Homemade Pamelia Creek Trail Map - Looking For Comments

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nautachris
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Homemade Pamelia Creek Trail Map - Looking For Comments

Post by nautachris » July 18th, 2013, 8:58 pm

NOTE: Mods, if this is better suited for a different category, please move it (and I apologize). I put it in Trip Reports because it's related to a report I submitted a few days ago (http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/vie ... =8&t=16207), and I figure it gets more traffic this time of year.

I've recently started posting (I've still only lived in Oregon for 9 months) and wanted to offer a bit more to the group. I started out as a a cartographer, but have evolved into a Geographic Information Systems programmer. I am fortunate enough to have a full ArcGIS/Spatial Analyst install on my computer, which allows me to create "professional" maps. I've been a map geek since age 3, and have been drawing maps since elementary school, and would like to get back into it as a hobby. I've been toying with the idea of creating trail maps of everywhere that I post on this site, and finally finished one. They're of course for public consumption because there are few things I value more than websites dedicated to hiking and finding new places to explore, to which this site has been vital!

Below is my "prototype" map of the Pamelia Lake area. This isn't meant as something to print out check your GPS coordinates to, just a general map of the area that details the ~18 mile hike I did this past weekend. I love finding websites with trail maps! I'd like to expand this to other places I've been - I already have other maps of Iron Mountain and Duffy Lake ready to go. However, I'd like to settle on a constant style that I can use for each different area. Hopefully I'll have enough time to start a blog/website where I can archive all my trip reports, as well as link to the maps. If there are any specific areas that the group would like a nice map of, I'd love to help.

So, as a hiker community, I'd like to hear things you like or dislike (please, be harsh!), and any recommendations or tips that you'd find useful. This map is meant to be related to my trip report from the area (http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/vie ... =8&t=16207), hence some of the trail segments are highlighted according to my route. All of the data I used is publically available from the USFS (trail, roads, boundaries) or USGS (elevation and derived hillshade).

This looks better as a PDF (3.2 MB), but it exceeded the upload limit allowed by the site. (If you want a nice version, email me at nautachris at gmail.com). The resolution below is the best that I can post directly in the forum, https://plus.google.com/106922908195400 ... SeguFnDwWX may be better.

Image

Comment away! Thanks for the help.

Chris S.
Lebanon, OR

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kepPNW
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Re: Homemade Pamelia Creek Trail Map - Looking For Comments

Post by kepPNW » July 18th, 2013, 9:36 pm

That's a pretty good looking map, Chris! Your overall colors and line weights are nice. My first two thoughts are, solid (but finer) 50' contours and a graticule (decimal degrees?) around the periphery. You'll probably want to give some attention, at some point, to standardizing fonts for different feature types. Excellent first draft!
Karl
Back on the trail, again...

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retired jerry
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Re: Homemade Pamelia Creek Trail Map - Looking For Comments

Post by retired jerry » July 19th, 2013, 5:15 am

Nice!

Maybe the "PCT to Jefferson Park" and "PCT to Minto Pass" should be the green color for PCT, not the fainter red color for "other trails"

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Koda
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Re: Homemade Pamelia Creek Trail Map - Looking For Comments

Post by Koda » July 19th, 2013, 6:48 am

Nice map.

I notice a whole slew of parallel lines. They seem to be at a slight angle, and some run almost 90° to each other.

I like Keps idea on the 50ft contours, should be solid but very fine lineweight.

I'm curious on the 250ft contour spacing. Some maps its 200.... is there a standard? No biggie either way the math is easy enough with easy format.

Is there any way to un-blur the immediate area surrounding the elevation numbers?

I notice the glaciers really stand out but the white field distracts from the details. Can you overlay the topo lines and gradual shading over the white?

You asked for critique so I'm nit picking, but really... thats a nice map.
lightweight, cheap, strong... pick 2

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Eric Peterson
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Re: Homemade Pamelia Creek Trail Map - Looking For Comments

Post by Eric Peterson » July 19th, 2013, 6:50 am

Wish I also had a full ArcGis install on my computer!

Nice looking map :)

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kepPNW
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Re: Homemade Pamelia Creek Trail Map - Looking For Comments

Post by kepPNW » July 19th, 2013, 8:00 am

Koda wrote:I notice a whole slew of parallel lines. They seem to be at a slight angle, and some run almost 90° to each other.
I'm not seeing the parallel lines?

I'm not really sure why, but 40' does seem to be a more standard contour interval. I suppose because it's "more divisible" by two, so you can zoom down to 20', 10', etc. Probably easier, pre-GIS, to draw interpolated contours that way.
Koda wrote:Is there any way to un-blur the immediate area surrounding the elevation numbers?
You made me look again at the contour elevations. Not seeing the blurry, either, but would suggest the mask around them be tightened up considerably. That could be an issue with the topo-shading, I know, as it'd need to be based on the largest number in a given map. Sure wish the outline option let you specify a "semi-transparent" color that allowed underlying polygon shades, but not lines, through! Would make sense if the elevation numbers were the same color as the contours (or vice-versa, of course :)), too.
Karl
Back on the trail, again...

payslee

Re: Homemade Pamelia Creek Trail Map - Looking For Comments

Post by payslee » July 19th, 2013, 8:28 am

Hey Chris,

Cool map. I had to take some ESRI classes back in school and the amount of information that can potentially be conveyed really impressed me (the actual ESRI software, on the other hand...). I think that's why I'm *still* not impressed enough to invest in any of the hand-held GPSs I've seen. Compaerd to a map, they don't tell you Jack about where you are. Inexcusable! They have so much potential. Anyway, that's a separate rant.

If this map is for navigation purposes, then more info please! I like maps that give me all kinds of clues about the topography, so I can correctly find myself on it, and as much as possible about the route choices, so I can choose my way without (hopefully) getting stuck or backtracking.

So I think my favorite part about this map is how you've integrated the hillslope shading with the topo lines. Being able to see all those little drainages on Grizzly Peak, for example, is terrific.

I like landmarks. Trail junctions are an obvious one, and they're here, but other nice ones are campsites, boulder fields, viewpoints, old buicks, etc. I'm so used to USGS conventions on these that I miss them when they're not there, but no doubt there are other possiblities for *how* to portray these as well as whether to portray them.

You're giving me spatial and art skills envy, btw :-)

Specifically for this map - it's been a few years since I've been down to Pamelia, but I recall a relatively early season June campout when the outlet creek between Pamelia and Grizzly peak was a difficult, unbridged crossing. At least in this low-res map version, the creek crossing there doesn't show up at all? I've been extra attuned to creek crossings lately - This winter I had a memorably stressful day when I had not researched my route ahead of time and put inexcusable faith in a map route that, in reality, involved fording a river, which at that time of year would have been idiocy and death. In any event - even for people who are better at creek crossing than me, crossings make great fine-scale landmarks in Oregon. We have so much water, in such variety.

Trail colors have so much potential to convey extra information about each trail, if you are going to invest in trail colors! From an information-conservation perspective, you've already named the different trails and shown their locations on the maps. The colors right now don't give you anything extra. There are lots of possibilities: Colors for shared vs. ped only, vs. ped-horse, etc. Color-spectrums for how heavily used. Colors to show if it's horse-suitable or more of a scramble. Colors that show which are the best-ever trails and which are just adequate ;-) Sheeite make it customizable with a web front end so each user can choose what information they care about.

But now I'm living in my map-world fantasyland.

I look forward to seeing more awesome mapping projects. Thank you for sharing this!

-payslee

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retired jerry
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Re: Homemade Pamelia Creek Trail Map - Looking For Comments

Post by retired jerry » July 19th, 2013, 8:34 am

Good point about GPSes

They have more potential because you can cursor over something, click on it, and get more info

On the other hand, GPS displays are so small, take too long to refresh, and have limited resolution. If you moved a 1.5 x 2.5 inch window over a paper map it would be more difficult to use.

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CampinCarl
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Re: Homemade Pamelia Creek Trail Map - Looking For Comments

Post by CampinCarl » July 19th, 2013, 9:05 am

Great work from one map guy to another!!! :ugeek: :ugeek: :ugeek:

My comments are as follows:

1. The color on the Hunts Creek Tr. and Other trails is too close, I can't distinguish them from each other. I like the thicker line width for the trails covered in the TR, nice touch.

2. As an option, you could mark a few waypoints at key places, whether or not you carry a GPS. On this map, I am thinking of the trail junction where the "old" trail down to Hanks Lake goes when you are approaching the Hunts Creek Trail from the PCT. I have gone CCW on this loop before and started down this shortcut a little bit before I realized I was going the wrong way.

3. Along the same lines as the last bullet, if you are scouting out possible campsites, it would be nice to have a little tent symbol or something with a GPS waypoint. But then again, maybe some things are best left for individuals to discover on their own.

Side comment (maybe not related but I've thought about it for awhile :D) : I am still awaiting the guidebook author who not only has a digital version of their book, but interactive online maps to go along with it, including campsites. I know that it is a lot of work to do that, but it seems that usually you get all analog guidebooks or all digital forums, such as this one (of course I could always print out stuff from here :lol: ). This is a great community whose members embed interactive and/or static maps with GPS tracks in the trip report, but do not usually include waypoints (altough MileageMike25000 is a notable exception :) ). In the hiking books, you usually get waypoints for things like trailheads and sometimes trail junctions or other notable features, but usually not campsites. I guess the relationship this has to your post is your mention of a possible blog. If you want your blog to stand out, consider the not only the format of the map but the interactive capability of it. Maybe I am just being uber-geeky but I have actually thought about doing something like this more on a local scale. But then I run into the fact that I don't have ArcGIS at home.

In any case, great work and I'm looking forward to more maps, whatever format they may come in!

nautachris
Posts: 56
Joined: June 7th, 2013, 6:34 am
Location: Bend, OR

Re: Homemade Pamelia Creek Trail Map - Looking For Comments

Post by nautachris » July 19th, 2013, 11:52 am

Thanks for all the comments! I'll look all of these over and make a few different versions, then work on the maps of Iron Mountain and Duffy Lake. Like I said, all the data is free, so once I get a rhythm going I can hopefully push out a lot more...

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