Free Geography Tools

Free Tools For Custom Garmin Vector Maps XVIII: Full GUI For mkgmap Compiler

Leszek Pawlowicz — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:00:00 +0000

Took a while, but this is the final installment of my epic 18-part series on free tools for making custom Garmin vector maps. I covered the free map compiler mkgmap in part 13, which converts OpenStreetMap data files (.osm) and Polish map files (.mp) to Garmin’s binary .img format. It’s command-line only, which can make [...] Related posts:

Learn/Plan Compass Use In A Google Maps Interface

Leszek Pawlowicz — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:42:03 +0000

I’ve been known to take three GPS units with me out into the field, because … I’m an idiot. But regardless of how many I’m carrying, I always bring a compass and paper map as well. GPS displays are too small to give you the same sense of geographic context as a big paper map, [...] Related posts:

Current National Weather Service Radar Data In Google Earth And GIS Formats

Leszek Pawlowicz — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:03:16 +0000

I’ve been using the website of my local National Doppler Radar Station for years now to monitor the animated radar precipitation loop, but I just noticed that there are a pair of links labeled KML and GIS Users. The KML link takes you to a page where you can select and generate a KML/KMZ link [...] Related posts:

Geotagging Coordinate Viewer For Adobe CS5

Leszek Pawlowicz — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 12:42:00 +0000

Adobe has released a free plug-in for applications in their Creative Suite 5 (CS5) (e.g. Photoshop, Illustrator) that adds a “GPS” tab to the info window: It doesn’t do a lot, just display an image’s embedded geotagging information in it, but it’s better than nothing. Available for both Windows and Mac. From DPreview, via OgleEarth. Related posts:Updates To [...] Related posts:

Personal Web Maps With StepMaps

Leszek Pawlowicz — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 12:38:00 +0000

StepMap lets you create distinctive personalized maps that you can save as an image, or embed on a web page. A step-by-step wizard walks you through the process. Step 1: Choose a preset region and map style, modify the style as you wish, or upload your own map: Step 2: Add points/icons, and connecting lines between points [...] Related posts:

Handheld GPS Units – Beyond The Manual

Leszek Pawlowicz — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 12:36:52 +0000

It’s no secret that the manuals many GPS makers puts out with their handheld GPS units aren’t always ideal. They can be very confusing, give cursory explanations of more complicated functions, and often leave out any mention at all of advanced functions. Plus, as firmware gets updated and features get added/dropped, the printed versions become [...] Related posts:

Look Up EPSG Codes From Well-Known-Text (WKT) / prj Files With Prj2EPSG

Leszek Pawlowicz — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:34:00 +0000

OpenGeo announces Prj2EPSG, a free online service that can look up the EPSG (European Petroleum Study Group) code for a coordinate system based on: A WKT (Well-Known Text) description. e,g, copying and pasting WKT text into the box: yields the EPSG code 4326. A .prj file, often found with shapefiles or other geographic data files to define the [...] Related posts:

waze: Free Crowd-Sourced Traffic Phone Apps

Leszek Pawlowicz — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 12:34:43 +0000

From email comes a link to waze, a free mobile phone app (iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile, Blackberry) that sends back real-time GPS-or-cell-tower-derived position/speed data from phones to determine where traffic problems might be occurring, and then alerts you to potential traffic issues. Here’s their video guided tour (click on “Go” to start): Seems like a [...] Related posts:

Status Of The Garmin Map Compiler cgpsmapper – ?

Leszek Pawlowicz — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:38:13 +0000

Both GPSTracklog and GPSFix link to a page on the cgpsmapper website that indicates development will be ceasing on that Garmin map compiler. This is a real shame; over the past decade, this compiler has driven the creation of thousands of freely-available maps for Garmin GPS units, as well as being a boon for creating [...] Related posts:

Desktop Earth: Dynamically-Updating Geographic Windows Wallpaper

Leszek Pawlowicz — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 11:33:52 +0000

This is pretty cool! Desktop Earth is a geographic wallpaper background for Windows that: Displays seasonal NASA Blue Marble Imagery, or a fixed Blue Marble image Displays day/night regions; options for city light displays in the night regions Gives you the option of overlaying current cloud imagery, with variable opacity Set the center of the image to any time [...] Related posts: