Contour line interval

[maps4gps]

For some items IndyJrp & I used different sources and/or processed/presented the data differently.

I created 40' contours in the mountains because thats what the printed USGS topos used.

ON my Garmin vista gps the most detailed contours i get is 200'

Not sure what you mean here as the 10' or 40', etc should show when you are zoomed in to the 800' bar scale setting when using the mti mapset.  200' sounds like the intermediate index contour for an area using 40'

For roads, I used Dec, 2008 Census data; IndyJpr used CDOT info - the metadata indicating it was many years old - and some areas used 'internal codes' rather than actual street names.  FS has some nice road/trail data; however it would be very time consuming too edit out the other road/trail data where both exist, or confusing to have both as their positions are usually slightly different.

I used the federal lands info from USGS and substituded more detail info from the Park Service.
IndyJpr may have use info from BLM.  I since found more detailed info from BLM, however most polygons are not named in this file.

Point data is mostly from the USGS GNIS (geographic names information system).  A lot of the coordinates in that file are not very accurate.  Do you mean the hospitals are some hundreds of feet off, or that there is none at that location?

We both used NHD for hydro, however USGS is still changing that database so downloads at different times will have slightly different data.  IndyJpr may not have included the 'crenulated ephemeral streams' on Forest Service lands as these are not shown on the printed USGS topo quads.

[Carl.h]

Not sure what you mean here as the 10' or 40', etc should show when you are zoomed in to the 800' bar scale setting when using the mti mapset.  200' sounds like the intermediate index contour for an area using 40'

oh yea thats right, i guess i never zoom in that much

For roads, I used Dec, 2008 Census data; IndyJpr used CDOT info - the metadata indicating it was many years old - and some areas used 'internal codes' rather than actual street names.  FS has some nice road/trail data; however it would be very time consuming too edit out the other road/trail data where both exist, or confusing to have both as their positions are usually slightly different.

somehow it seems indy's map let the f.s. info over ride the cdot. Its pretty much the same as my most recent paper f.s. maps, only listing the open non gated roads.  Yours shows tons more roads, great many of them closed or gated off

I used the federal lands info from USGS and substituded more detail info from the Park Service.
IndyJpr may have use info from BLM.  I since found more detailed info from BLM, however most polygons are not named in this file.

within f.s boundries indy's maps the boundries  seem identical to blm digital info i get at geocommunicator, so maybe thats it.  That info is the most accurate i can find on land ownership.  Thats strange though because indy's map sometimes shows blm and i think state school land as f.s. land.  But outside f.s boundries i dont think it shows any blm land.  

Point data is mostly from the USGS GNIS (geographic names information system).  A lot of the coordinates in that file are not very accurate.  Do you mean the hospitals are some hundreds of feet off, or that there is none at that location?

no hospital around, just randomly shown out in the middle of nowhere.

We both used NHD for hydro, however USGS is still changing that database so downloads at different times will have slightly different data.  IndyJpr may not have included the 'crenulated ephemeral streams' on Forest Service lands as these are not shown on the printed USGS topo quads.

both maps have the same info when i zoom in enough (.2 or .3 miles).  Zoom out to 1 mile and your map still shows the info and indy's doesnt, the streams look a little chopped up

edit: fixed quotes

[Carl.h]

Never mind what i said about hospitals.  I was looking at heliports,  big yellow circle with an H inside.  All the hospitals have one and they are named for the hospital they are sitting on, the yellow circle covers up the small black square that marks the hospital so they appeared to be hospitals.  Should have looked a little closer when i started seeing them every where. 

I did find some mountain terrain with 20' contour intervals, that looks real good.  I didnt find where it transitioned from 40' to 20', that could be confusing.  I tried to make my own map following the tutorial from this site.  Everything seemed to go good except i was never able to compile it all to make a map.  I remember at some point downloading the dems i had to choose contour intervals, and i choose 20'.   Maybe that could be one of my problems trying to make 20' intervals off of 40' interval quads?   

As far as CI on the gps unit.  I find the screen on mine too small to recognize geographic features at the 800' zoom, i'm usually looking for peaks and they always seem to be off the screen at 800'.  If i could get 40' intervals at .3 zoom that might be good, hard to guess if it would be too much clutter on the screen. 

I've been taking a closer look at the land ownership on Indy's map and its very accurate.  forest service, state school land and blm land all appear with green background.  If you scroll over the area the land is identified.  State school land show up as state park, blm is identified as national park, and forest service names the national forest.  The boundries are right for the blm and state trust land though.  Its not clearly marked where the two different types of land meet.  And hopefully most people know that state trust land generally isnt open to the public and its not a park.

Carl

[Indrid Cold]

Never mind what i said about hospitals.  I was looking at heliports,  big yellow circle with an H inside.  All the hospitals have one and they are named for the hospital they are sitting on, the yellow circle covers up the small black square that marks the hospital so they appeared to be hospitals.  Should have looked a little closer when i started seeing them every where. 

Carl

Oh right, we had something a while back about that... Here's the thread:
http://forums.gpsfiledepot.com/index.php/topic,422.msg3036.html#msg3036

[maps4gps]

My first map in Jan, 2008 used a CI of 20ft for Colorado.  The contour lines at the non-40ft intervals will simply be placed somewhere between the 40' lines (and not add any resolution to the land surface being depicted) which have a more accurate position.  A possible problem with 'overcontouring' is that everything will be about double and may overload the software and/or machine capablilty.  I have been contouring using a 15' or less quad sizes.
Tests using a 30' quad size took a lot more time and some crashed due to lack of memory.

Try changing the detail level to 'most'.  Everything should then show at the 0.3mi bar scale level.

There is a very limited selection of polygon colors (and land ownership catagories) available on the Garmin GPSrs.  I do not recall any having a bounding line in a different color - the color just ends, and if the adjacent polygon uses the same color it is trial-and-error to locate the boundary.  I used 'tundra' for BLM lands, but in Alaska, tundra exists, so I had to use 'green' for all (except military) ownership.  Some have made custom type styles/colors; however not all GPSrs support its use, and I do not recall anyone mentioning what happens when a non-supporting GPSr tries to display/use a mapset with custom type styles.