Basic Steps for Creating a Map

In getting started with BackCountry Navigator, we review the basic steps you use to create your own map for outdoor recreation.

There are a few basic steps involved in creating a map, in generally this order.

Create and name a map datafile. 

While this step may seem too trivial to mention, it is important. Many people get confused if they try to download a bunch of map data and then name the file. You can also become frustrated if you cancel out of naming the file, and then find that some menu items aren't available. If so, just choose Program->File->Create New. 

It is recommended that you choose a file on your storage card for most capacity. If you are doing this with the Desktop Edition, create the file in a folder that you will remember to find. You can copy it over to your storage card later, and it will be ready to go.

Find One or More Reference Points for the Map

Finding one or more points of interest first helps you determine what area your map should cover. This does not have to be a tedious process; you can often find some points of interest for which you don't have to type in each coordinate.

These are ways you can define points of interest:

Select Regions to Download  


Now that you have some points on the screen, you can easily choose where you want to sculpt a map. Your map doesn't have to be a perfect rectangle, and it doesn't have to be small either. Choose Action->Select->Type_>Rectangles and then tap the screen multiple times to select some rectangles.

Don't worry if the rectangles overlap, and don't worry if they overlap some data you've already downloaded. BackCountry Navigator can filter out any duplicates.


Choose and Download Map Imagery

Once you've chosen some areas to download, use the menu item Action->Select->Download Maps. You will be able to choose from Topo, Aerial, and Urban map tiles at varying levels of detail.  Let this run for a while, and you will have created your first map.

Loading Topographic Maps and Aerial Photography

BackCountry Navigator can also load topo maps and aerial photos by a choosing a center point and size. Here we see an example of acquiring maps for a flatwater kayak trip.

Recreation Maps and your Pocket PC

A Pocket PC is a convenient portable device for carrying maps. In conjunction with a GPS, it can also be a good device for mapping your location. BackCountry Navigator takes advantage of these capabilities and allows you to create maps useful for outdoor recreation.  

BackCountry Navigator has a simple and painless process for creating maps on your Pocket PC. It was designed to work autonomously from the Pocket PC whenever you are connected to the internet, whether by WIFI, through modem, or via ActiveSync.  

From the Data screen, you tap the button to download Terraserver data. TerraServer USA is a public compilation of USGS topographic maps and Aerial Photography from the United States. If you are not familiar with them, you can visit them at terraserver-usa.com. However, you will not ever have to visit the website to find the data that BackCountry Navigator will load and use.

 

Here are you are asked to pick a center point and size of region. Note you do not have to pick a particular quarangle, county, and state.  You can pick a rectangle of arbitrary size.

Since you don't have the longitude and latitude of a favorite place memorized, you use the PlaceFinder dialog to look up a place by name. The PlaceFinder will search a database of USGS place names over the internet for a place named 'Lewis River' in the state of Washington.  

As usual, there is more than one possible entry returned, but there is information to narrow down the search. In this case, I know that I am looking for a stream, not an airport, and I wish to have the adventure in Clark County, not Skamania County. As I select the first row in the grid, the corresponding coordinates are filled in above.

After defining the size of the region, you request topographic data, aerial photography, or both. Each of the map layers are downloaded from the TerraServer web service.

Once the process is complete, you will have created a very useful map for this area. To see examples of what it will look like on your screen, go to the next section.

Features of BackCountry Navigator Maps:

  • Topography: In contrast to the street maps you'd find in most Pocket PC Mapping software, BackCountry Navigator uses the USGS topographical maps that you've used as paper maps in camping and hiking. You can use resolutions of up to 1:4 pixels per meter, equivalent to the most detailed 1:24K paper maps.  
  • Aerial Photography: Also available from USGS data are grayscale aerial photographs of much of the United States. Where available, these maps show detail up to 1:1 pixels per meter, allowing you to see the area and nearby buildings as if from the air.   
  • Free Internet download: You won't need to buy a subscription service nor buy CD Roms for every state and region you plan to visit. The program uses data that is publicly available. No need to pay any more once you've purchased the software.  
  • No need to calculate your own: Coming up with your own maps based on images from scanned paper maps elsewhere requires a tedious editing and calibration process. There is no need for that in BackCountry Navigator.  
  • No Desktop Software Needed: Most software programs require interaction with the desktop in order to prepare maps for the Pocket PC. Maps are downloaded and edited on the desktop and then copied. In BackCountry Navigator, the maps are downloaded to your Pocket PC.  

Creating a Map File

One of the first steps in using BackCountry Navigator is creating a map datafile. This file will contain all the images, places, and waypoints that you will use for an outdoor adventure in a particular area. You can create as many as you need, name them anything you want, and use one of them at a time.

When you first run BackCountry Navigator, you will be prompted to choose a filename for your first adventure with BackCountry Navigator. Do not be initimidated by this choice, you can always create more later. For best results, choose a storage card or builtin storage for the location.

Also when first started, the trial screen will appear. At some point, you may want to get rid of this dialog by purchasing the software and entering a code. For now, press  the Skip button to enter the program.

If you have not chosen a filename, not all the options will be available to you.

Do not panic if you see these screens; simply choose New... from the Data page to choose a filename. Once you have chosen a file name, more options will be available to you on the Data screen.

Coming up, we will load map data into this file.

Importing GPX Waypoints

BackCountry Navigator imports a variety of waypoint files in the GPX format, allowing you to benefit from GPS waypoints that are freely available on the internet.

Geocaching files are not the only waypoints available on the internet in GPX (GPS Exchange) format. Often you are able to find shared waypoints from people who have been to your destination, marked points, and made helpful notes.

The map below is an area surrounding Celebration Park and Halverson Lake in Southwest Idaho. Initially, it had no waypoints. GPSTrailMaps.com had a great page with pictures and notes on this area. It also had a GPX file for download. When I imported the file, I then had the waypoints shown on the right.

 

Each of the waypoints from the file has descriptive notes that let me know what to see along the way.

As of 2.0, you can also bring in any recorded tracks from the GPX file.

 

Adding USGS Places Data

You can instantly download geographic places from the USGS database, marking important features on the map at the touch of a button.   

From the Data page, choose Download next to USGS Places Data. An hourglass will momentarily appear as data is downloaded from an internet server. That's all you need to do. You will then see that the map is now populated with a number of symbols. While some of them are other symbols, many are a small triangle.

Data Tab on BackCountry Navigator

To find out what each of the places are, you can turn on Labels under Places in the View menu. You can also select a point by tapping the screen and selecting the name of the place in the Point menu. A dialog will appear, where we see that this is the historical Indian village of Chathalpotle, encountered by Lewis and Clark.  

 

 

Defining Regions to Download

BackCountry Navigator allows you to start a download by defining regions on the map screen and then choosing from topo maps, aerial photography, and urban areas color photography, where available.

While the method of choosing a center point and size still works, you are able to better define an area for download by making selections on the map screen. This is the preferred way to start a download. When doing this, it is helpful to define some points of interest first. 

If you don't already have known coordinates in order to define some waypoints, the easiest thing to do is add USGS Places through the placefinder. You can reach this by using the Find button on the Data Page.

Here I'm looking for a spot, Paradise Point State Park, WA, that I know is a few miles up the Lewis River. When I select this on the list and choose okay, the place is added to the map. I can repeat the process and find the Lewis River as well.

For ease of use I zoom out until I can see them both, and turn on Labels for Places. I then use the Action-> Select -> Type menu to change the selection type to Rectangles. With a few taps on the screen, i define some overlapping rectangles.

I can then choose Action->Select->Download Maps, which brings up the Download Region dialog.

The maps available are public domain imagery from Terraserver-USA. You can use any valid internet connection to download. The most common are:

  • Data service from your cell phone provider: this is often the most expensive, and slower than other methods, but is available at your
  • Wifi network: This is a higer bandwith connection available form your home network or an internet hot spot.
  • Connection to Internet Connected Computer:  This is common, easy and cheap. Downloading while connected via cradle or cable will use your computer's internet connection.

The types of maps you can use are:

  • Topo: These are USGS topographical maps equivalent to the paper maps at 1:250K, 1:100K, and 1:24K scales. This imagery is available in virtually all parts of the US up to 4 meters per pixel.
  • Aerial: These are black and white aerial photographs, available in most parts of the US up to 1 meters per pixel.
  • Urban: These are detailed color photography, available in select metro areas in the United States, up to 0.25 meters per pixel.

To see the availability of these image layers, see the coverage map at http://www.terraserver-usa.com/.

You can also choose the level of detail - and how fast you want to use up your storage card with the map data:

  • 4m: Uses approximately 64K per square mile
  • 1m: Uses about 512K per square mile.
  • 1/4m: Uses about 8 Megabytes per square mile, when available.

Once you've made your choices and pressed the Start button, the dialog will count up to the number of tiles needed, then show the progress as it downloads them. Each tile uses up approximate 8K in your database file. If an area does not have a certain imagery, such as Urban tiles, then you will see it count back down to zero as shown on the right.

 

You can now see that you have both topo and aerial imagery downloaded.

If you pan to the edges of the region you defined, you see that it fades from the higher res imagery to the lower res imagery. This is normal and due to the way these tiles overlap in multiresolution views.