I’ve spent the past several months using Google Earth to mark kayak fish put-ins, bailouts, caution areas etc. for my home waters (New England).
Anyone done the same? Seems GE would be a good way to share hot spots/warnings and cautions.
Some New England GE kayak fish spots/caution areas:
http://paddlingtravelers.blogspot.com/2007/02/block-island-rhode-island-map-now.html
http://paddlingtravelers.blogspot.com/2006/12/monomoy-island-cape-cod-navigation.html
A guy who is busy layering all of NOAA’s chart data onto Google Earth:
http://paddlingtravelers.blogspot.com/2007/01/destinsharkscom-compiler-of-noaa.html
Short tutorial on how to use Google Earth to mark fish areas:
http://paddlingtravelers.blogspot.com/2007/02/using-google-earth-to-create-maps-part.html
Google Earth is free. So is use of its bbs.
On a very minimalist level, I have
I’ve used Google Earth to find put-ins and take-outs as described by guide books. Then I use the distance feature to double check guide book distances for river miles (too many use guesstimates). Pretty nifty, but I haven’t gone as far as you have. I’m hoping for a Eureka moment when I get out to a couple of places I’ve checked and let the relationship between my computer screen and kayak paddle click in my mind.
- Big D
My primary use has been to find places
camp, the launch and retrieve sites are pretty well defined most rivers I fish. On lakes, it helps identify places a bit better. Overall, while useful, I find the definition a bit limiting. Would like to zoom in more. Also, the images are sometimes way out of date by the time they are published on Google, especially for rivers.
Windows live local
I use windows to locate places we want to travel to which of course includes kayaking. there are several good free programs out there including World Wind.
Only limited use.
I’ve used it for locating put in spots, gathering in my mind where I was that day, where I’ll go, etc. But don’t rely on it for finding dangerous areas. It’s usually way out of date, and every heavy rain/flood condition can change a river dramatically. I was out for the first two times last week (unseasonably nice weather) and the river is completely different from last year, as far as tricky spots. Also, rapids and other tricky spots change dramatically with water level. The river I use most, for example, is actually easier to navigate now that the water is high, than when it was low last Fall. High water can hide a lot of dangerous boulders, otherwise just under the surface in low water.