start section, a links page with more examples, the latest beta code (which still needs work) and a bit about me:

Gmap4 homepage: http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.html

 

Enjoy!

 

Joseph Elfelt, the Gmap4 guy and former Eagle Scout(This message has been edited by Jelf)(This message has been edited by Jelf)

[qwazse]

Thanks, Joe,

 

My bottom line: how well does it perform offline?

 

Can you cache a collection of tiles (including ones with your markers, etc ...) to an iPad for later viewing? While offline, can you add markup (waypoints, pics, blogs)? Can you backup that collection when you get back online?

 

If so, then I'll give it a trial run next weekend.

[Jelf]

Sorry, but the bottom of my post indicates that your browser has to be online.

 

Gmap4 is based on the Google map API (application program interface). That API only works if your browser is online.