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Maps and GPS - A Fisherman's Resource (Guest Article)
What can you use Maps for?
Map Types
Bathymetry
Topographical
Road
Paper Maps
Keep one Handy
Write on it
Make a Board
Level of Detail
Soft Maps
Digital Raster Graphic (DRG) Maps
Proprietary Maps
Software
Be prepared to invest some time in learning the mappers terminology if you want to be able to use software to work with maps.
OziExplorer
USAPhotoMaps
dlgv32 Pro
Global Positioning System (GPS)
Be prepared to invest some time in learning the GPS terminology if you want to be able to use GPS to effectively work with your maps.
What is it?
What can it do for me?
What do I need?
Shop around and get educated before you buy a reciever. I went with the low price, although waterproof, eTrex and it is not truly easy to use. If I could do it over again I would probably spend a little more money and get something that was easier to use. A very good GPS web site, although a bit overwhelming at first, is gpsinformation.net.
Conclusion
by Jeff Jacobi
The purpose of this article is to provide a point of reference from which you can pursue your own interests and needs as they relate to maps, mapping, and GPS. I am by no means a map and GPS expert. It is, however, something that I have a personal interest in and do invest time and money into that interest. My equipment consists of paper maps, mapping software, electronic maps, and a Garmin eTrex GPS. Total investment about $500 and a good bit of time.
And I use them for all of these things and more. For one thing, I like to sit down and browse through paper maps looking for new stretches of water to fish. Not that the ones that I fish now are not any good, but as any fishermen will tell you he has not fished his last and final hole until he's in the pine box.
A bathymetry map is an underwater terrain map. That is, it shows the contours of the bottom of the body of water in which it is mapping. This is probably the best choice of maps for the fisherman. Unfortunately for me, being a small body freshwater fisherman, these are not typically available for the stretches that I fish. If you are a large impoundment or saltwater fisherman you probably already know about and own a few of this type of map. A real definition is at USGS. An example of one is on the Maryland Geological Survey web site.
A "topo" is an above water terrain map. That is, it shows the contours of the (above water) surface of the area in which it is mapping. This is the main type of map that I use. Because I can't get "bath" maps for the stretches that I fish I find these to be the next best thing. I don't really have a methodology that I can describe for reading these within the context of fishing. If you understand structure and the way that current works then topo maps will be fairly intuitive for you to be able to read. A handy on-line book on reading topo maps is on the map-reading.com web site. A real definition provided by USGS. Example topo maps can be created at topozone.com.
We all should know what these are by now.
I keep a Maryland DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer [DeLorme Web Site] topo map in the truck. This gives me a wide coverage reference for "Plan B" situations. I usually plan my trips fairly well, but if I get somewhere that I've never been before and I don't think it going to work out I still want to be able to fish out the day somewhere. It is also useful when you just happen to be driving around with the wife and kids and see something you probably want to come back to. Having a map to mark up so you don't forget where you were is crucial at those times.
The next good thing about paper maps is that you can write directly on them. Don't be afraid to write on them. I think that the wife paid about $15 for my DeLorme which is now invaluable to me since it contains special markings about where I've been and where I want to go next. No you can't see it!
I recently attended my first monthly meeting of the Potomac River Smallmouth Club [PRSC Web Site] and it happened to be on a night where they had no planned guest speaker. Some of the members put on mini-seminars about all kinds of things that night. In particular, Jeff Little had a table with maps all over it and talking about "trip planning". He had a bunch of maps that he had printed off of the internet and glued them together on a large foam type board. Great Idea!! If you can't let yourself write on your store bought maps then this might be something you could do. I am planning on making a few boards like this myself.
I have found that the ADC [ADC Web Site] County maps have the best level of detail in them. They can get expensive, about $12 each, if you start buying alot of them. I have about ten of them for different counties in Maryland. I bought them over a period of time so it was a little less painful shelling out the dough. The ADC maps have limited coverage areas so you may not be able to get one for an area that your interested in. The DeLorme maps have less detail and as such are not quite as useful as the ADC's but their coverage area is very good. These do not seem to be as up-to-date as the ADC's either. I use both for the same reason, fishing. I like both for different reasons, detail and topography.
DRG maps are the only soft maps that I am familiar with. I have used them and they work very well. A partial definition of a DRG map copied from the USGS Web Site is as follows: "A digital raster graphic (DRG) is a scanned image of a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) standard series topographic map, including all map collar information.". These maps come in the form of GeoTiff files which are defined as follows: "GeoTIFF is a public domain extension of the TIFF standard. GeoTIFF files conform to the TIFF 6.0 base standard, but contain additional information that allows image coordinates to be transformed to ground coordinates." [source] The best maps are the 1:24,000 but they also come in 1:100,000 and 1:250,000 resolutions. Freely downloadable DRG maps are difficult to find. I have been able to get a few in the past but none very recently. They can be purchased from quite a few vendors, see this USGS site for a tool to help you find a place to buy these.
I have a copy of Rand McNally's Tripmaker software. It doesn't have a very intuitive interface and I wasn't able to get much value out of it. I have given up on using it and it now collects dust with alot of other software that I have purchased over the years. In general, I recommend avoiding proprietary data formats. Don't tie your investment into a single vendor. It is very likely that the day will come that you will regret that decision. I haven't really tried, but I don't think I can use any of my (paid for) Rand McNally maps with any other (better) software that I own.
OziExplorer [OziExplorer Web Site] is an extremely popular and robust piece of mapping software. There are versions for Win32 (95,98,NT,2000,XP), and for the WinCE handheld devices. There is also a 3D version for displaying maps in three dimensions. OziExplorer supports the seamless import of DRG maps into the tool. Is has the ability to scroll from map file to map file as you need to move in any direction. It has very good map annotation features. It supports a variety of GPS devices in both upload and download modes. If you are going to buy some software this would be the tool that I would recommend. It is shareware priced at $75 and can be downloaded and/or purchased from the web site.
USAPhotoMaps [USAPhotoMaps Web Site] by JDMCox Software is a freeware program that I very recently stumbled across. Being very cheap, I was looking for a way to get free topo maps and this software offered that service. Actually it gets the maps and photos from Microsoft's Terraserver Web Site. If you have more time than money than this is a good choice for you. The software is well done, intuitive, and priced correctly. It has the ability to place and save off waypoints and routes. It will give you distances on your routes. You can toggle between the arial photo view and the topo view. The one downside to this software is that I haven't seen a way to transfer the maps from this software to any other software (remember the proprietary format advice from earlier). Don't invest a bunch of time with this software if your going to end up using something else anyway. There is a pretty good starters guide for this software is available on gpsinformation.net.
I have no direct experience with this software. However, I do know that it works pretty well with the DRG file format. It is freely available from USGS and is described as a "limited-feature" version of Global Mapper. Details on dlgv32 Pro can be found at USGS. Details on Global Mapper can be found at globalmapper.com.
The GPS system consists of a constallation of 24 satellites each containing a transmitter that sends data signals back down towards earth to be received by GPS receivers. The data within these signals allows the receiver to compute its position, velocity, and time. The GPS system is funded and maintained by the U.S. Department of Defense and until fairly recently was only truly accurate for military spec receivers. This changed when "Selective Availability" was turned off in May of 2000. Garmin [Garmin Web Site] has a pretty nice Beginners Guide (PDF) that should help you with both GPS and mapping in general.
Besides what was said above, I use mine to record locations and routes. From these recordings I am able to upload the data to the software programs described above to keep a better record of when and where I was. Over time this kind of data can be very useful in planning trips. It is easier and much more accurate than keeping a paper record of this type of data. I don't use it at all for navigating from routes downloaded from my mapping software. You'll likely agree that there is a certain "feel" that has to be applied once you're actually on the water. That feel can't be downloaded and programmed into the GPS.
1. A reciever - The two big names in this area are Garmin [Garmin Web Site] and Magellan [Magellan Web Site]. I have a Garmin eTrex [product page] that is OK, but not great.
2. A data cable - If you want to be able transfer your recordings to the maps then you will need a data cable. I have an RS232 (serial) cable [product page] for my eTrex that works just fine.
I hope that I've peaked your mapping interest a little bit with this article. I also hope that I have helped to set your expectations with maps. They are not real cheap and they won't do much for you unless you invest some time in them. Finally, I'll leave you with the mother of all mapping sites, the U.S. Geological Survey National Mapping Information Site.
Published on River Smallies.com with permission
Jeff Jacobi is a regular at River Smallies.com and a founder of MDFishing.org. He can be reached at jeff@mdfishing.org.