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High Tech
As a technologist, I’m always looking for ways to improve the world with new technologies or applications. Not that anything here is going to change the world, it does provide a bit of satisfaction. This BLOG and the information I collect along the way will provide interesting to some, possibly more to others. While the BLOG was easy, wrangling GPS maps and data has been a miserable nightmare. See more below.
BLOG
If we’re keeping track of all kinds of information, then there needs to be a place to collect and share it. Daily Journal entries will contain an abundance of physical, mental, geographic, weather and anecdotal information.
GPS
GPS will collect route information for the Appalachian Trail along with other key waypoints along the way. With any luck, I’ll have a Garmin MapSource version for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy website.
Mapping
MapTech has an awesome Appalachian Trail website package. At first glance it appears to be perfect. There’s even a 3D function which allows you to generate a 3D elevation of the selected trail section. Using the hand tool, grab it and rotate it in any direction. The only problem with MapTech’s product is that it won’t communicate with my Garmin GPS unit. It seems the developers at MapTech have yet to figure out how to make their map software communicate with the GPS unit through a USB port. It only works through a serial port. Next, I purchased the Garmin MapSource set of maps. These are inferior to the MapTech maps, and to add insult to injury they won’t import waypoints from sources other than MapSource files. Ultimately what this means is that I can’t get the Appalachian Trail and shelters onto the MapSource Maps, and I can’t get the MapTech Appalachian Trail maps onto the GPS. I’m still trying to figure a way around this problem.
Heart Rate Monitor
I will also be using a heart rate monitor while hiking, tracking my heart rate in parallel with altitude and location on the trail. I’m not sure why, honestly. I suppose it’s just a curiosity of mine, a fascination. Following the trip, it might be interesting to analyze the relationship between speed, distance, elevation and heart rate. Appalachian Trail Overview
- excerpt from Appalachian Trail Conservancy (www.appalachiantrail.org)
The “A.T.,” as it's called by hikers, is much more than just a path through the woods.
It is a national scenic trail, part of the same national park system that includes Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Great Smoky Mountains. Its official name is the Appalachian National Scenic Trail.
But, unlike those famous parks, it's not a concentrated preserve, with campgrounds and paths within its boundaries. As the longest, skinniest part of America's national park system, the A.T. stretches over fourteen different states and passes through more than sixty federal, state, and local parks and forests. Hundreds of roads cross it. In some parts, the Trail “corridor” is only a few hundred feet wide.
Maybe the most important difference between the A.T. and other national-park units, though, is that volunteers make it possible. Unlike other parks, which may be patrolled and maintained by hundreds of salaried government employees, the A.T. relies on a system known as “cooperative management.” Yes, there is a paid ranger and a few staff members assigned to the National Park Service's Appalachian Trail office in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, but thousands of the people who maintain, patrol, and monitor the footpath and its surrounding lands are outdoor lovers like you. Each year, as members of “maintaining clubs” up and down the Appalachians, they volunteer hundreds of thousands of hours of their time to taking care of this public treasure. Send this Page to a Friend!
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