Category: Outdoor Gear
Explorer mapping on Bing Maps
10th February 2009 OS mapping has been available on the likes of Streetmap and Bing Maps for a good while now, but Landranger 1:50000 data has been as good as it got so far. Intriguingly, a recent foray onto Multimap revealed an OS button on its interface, but maximising the scale after using it revealed a surprise that had an air of familiarity about it: Explorer 1:25000 mapping.
This has its uses for surveying countryside regarding walking opportunities, but does nothing to replace the full armoury of functionality that you get from a specialised digital mapping application used for the likes of route planning, for example. Even so, I am not sure what has happened to unleash Explorer mapping for free from an advertising-supported web service, but it does raise an interesting question in my mind.
Anyone who has ever used digital mapping software may have met up with the surprisingly large price difference between 1:50000 data and its 1:25000 counterpart. Drawing from my own experience, it is very striking with Anquet, but far less so with Quo. The availability of 1:25000 mapping on Multimap does bring visions of cheaper 1:25000 data because, in the current economic environment, I cannot imagine that Multimap has been splashing out to that extent, even if it is now owned by Microsoft.
The idea of less expensive mapping data is an appealing thought, but that never means that it is destined to become reality. Even so, there is now a free alternative to splashing out and that might moderate prices if nothing else will. After all, how many use the full functionality of dedicated mapping software? Honestly, I cannot say that I do; surveying possibilities and recapping where I trod is as far as things go for me. Then, it is onto paper maps while I am following trails.
Stark warnings
9th February 2009 While out on a trot from Langdale to Ambleside on Saturday, I spotted a stark notice on a gate. It was on a path leading towards the Langdale Pikes and issuing a strong message that ice axe and crampons were needed above 300 metres in height; I was staying low with plenty of hillside bereft of snow while the white stuff made itself plain to see at higher altitudes. Of course, there have been fatalities on the "Pikes" so the strong wording was not without good cause. It was also a reminder of similar unfortunate outcomes in Wales and Scotland. I can't say that I have heard of anything like this from Ireland, but something tells that full winter conditions must be blanketing those hills too.
The trouble with official warnings is that we have seen so many that could be termed an overreaction that heretical thoughts begin to percolate into your consciousness not long after you have seen the warnings. There are those who issue shrill warnings without they being truly needed, acting in a manner akin to the shepherd boy who cried "Wolf!" in the Aesop's fable. This time around, I am inclined to think that the "wolf" is real and have got to moderating my usual questioning. This is for a number of reasons. First, the warnings were coming from mountain rescue folk, and they didn't overreact to events around the time of the OMM in Cumbria when a deluge came from the heavens and caused raging roads to turn into rivers. The other chastening observation supporting that suspension is that there have been those serious accidents and fatalities.
Another factor in all of this is that we have been spoilt with the milder winters of late. Apart from the shorter days, the occasional spell of snow and ice or a storm, winter walking became perhaps no less accessible than at any other time of year. In contrast, this winter is a sharp reminder that what we have enjoyed of late isn't always the case and preparedness for winter walking can be another matter entirely. The whiteness is attractive, but there's a certain "here be dragons" element lurking too, particularly with inexperienced folk being drawn out to enjoy the prettiness. That could be the reason behind the advice given by the head of the Lake District National Park last weekend, particularly with the school half-term holidays and their bringing more folk with many perhaps without the requisite equipment, knowledge, skills and experience (the LDNP is between a rock and a hard place: in these trying times, they need the visitors, yet safety remains vital too).
Speaking of experience, assessment of conditions is a big part of it, and any disparity between those on high and those in the lowlands makes it tricky unless you have some experience of being up high in the first place. For instance, snow coverings among the hill country lining the Cheshire-Derbyshire boundary are measured in feet while those on the Cheshire plain are inches in thickness if they lie at all. Increasing the height differential can only exacerbate that sort of difference and entrap the unwary. Saying that, it doesn't take much to realise that any whitened hills look very different to the green valley bottoms with their icy patches due to paths having turned into stream beds; that was very typical of the Langdale that I encountered on Saturday. Mountains and hills do make their own weather, and it seems that winter conditions bring that into sharp relief.
The warnings and the fatalities can make one feel that they are on the outside of a different world, looking into it. They certainly challenge any perception of readiness for winter conditions and set you to thinking, particularly about those who have been left behind by those deaths. That certainly is the case for me, but barriers should be overcome carefully rather than allowed to stop you in your tracks. Even so, the mountains won't melt away overnight, even if the snow does.
Update 2009-02-10: It now appears that winter conditions have gripped some of Ireland's hills too. In fact, the Irish public service broadcaster RTÉ has a report on two men lost on Lugnaquila, Wicklow's highest mountain with a height of above 3000 feet, after dropping their map in foggy conditions. They have been out all night and mountain rescue teams are searching for them, but there is a glimmer of good news: mobile phone contact has been maintained throughout. Let's hope it all ends well.
Good weather for trying out warm jackets
2nd February 2009 The snow has found its way across to Cheshire within the last 24 hours. Buses weren't stopped up like in London, though things did feel a little too slippery on the way home. That was enough for me to press an old pair of Salomon boots into service for negotiating the snow-covered streets of Macclesfield, a job that they did well. This kind of weather needs that kind of footwear; some may use wellington boots, but they are not as versatile or as warm.
Another item has that came in for a lot of use in the last few days has been a Mountain Equipment Lightline down jacket that I managed to find in the January sales for a third off the original price. I haven't had it long, but it came in time for the current burst of cold weather. My initial impressions were that it wasn't as warm as my TNF Nuptse, but there have been times when I overheated in that jacket and the Lightline did keep out that cutting south-easterly that visited us over the weekend. That easily suffices for most of my purposes.
In fact, I now think that the generosity of the fit might have swayed my assessment. The pernickety might criticise a certain lack of finesse in the finish department, but it's good enough for me. The zip isn't the smoothest of operators and has potential to be the greater irritant, but I can overlook that given how well it works otherwise.
Otherwise, there's a lot to like: generous pockets and an outer shell that keeps the down dry in most conditions are those that I find most useful. Given the amount of rain we get in Cheshire, that is a major plus point. A detachable hood comes too, as does a stuff-sack. I can't say that I have used either, with my detaching the hood reflecting my preference for hats over hoods in all but driving rain. All in all, it does the job for which I bought it, while the Nupste can be saved for much colder days.
A useful discovery
19th January 2009 There are times when you learned something new that you wonder why you didn't find it before. My discovery is that I have in my possession a part of boots that take crampons, even if their maker recommends emergency use. The boots in question are the Scarpa ZG10's that have featured on here a few times already; I think that I may be beginning to get a handle and making them fit me better, so long as laces don't loosen, that is. Apparently, they are rated B0/B1 and that means that they can take flexible crampons like Grivel's G10 New Classic (classified as C1). The result of that revelation is that any barrier to a greater enjoyment of those ephemeral episodes when white wonderlands greet us has lowered just a little for me. For my tentative steps forward, it looks as if the Scarpas have a little more to offer, and I intend to treat the possibilities in a manner to acquiring a first SLR camera: there are advanced functions that allow you to grow and advance, but a spot of learning is in order first. I suppose that I need to watch that recently acquired BMC winter skills DVD before proceeding any further. I may not need new boots, but I need to know what I am doing with crampons before attempting to use them to avoid doing anything daft, overly adventurous or unsafe. A journey continues...
Revisiting the subject of Irish digital mapping
9th January 2009 If you were to ask me about digital mapping for the Irish Republic this time last year, you would have been told about OSi's Trail Master DVD's. They may not have covered the whole country but what they did was nothing to be derided. Perhaps unsurprisingly, things have changed a lot since then. For one thing, it is now possible to find all of OSi's 1:50000 Discovery mapping available for free on the web. I must admit that I came across it by accident and after I had used the "City" zoom level (yes, that's what they call it). The quality of the rendition may feel imperfect but it is hard to argue with there being no cost involved.
What brought this re-visitation about was the announcement before Christmas that Trail Master mapping was coming to GeoLives. Then, I didn't have the time to explore what this meant because of the pre-Christmas necessities but I have been able to set that to rights now that we are in 2009. For many, the mention of GeoLives might demand some explanation. Put at its simplest, it provides digital mapping much in the same way that Anquet and Mapyx do it: while you used to have to buy Trail Master DVD's from OSi previously, you can now download the same data and more from GeoLives.
There is more to GeoLives than Irish digital mapping and it features Belgian, Dutch, French and Swiss data too. In fact, the organisation is based in Luxembourg and was established last year as a collaboration between a provider of geographic data (STAR-APIC) and a specialist in internet applications (Géomatic Ingénierie). Of the countries whose data are included, it is for France, Switzerland and Éire that there is mapping most relevant to walkers.
Like Anquet and Mapyx, Windows-only software can be downloaded for working with any downloaded maps. For users of alternative operating systems like OS X and Linux (that's the one I mainly use at home), there is a web-based application for performing the same functions as the Windows application and there's nothing to stop your using it on Windows either. GeoLives calls the former the PC Editor and the latter its Web Editor. The reason for the use of the word "Editor" here is the inclusion of route planning capability in both and I can vouch for inclusion of place searching functionality too. I cannot say that I have been testing out the route planning pieces so far but they look similar to what you find with offerings from the main purveyors of British digital mapping. With the Web Editor, there is the possibility of sharing your routes with other GeoLives users.
A €15 tariff needs to be paid before you can get going with the service. Since I already owned Trail Master mapping, I could use my OSi login credentials and even had pre-acquired Trail Master data made available to me online without need for payment above and beyond the subscription.
Buying mapping works on the principle of using up credit that you have purchased beforehand; it's available in €10, €20 and €50 denominations. Then, you can buy maps by the tile or bundled in Supermaps. Even if you don't make any purchase, certain large scale maps come as part of the subscription but these are little use to the walker. Once tiles are bought, they become available through the web application and can also be downloaded too within 48 hours of an email containing the requisite link being sent to you. Downloading the data for offline use is something that I have found troublesome with time outages blighting the experience; the fact that we are talking large files here doesn't help matters, even if they are wonderfully crisp in their appearance. GeoLives would appear to have some way to go before the process becomes as painless and that with either Anquet or Mapyx. For now, it's just as well that there is the web application.
In summary, this is an interesting service that I hopefully will continue to explore. As I intimated earlier, I have yet to try out the route planning side of things and I would like to see data downloads become far more reliable than they currently are. Despite this, it could be that GeoLives becomes a purveyor of digital mapping for all of Europe and it seems to have made a good start. Let's hope that it continues to grow and to improve.
