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To users, Nothing!                    Last modified on: Friday, March 11, 2011

Who Pays for all this?

Unlike my prior career as a software developer, retail pay stinks.
I had to find ways to try to make information available without losing the homestead.
 
As you will see below, many items were from vendors at a discount or "free".  I sell GPS and mapping software for a local outdoor store.  Vendors like to make it easier for the people that sell their products to have personal experience with them.  It goes a long way towards helping learn the products and being able to answer customer questions.
None of the items were worth "selling my soul for"!  I continue to sell other GPS units/software to customers whose needs were better met than those from vendors offering incentives.

Websites
 In the past, all of the websites I've created didn't cost me anything beyond having internet service!
  • My first site on earthlink.net gave me the ability to provide people free access to my information.
    • Thru my wireless broadband provider Sprint. ($45/month) No Longer used
  • My MSN spaces accounts allowed me to provide slide shows of trail pics for free.
    • MSN included with dial-up service from Quest  ($13/month) No Longer Used
  • My MSN Groups account allowed me more space and the ability to have messages etc.
    • I'm not sure if this is included via MSN or just free to anyone.
  • My current website on Microsoft Office Live gives me enough space to handle all of the data from the other sites.  It gives me my own domain GeoBiking.org  Yearly domain registration required $.
  •  
    Current internet service is via Qwest DSL - higher speed than Sprint Wireless for similar price after fees.

 Sotware:

  • ESRI ArcGIS 8 - Student Discount - $100 - status: expired
  • ESRI ArcGIS 9 - Instructor donated Free - status: expired
  • National Geographic TOPO! - vendor discount
  • DeLorme 3DQuads - Colorado - $100
  • DeLorme Sat10 - Bundle w/Xmap 3 - $100
  • DeLorme TOPO USA 6 - Beta testing - Free
  • DeLorme Topo USA 7 - vendor discount
  • Brunton MapCreate TOPO - Incentive - Free
  • GPSbabel - Open Source - Free
  • Garmin City Navigator - about $80 as bundled w/discount
  • DeLorme Xmap Editor $810 (Want to obtain)
  • Adobe PDF Writer $450 (Want to obtain)
  • GPX2IMG Garmin Map Overlay creator $20
  • DeLorme Topo NA - Beta testing - Free

     

    The DeLorme Xmap Editor would allow me to use external maps e.g. BLM/Forest Service/Parks and GIS data etc.

     

Mapping Expeditions:
Local trails I can ride from home to explore.   Other trails require using my gas hog Chevy truck.  I picked up a new hitch receiver carrier to allow me to tote the bike around w/o tearing up the bike seat etc sliding around the bed.
($120 + tax on sale)
 
The high price of gas puts a damper on a lot of mapping trips.
GPS:
  • Garmin 76 obtained via pro-form from Garmin. (reduced cost)
  • Brunton MNS - Brunton sales incentive - Free
  • Garmin 76CSX - Garmin sales incentive - Free
  • DeLorme PN20 - alpha/beta testing - Free
  • Garmin Colorado 400t - Sales incentive - Free
  • DeLorme PN40se - Beta testing - Free
  • DeLorme PN60se - Beta testing - Free
  • Spot Satellite Communicator - Beta testing -Free ($130 / year ongoing)

Other Hardware:

  • Ram-Mounts $15 each + shipping
  • Garmin 76 Mount $17
  • Brunton (Ram) mount $35
  • New Bike $600 + tax + acce$$orie$
  • Bike Maintenance ($150-200/yr)
  • Batteries ---

Time

For new areas, I do some researching of online/other maps to learn what trails are out there.  I then often create a "planning tracklog" using available data and Topo USA.  (Tracing out a track based on landmarks on other maps.)  I upload this tracklog to the unit to help guide me on the trail.  Usually takes 2-4 hours.  I usually try to group trail exploration into loops to maximize coverage.

 

The typical ride usually takes 3 - 8 hours.  Takes time to mark spots & take pictures along the route.   I sometimes pass the same jogger(s) several times......

 

Post ride processing is time consuming:

  • Downloading & naming photos
  • Downloading waypoints & tracks.
  • Editing waypoints to conform to my standards.
  • Creating a custom tracklog by hand to best reflect the trail turns & twists within 250 points.
  • Creating spreadsheet documentation with hyperlinks.
  • Creating text documentation - stopped doing this
  • Modifying info for all trails that are connected to new trail.
  • Converting data into the formats I supply on site:
    • GPX
    • DeLorme - includes downloadble map
    • Garmin Map overlay
    • National Geographic
  • Editing of Google Earth data.
  • Gathering all the changed info together
  • Uploading photos, files, website updates

Post processing steps still apply when making updates to existing trails!