Google Earth overlays for the Tideway

Caroline

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Feb 2, 2012, 5:36:25 PM2/2/12

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Firstly, hello all. I know I've been gone for ages and ages, but I'm
still around really...!

Anyhoo.
Us safety folks at Thames RC got in to a bit of an email discussion
recently about building all sorts of snazzy things to use in Google
Earth in conjunction with GPS tracking of outings, mostly an accurate
file of the boundaries of the fairway to see if people are actually
steering in the correct place or not.

With the loan of a set of PDF navigation charts from the PLA (thanks
Alex!), I turned them in to JPGs and, thanks to some geekery with co-
ordinates and whatnot, managed to overlay them in to Google Earth so I
could see the official plot of the fairway. But the charts are
copyrighted, not to mention absolutely huge, so I couldn't just leave
the overlays there. Easy solution - trace the boundaries of the
fairway as a path which is much smaller. (And while I was at it, I
tagged the navigation buoys too...)

So, getting to the point...
I've put the KMZ files online for anyone who's interested:
http://www.boringboringboring.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/fairway%20limits.kmz
http://www.boringboringboring.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/navigation%20buoys.kmz

(I just tried to find a GPS track of my sculling to overlay on this,
but I've forgotten my password to the place that stores my old ones!)

What I am REALLY interested in is any ideas anyone might have of what
else to do with this sort of information, and any ideas for a useful
interface.
Anyone?!

Caroline :)

Mad Canadian

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Feb 2, 2012, 10:39:50 PM2/2/12

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Hi Caroline

> What I am REALLY interested in is any ideas anyone might have of what

> else to do with this sort of information, and any ideas for a useful interface?

I created something similar for a Triathalon Race - course maps, how
to get the event, local amenities.
Unfortunately the maps are gone now but you can see a similar map
here:
http://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=766574cc4c4042229ec1ff8938b3cad6

And someone has created one for the Boat Race:
http://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=12e5c9fdebff46a2a49b51a8be23f83e

The tool I used was called ArcGIS online, see the instructions here:

Create and Share Web Mapping Applications via ArcGIS Online -
http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisonline/help/index.html#/Sharing_web_mapping_applications/010q0000002m000000/

Ands some instructional videos for ArcGIS Online
http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisonline/help/index.html#//010q00000003000000.htm

The best part was I could add GPS files or draw lines and shapes
myself as required on the map, without worrying about the web
application part.

If you get really fancy, the same map can be used as part of a
presentation, similar to powerpoint. We used this as part of the
athletes briefing, giving them an idea of what the local area was like
and where there were concerns about traffic or access etc.
http://blogs.esri.com/Support/blogs/arcgisonline/archive/2011/05/12/embed-a-presentation-in-a-blog-or-website.aspx

Cheers
Blaine

Stelph

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Feb 3, 2012, 4:57:11 AM2/3/12

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On Feb 2, 10:36 pm, Caroline <cs2the...@gmail.com> wrote:
> (I just tried to find a GPS track of my sculling to overlay on this,
> but I've forgotten my password to the place that stores my old ones!)
>
> What I am REALLY interested in is any ideas anyone might have of what
> else to do with this sort of information, and any ideas for a useful
> interface.
> Anyone?!
>
> Caroline :)

Depends how flashy you want to get! If you have GPS data of a scull
going down the course then try this free piece of software with Google
Earth

http://hybridgeotools.com/html/active_gpx_route_player.html

You can use it to show a real time "best line" or something
similar,and you could even highlight, add pictures/videos of points of
intetrest usng the guide below

http://earth.google.com/outreach/tutorial_mymaps.html

Danger points and even camera shots of what you should see if you are
coxing/rowing would probably be useful

Chris A

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Feb 12, 2012, 4:30:58 PM2/12/12

to

On Feb 2, 10:36 pm, Caroline <cs2the...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Firstly, hello all. I know I've been gone for ages and ages, but I'm
> still around really...!
>
> Anyhoo.
> Us safety folks at Thames RC got in to a bit of an email discussion
> recently about building all sorts of snazzy things to use in Google
> Earth in conjunction with GPS tracking of outings, mostly an accurate
> file of the boundaries of the fairway to see if people are actually
> steering in the correct place or not.
>
> With the loan of a set of PDF navigation charts from the PLA (thanks
> Alex!), I turned them in to JPGs and, thanks to some geekery with co-
> ordinates and whatnot, managed to overlay them in to Google Earth so I
> could see the official plot of the fairway. But the charts are
> copyrighted, not to mention absolutely huge, so I couldn't just leave
> the overlays there. Easy solution - trace the boundaries of the
> fairway as a path which is much smaller. (And while I was at it, I
> tagged the navigation buoys too...)
>
> So, getting to the point...

> I've put the KMZ files online for anyone who's interested:http://www.boringboringboring.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/fairway%20limits.kmzhttp://www.boringboringboring.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/navigation%20buoys...

>
> (I just tried to find a GPS track of my sculling to overlay on this,
> but I've forgotten my password to the place that stores my old ones!)
>
> What I am REALLY interested in is any ideas anyone might have of what
> else to do with this sort of information, and any ideas for a useful
> interface.
> Anyone?!
>
> Caroline :)

Interesting. If you scroll through the available images you can see
that at very low tides e.g. 28th August 2002 the port hand edge of the
fairway is practically aground if not actually so