How to create a ride map

I've been wondering how to create a ride map. This website has ride
maps of the sort I looking to create:
http://home.satx.rr.com/hcbtc/maps/maps.html

I've emailed the guy who runs this site but never got any response.
Anybody know how these maps would be created?

Ted wrote:
I've been wondering how to create a ride map. This website has ride
maps of the sort I looking to create:
http://home.satx.rr.com/hcbtc/maps/maps.html

I've emailed the guy who runs this site but never got any response.
Anybody know how these maps would be created?

You could use some mapping software for roads (Street Atlas, etc.),
save a screen shot, Photoshop to clean it up and add the arrows, then
convert it to a PDF.

Similar process for trails, but you'd have to use other maps. The
guy's web site had a few links at the bottom of the page.

R

On 14 Apr 2005 07:00:39 -0700, "Ted" wrote:

I've been wondering how to create a ride map. This website has ride
maps of the sort I looking to create:
http://home.satx.rr.com/hcbtc/maps/maps.html

I've emailed the guy who runs this site but never got any response.
Anybody know how these maps would be created?

His are a bit low-tech. He has obtained a base map for the area
either in digital format or in paper format then digitized it. He is
using some sort of drawing software (Deneba's Canvas) to outline the
route and add arrows. You could do the same, the only issue is
finding base maps for the areas you want.

As someone else suggested, an alternative is to use mapping software.
I use several; Garmin's MapSource with MetroGuide USA and MetroGuide
Europe, TopoUSA from DeLorme, National Geographic's Topo!, TopoFusion,
GarTrip, and some others. A lot of clubs have been using TopoUSA for
their event rides; one caution - the elevation gain estimates in hilly
areas are off by as much as 60-70% (it overestimates). NG's Topo! is
raster based (rest are vector) so it is a bit more cumbersome. Lots
of choices.

- rick

Rick Warner wrote:
A lot of clubs have been using TopoUSA for
their event rides; one caution - the elevation gain estimates in
hilly
areas are off by as much as 60-70% (it overestimates).

I do the same thing when I tell people about my rides.

R

The problem I find with computer mapping programs (I'm using Microsoft
Streets & Trips) is that once you zoom in enough to find the smaller
roads you then only get a small area. So if I'm looking at a route that
goes from town A to town B (say 50 miles) to town C (say 75 miles) if I
zoom out enough to get all 3 towns on the screen I then can only see
the major roads such as highways. There are various smaller roads that
go between the towns but at this zoom level I cann't see them. So I'm
looking for a way to come up with a map that shows the smaller roads
but also covers a large distance - such as the ones on the website I
listed before.

I have some old county maps of the area but they are far too large to
scan in.

"Ted" wrote in message
ups.com...
The problem I find with computer mapping programs (I'm using Microsoft
Streets & Trips) is that once you zoom in enough to find the smaller
roads you then only get a small area. So if I'm looking at a route that
goes from town A to town B (say 50 miles) to town C (say 75 miles) if I
zoom out enough to get all 3 towns on the screen I then can only see
the major roads such as highways. There are various smaller roads that
go between the towns but at this zoom level I cann't see them. So I'm
looking for a way to come up with a map that shows the smaller roads
but also covers a large distance - such as the ones on the website I
listed before.

I have some old county maps of the area but they are far too large to
scan in.
http://www.billcotton.com/my_centuries_rides.htm
I use Delorme TopoUSA 4 to create the maps on this page. I do this in two
ways.
1 I create a route and the route line shows on the map.
2. I ride a route and create tracks with my gps and upload the track to the
map. The track line shows on the map
Delorme's TopoUSA 4 and above will print the map in up to 9 (3X3) pages of
the scale that you are viewing. I was able to print our club's 100 mile ride
showing every street in this way.
--
www.billcotton.com

Ted wrote:
The problem I find with computer mapping programs (I'm using
Microsoft
Streets & Trips) is that once you zoom in enough to find the smaller
roads you then only get a small area. So if I'm looking at a route
that
goes from town A to town B (say 50 miles) to town C (say 75 miles) if
I
zoom out enough to get all 3 towns on the screen I then can only see
the major roads such as highways. There are various smaller roads
that
go between the towns but at this zoom level I can't see them. So I'm
looking for a way to come up with a map that shows the smaller roads
but also covers a large distance - such as the ones on the website I
listed before. ...

Open Streets & Trips and draw your route at whatever scale works. Grab
the image and drag over to a corner of the route area. Do a Print
Screen, then paste into another program (Word works ok). grab and drag
the map to another area, repeat the process. Adjust the various map
shots to line up at the edges, and then you can Group them so they stay
in alignment.

This also makes sure that the resulting map fits on a single sheet of
paper.


I have some old county maps of the area but they are far too large to
scan in.

County might have gone digital.

I just suggested using these maps as base maps, and pasting adjacent
counties or whatever when needed.
http://www.ci.grand-rapids.mi.us/index.pl?page_id=2665

HTH
--Karen M.

I think it's too much to ask a cyclist to carry more than one or two
sheets of paper showing a map and a cue sheet on a ride (I prefer one
page, double sided). I have Delorme, and while it is very useful in
planning the route mileages, elevation profiles, and cue sheet, it is
poor for a printed map and total elevation gain is way high. I saw only
one map made for a club ride made with Delorme Street Atlas that was
decent. It was obvious that the club member creating it went through a
lot of time and effort getting the print scale just right and creating
the annotations on the map to label the roads, etc..

I usually photocopy a suitable road or cycling map, and mark the route
on it, then create a separate cue sheet using Delorme Topo USA and SAD
to Cue/Microsoft Excel.

--
Mike DeMicco

Rick Warner wrote:

On 14 Apr 2005 07:00:39 -0700, "Ted" wrote:



I've been wondering how to create a ride map. This website has ride
maps of the sort I looking to create:
http://home.satx.rr.com/hcbtc/maps/maps.html

I've emailed the guy who runs this site but never got any response.
Anybody know how these maps would be created?



His are a bit low-tech. He has obtained a base map for the area
either in digital format or in paper format then digitized it. He is
using some sort of drawing software (Deneba's Canvas) to outline the
route and add arrows. You could do the same, the only issue is
finding base maps for the areas you want.

As someone else suggested, an alternative is to use mapping software.
I use several; Garmin's MapSource with MetroGuide USA and MetroGuide
Europe, TopoUSA from DeLorme, National Geographic's Topo!, TopoFusion,
GarTrip, and some others. A lot of clubs have been using TopoUSA for
their event rides; one caution - the elevation gain estimates in hilly
areas are off by as much as 60-70% (it overestimates). NG's Topo! is
raster based (rest are vector) so it is a bit more cumbersome. Lots
of choices.

- rick


Is there some way to prove how much TopoUSA overestimates? With the St
Atlas program the route comes up longer than the line that represents
the route on the map.

Get independent measurements. And the overestimation is not length it
is altitude; it will underestimate distance, usually, for the same
reason it overestimates altitude. The technical reason is that it is
vector oriented and the vectors, approximating road segments, are
relatively long. The go straight instead of following curves, it cuts
across pieces of hills instead of alongside of hills like the roads
goes in real life. The shorter they make the vectors, the more closely
it will approximate reality until at some small value (say a few feet
at most) it is really, really close. For an analogy, think of
measuring the length of the coastline from Maine to Florida. If you
went out on the coast and had a ruler that was a mile long your
measurements would only approximate the coastline and your final value
would be an underestimate. If your ruler was say a yardstick then your
final value would be close to the real value. Same principle.

Vector length issues are only one of the problems DeLorme needs to
address, IMHO. They need a standard, compliant interface for another;
that non-intuitive, non-standard abomination they have is a pain to
use.

- rick