Hello,

I've created a map of the Sierra Nevada, focused on the SPS peaks, that might be of interest and value to members of this board. I've been working on it in my spare time for about a year and, while I don't feel like the map is finished, I'm eager to get some feedback from its intended audience.

I've used printed versions of my map side-by-side with USGS topos on some trips and while I'm not ready to say that they are better, I think they can be a good resource for the backcountry peakbagger.

You can check it out here: http://www.closedcontour.com

Thanks,
Dan

Was about to fire off some comments, but then found your blog link. As if I didn't have enough to distract me today . . . . very interested in how you pulled all this together. Your blog indicates it is not just a pretty picture.

It's beautiful, it's fast. I'd like to have a split screen example of how it differs from the usgs.
Thanks,
DG

Very cool, especially the bit about vegetation density.

Matt Worster wrote:Was about to fire off some comments, but then found your blog link. As if I didn't have enough to distract me today . . . . very interested in how you pulled all this together. Your blog indicates it is not just a pretty picture.

I'm happy to go into the gory details of how it was put together but it's probably something I'd answer on the blog because it quickly becomes more of a programming/GIS discussion than something of interest to most summitposters.

thegib wrote:It's beautiful, it's fast. I'd like to have a split screen example of how it differs from the usgs.
Thanks,
DG

Thanks. All the tiles should be pretty fast since they are coming through Amazon's CDN. I never did an actual split screen but I had a version when I was editing the locations of bad GNIS data that would allow me to quickly open the USGS topos in ACME Mapper to the spot I was looking at in my map. I can't do a direct overlay/split since my map is projected differently than most other web maps.

MoapaPk wrote:Very cool, especially the bit about vegetation density.

Yeah, I feel like this is one of the areas where my map beats the USGS topos for trip planning. Unfortunately I've only updated the vegetation styling for Yosemite and Sequoia/Kings. I don't remember off the top of my head how good the general vegetation data is for the rest of the range.

Dan

Really liking the map! Thanks for posting.

Your map is just beautiful, even inspirational for a mountaineer. Very easy on the eyes and I love the details. I have a trip planned this summer, Clyde Minaret/Mt Ritter, and I am going to have my companions use this map to check out the topography in the area.