Google Maps A Boon to Hunters, Anglers, and Other Outdoor
Enthusiasts
Google Maps A Boon to Hunters, Anglers, and Other Outdoor
Enthusiasts
How many times have you wondered what's on the other side of
that mountain or what's beyond the next river bend?
Sure, topo and road maps provide part of the picture, but to get
a real sense of a particular area, I find it easier to use a
combination of topo and aerial photography maps. For hunters,
anglers, 4-wheel, camping, hiking, and other outdoor
enthusiasts, Google Maps provides a great perspective on the
outdoors with its new satellite imagery maps.
On April 5, 2005, Google announced the integration of its
Keyhole digital mapping service with the popular Google Maps
service (http://maps.google.com). In addition to a
great overhead view, Google Maps allow you to click and drag
maps with your mouse, zoom and pan, search for specific
locations, get detailed driving direction, and more.
How It Benefits Outdoor Enthusiasts
Google Maps benefits outdoor enthusiasts for a number or
reasons. The main benefit is that Google Maps allows you to see
what you couldn't see before, at least without spending money on
aerial maps, as they provide free access to their satellite
imagery.
I live in Springfield, Oregon near the McKenzie River and
Willamette River. Both rivers are great for fishing trout,
steelhead, salmon, and more. With so much river frontage passing
less than half a mile by my house, you'd think it easy to find a
new spot to fish. The only problem is that the area is riddled
with housing and farm tracts, with no easy way to access the
river without traveling a couple of miles near the edge of town
or several miles outside of town.
Plus, topo and road maps only tell part of the story. In regards
to fishing, what about current, trees, weeds, rocks, gravel, and
other structure? We all know that aerial maps answer a lot of
these questions. With Google Maps' satellite imagery, I've
already determined several locations that I'll be trying this
year. With deer hunting season around the corner, I'll also be
using these maps to scout out some new hunting locations.
I also recently visited Moab, Utah for the 2005 Easter Jeep Safari, and could have
benefited greatly from the use of such detailed maps while
traversing many of the offroad trails in the area. 4-wheel and
offroad enthusiasts, bikers, hikers, and scenery buffs will
notice the trails, trailsheads, and landmarks such as Lion's
Back, Arches National Monument, and other spots of interest.
Google Maps provides both detailed street level and satellite
imagery maps. While the street level maps cover the entire
United States, Canada, and the UK, the high resolution satellite
images seem to cover only more populated areas. For outdoor
enthusiasts visiting urban areas, this is great. But for those
visiting rural or wilderness areas, Google still has a ways to
go before more detailed imagery is available.
Images seem to be pretty up-to-date, at least within the areas I
checked. For example, my house is located near a new housing
development, and I can see houses that were started within the
last year on the map.
With Google aiming to expand its reach, I'm sure that we'll see
maps with greater detail and higher resolution in the future.
That's good news for outdoor enthusiasts.
Things to Note
Image resolution varies by distance. At the lowest
resolution/farthest distance, you can identify large landmarks
such as mountains, rivers, and large lakes. At the highest
resolution/closest distance, you can locate specific cars,
buildings, trees, hills, creeks, and more.
Satellite
images are current within a year or so, but they are not in
real-time.