Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Spot Device

first try, using simple software I am familiar with, I get this

http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?ll=36.402077,-118.193708&t=t1&z=15&label=no&coord=latlng

Yes. That's correct -- though I may not have given the coordinates from the original, but rounded after several emails when researching this.

She was just north and down in the meadow.

It's from maps.google.com that the problem shows up, but I don't know if Inyo used that.

Here's what I've got from maps.google.com as well as an ArcGIS Explorer relative position of Kat's location and the search for her.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/61568143@N08/sets/72157626324640475/

George

yeah, no idea how I goofed - was a copy/paste job on top of an old link.

Google Terrain View stinks - there's a lake right below the east face of Mt. Whitney

Last year I saw rivers flow uphill around Bear Creek, but they fixed that one.

Steve:

Yes. that's the right place. As for telling SAR people to do things, I can only write this stuff up and tell people about it. Your suggestions are spot on, but I'm pretty low on the fish ladder and have only local and occasional influence... .

As far as choosing software, for the NPS I've been strongly pushing ArcGIS Explorer for its map sets and, more importantly, because it can use shape files and almost all public raster & vector data. Also, NPS and most government agencies have an ESRI enterprise license so the geospatial files also work seamlessly with ArcGIS desktop.

The ability to create, save and transfer data is critical to whatever programs people use.


George

google earth has free add ons / overlays of interest.

one is a set of current topo maps.

another overlay are historic topo maps.

coming to this party late i used google earth, searched using the above coordinates, and came to the same place as you have. then opened the topo map - which can be clicked on or off and even manipulated the same rotationally as the underlying image.

free.

try it. it's a pretty cool tool.

BSMITH: Could you add exactly how to get these overlays in Google Earth? Can't find any topos, except by switching to Google maps, which provide lousy topos

sorry, i thought about that and was coming to do just that and here's your message.

Google Earth topo maps

when using it, be patient - it takes a bit to appear. just wait until it does.

there's a tab on that page for historic topos.

i've seen some topos from 1903 once that module is installed.

surprising how many trails still exist - and how many don't.

did you mean google "maps" and not google "earth"?

with google maps i see the "a". not on google earth.

Google Earth without the topos is already too slow for me to tolerate (and I have ample CPU power and bandwidth, more than most people).

Also - not sure if I have much use for screens that look like this:

the only thing i find slow is the time while the topo is loading.

your excellent example shows the versatility of the google earth topo. try manipulating it in all axes / planes just as you do in google earth w/o the topo. it's a perfect image of the appropriate topo to be manipulated or not.

see, this is where I drop out: I don't want to manipulate anything. I want clean crisp information on my screen, not a 3D arcade game from 1990. Not sure why I would ever want an 8-bit topo map stretched into a 3D space when the contour lines are all I need to see, preferably cleanly on a flat 2D screen. Just because it can be done doesn't mean I need to use it. I'm totally happy with 2D maps in a browser window, loading without any delay, using nothing more than a browser URL (and other viewers don't need to download and install any bloated software from Google to see the same thing)

As for Spot, the original subject here, I've now waited over 48 hours for a customer support person to return a simple answer to my question how I can terminate the tracking portion of my contract. You can't do it on their web interface - it only lets you add more services you don't need. I see a spot-free future coming on...



If I don't hear from Spot in another 24 hours, I will lose 7 ounces of orange junk from my pack for good.

I have a different problem with this. I take it this is not something Google Earth provides, but a third party app. Correct? I hesitate to add it without knowing more about the source, track record of use, etc.

Don't expect a customer-friendly response from support... when the clip broke on SPOT 1 and it went flying into the desert somewhere in Death Valley, I contacted SPOT Support online to put a hold on my account so that no 911 activations could go out. When I purchased SPOT 2 a few weeks later and asked to re-activate my account, they stated that I had cancelled and would have to create a new account and would not receive any credit for the time remaining on my previous account.

Not something I would cry over, but it didn't go over too well. I definitely don't want to deal with them again.

google earth community blog

Yes. I should have been clearer: maps.google.com. I haven't tried it in Google Earth. I suspect that'll work without the confusing "A"

Thanks for the clarification.

Also, 'cause we're also having fun with mapping program recommendations, check ArcGIS Explorer online. I find it loads pretty cleanly, gives a great selection of map types in 2D: http://explorer.arcgis.com/ And allows a fair number of editing and text tools. A short learning curve, but not bad.

g.

hey george, thanks for that.

All,

I just wanted to continue to offer my services regarding information of the Spot line of products as I haven't received but one phone call.

I also wanted to address the concerns that companies like Spot are not taking the steps to educate consumers of the personal responsibility that comes with owning this type of product. Last year we promoted our "Prepare Yourself" campaign to do just that.

http://findmespot.com/prepared/

Also, below is another example of one of more than 1400 Spot initiated rescues that have taken place over the last four years.


Willing to help,

Brad Horton



http://welcometowilliamslake.ca/index.ph...wilderness.html

Brad

I do back-country volunteer work with organizations that are examining their budgets for a variety of types of safety gear. There is always question about how to compare the performance of different possible expenditures. That raises some questions.

In the history of the SPOT that your numbers reflect do you have any idea about:

1) How many times the "SOS/911 button been pushed"

2) How many of those messages have been received? (is this the 1400)

3) How many SAR activities has this triggered? (is this the 1400)

4) How many times has the GEOS Member Benefit paid for rescue operations? How much?

5) What has been the success rate of SPOT initiated rescues? How can we measure that?

Any help with answers to these questions would be appreciated.

Dale B. Dalrymple