Email or username:

Password:

Forgot your password?
Joseph's posts Post Back to profile
Joseph Elfelt

Glad that the lost hiker in Colorado was rescued. But stories like this sure bother me. After all, the guy had a cell phone with GPS. If he had the most basic map on his phone showing the trail/route and his location then this near disaster would not have happened.

I developed GeoJPG so anyone can have their own high quality custom maps that work offline. No ads, no signup, no tracking, no cost. *Not* available in any app store. Tutorials and installation instructions on the website geojpg.com
#Hiking #MountainBiking #Camping #SAR #SearchAndRescue

Open GISsurfer map for Mt Shavano area where the guy got lost:
mappingsupport.com/p2/gissurfe
28 August at 15:40 | Open on m.ai6yr.org
19 comments
Melody Wainscott

@mappingsupport

Thank you!
I added it to my home screen next to my All Trails app.

28 August at 16:08 | Open on zirk.us
Hilary

@mappingsupport

Does it work with no phone signal? Coverage in the Pyrenées is pretty good, and there were a couple of times when we'd got off the path and found geo-location useful (the French IGN mapping system is very good and free). But there were other times where it was unusable.

Obviously we had a paper map and compass. It's never safe in the wilds without one.

Even the best phone map doesn't extend far enough at once to pinpoint landmarks, for example.

28 August at 16:47 | Open on mastodon.me.uk
Hilary

@mappingsupport

Also, never assume that a person is capable of reading a map.

28 August at 16:49 | Open on mastodon.me.uk
Joseph Elfelt

@regordane Yes, GeoJPG works offline on iOS and Android. If you can display landmarks in your area with the GISsurfer web map (one of my other projects) then you can make your own custom map that will include those landmarks and view that map offline with GeoJPG.

28 August at 17:12 | Open on m.ai6yr.org
Hilary

@mappingsupport

I'm still not clear from that technoblurb whether or how geo-location works when offline. I'm also sure that the sort of person who gets separated on an office team-building trip is likely to be the sort of person who wouldn't be able to use this.

28 August at 17:27 | Open on mastodon.me.uk
Joseph Elfelt

@regordane Sure, not everyone is equally tech savvy. For a group event one person who is tech savvy could make the map and then show everyone how to install it. Just like anything else you learned, easy once you go through it a few times.

An endless variety of software does geolocation offline using data from one or more satellite constellations.

28 August at 18:29 | Open on m.ai6yr.org
Hilary

@mappingsupport

Erm, this would be excellent for a well-led group.

The bad thing that happened is pretty clear evidence that the group was not well-led.

28 August at 19:10 | Open on mastodon.me.uk
Joseph Elfelt

@regordane Another thing for groups is to have one of the more experienced persons act as rear guard. That way no one ever gets left in the back on their own.

28 August at 19:25 | Open on m.ai6yr.org
Hilary

@mappingsupport

Yes. Absolutely. This is one of the many things that went wrong, for sure. And not something that technology could have dealt with.

28 August at 19:34 | Open on mastodon.me.uk
Stitched
Jhooper

@mappingsupport Does it have a UI that assists people that have a hard time with a topographic map? I've learned to read them, but I know a lot of people that can't make heads or tails of them.

28 August at 17:26 | Open on techhub.social
Joseph Elfelt

@jhooper The 'catch', to the extent there is one, is that you have to take the time to learn how to use GISsurfer to make your own custom map and how to install that map on your phone so you can view it offline. There are both video and PDF tutorials.

One of the basemaps built-in to GISsurfer is called "All white basemap". The screenshot shows that basemap and several GIS layers that are turned on. Assuming similar GIS data is available for your area, you could make a map like that and use it offline. Note there are no contour lines.

Open GISsurfer map:
mappingsupport.com/p2/gissurfe

@jhooper The 'catch', to the extent there is one, is that you have to take the time to learn how to use GISsurfer to make your own custom map and how to install that map on your phone so you can view it offline. There are both video and PDF tutorials.

One of the basemaps built-in to GISsurfer is called "All white basemap". The screenshot shows that basemap and several GIS layers that are turned on. Assuming similar GIS data is available for your area, you could make a map like that and use it offline....
28 August at 18:22 | Open on m.ai6yr.org
HikerSelma

@mappingsupport
Your product GeoJPG sounds very useful. Thanks. As a hiker in Colorado for the past 40 years and a hike leader for the Colorado Mountain Club, what shocked me most about the lost hiker in the Mt Shavano area was the sheriff missing a crucial teaching moment about outdoor safety esp after all those resources were deployed in the search. Most basic rule of safety on a group hike of keeping everyone together and no one person wandering off by themselves.
#hiking #Colorado

28 August at 19:46 | Open on toad.social
Iwillyeah

@mappingsupport North America only? Not a criticism, just a question?

28 August at 20:47 | Open on mastodon.ie
Joseph Elfelt

@Iwillyeah Open the GISsurfer web map and change the basemap to Open topo. That basemap is world wide and has OSM data. Note that the server hosting those tiles might be a bit slow sometimes.

Also, GISsurfer can display GIS data for anywhere in the world. Do you know of a GIS server in country x that has trail data? GISsurfer can likely display that data. You then turn on 'screenshot mode' and make maps which you can view offline with GeoJPG.

28 August at 20:52 | Open on m.ai6yr.org
Diane 🕵

@mappingsupport

If you're going sufficiently out into the boonies wouldn't printing out a paper map be a good idea? It's not like there's a host of things that can go wrong with electronic maps.

29 August at 3:37 | Open on octodon.social
AI6YR

@alienghic @mappingsupport Are we talking about the guy who was abandoned to die by his co-workers? LOL. Probably never went hiking before.

29 August at 3:40 | Open on m.ai6yr.org
Joseph Elfelt

@ai6yr @alienghic Yeah, the team's designated sacrificial lamb.

29 August at 12:20 | Open on m.ai6yr.org
Go Up