Mapping/Imagry
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Mapping/Imagry
Heading to the bigwoods tomorrow for Saturday's opener. And have been looking over the aerial's of where I hunt. Unfortunately I haven't been able to put the boots on the ground that I've wanted to the last couple of years. Fortunately for me my long time hunting friend, before he moved to Idaho last year had started to apply Dan's scouting Technics. Actually he was the one who told me about The Beast videos a couple of years ago and was trying to get me into it. Again unfortunately due to other life issues I didn't have the time. But he had found 2 really good buck bedding area's. So Ive got the info and I'm plenty familiar with the area, although I haven't been in that specific area in awhile. It got me thinking I've been using Scoutlook hunting app for a few years now, but after reading the other hunters on here. Who has the most updated images, and the best hunting apps out there?
- Drenalin
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Re: Mapping/Imagry
I'm pretty sure most of the mapping apps out there are using Google Earth imagery. I personally use OnX and love it, but I've heard good things about Gaia (spelling may be off) and one called Alpine Hunt that I believe is only available for android. Caltopo is a great free resource on your PC.
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Re: Mapping/Imagry
Thank you
- headgear
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Re: Mapping/Imagry
You kind of have to look around, the above mentioned sites plus google, bing, checkout the county gis maps, or sometimes the state had good photos. They all kind of rotate so you have to kind of know what is happening in the area and then "hunt" down the latest and greatest images. They for sure don't update every year or even every 2 or 3 so sometimes you have to make due with what you find.
- BKMississippi
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Re: Mapping/Imagry
I use Cal Topo. I find it user friendly. I'm able to view topo and aerial, and it's east to overlay. Good luck.
- CattailCommander
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Re: Mapping/Imagry
I use a combination of OnX, Cal topo, and county GIS maps. The county GIS map has 2ft contours which is nice for finding small little rises in elevation in marsh/swamp areas and the map is definitely in the fall so its easier to make out different features.
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Re: Mapping/Imagry
Caltopo is my go-to on the PC. Like was said...you can easily switch between topos and aerials and such. As well as Google's standard map which I use to find the area based on roads and such before switching to a topo or aerial.
Some areas I play with Google Earth to try to get different seasonal views to get an idea of habitat.
Some areas I play with Google Earth to try to get different seasonal views to get an idea of habitat.
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Re: Mapping/Imagry
Thanks again, am hoping to find something recent enough, there's some 3 year old cutting's that aren't showing up on Scoutlook
- stash59
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Re: Mapping/Imagry
I think it sometimes depends on how active the logging industry in an area. And if the county foresters are involved. An area I'm always looking at in the bigwoods gets updated pics about every 2 years on GoogleEarth. Most other areas 4-5 at best. As far as I can tell CalTopo, HillMap .com, and the little I've seen of Onyx. They all get their photos from GoogleEarth. Most of the county GIS aerials I've seen can't compare with GoogleEarth for quality. Unless their getting them from GE.
Might be best to check with the county forester to get the most up to date info, but that may just be the rough drawing they do for the bids of the timber sales.
Might be best to check with the county forester to get the most up to date info, but that may just be the rough drawing they do for the bids of the timber sales.
Happiness is a large gutpile!!!!!!!
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Re: Mapping/Imagry
Thanks for the info everyone
- checkerfred
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Re: Mapping/Imagry
If you’re on iOS topomaps+ is pretty good too. Their pro subscription gives you large tile caching downloads of both aerials and topo maps.
Google earth is good on the desktop but on mobile phones it doesn’t show or give the option to show winter maps unless it’s winter
Google earth is good on the desktop but on mobile phones it doesn’t show or give the option to show winter maps unless it’s winter
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Re: Mapping/Imagry
I use a combination of County GIS, CalTopo and of course Google Maps & Earth. Google also has "My Maps" (https://www.google.com/maps/d/) that works great on my phone. It is just Google Maps but they allow you to draw on it. You can't get crazy because they have a limit to the number of points and lines you can draw. I put that on my phone and use that in the field. There are so many free resources, I can't imagine paying for something like OnX. Research and plan your hunt ahead of time, have a short list of places you want to go and plug it into My Maps. Free & effective. One thing that is really useful on CalTopo is the False Color IR. It really helps me see differences in vegetation types; you should check that out.
This is a really a whole ball of wax to really learn how to take advantage of the free data that is available. Most counties, states & at the federal level have different types of data that can help you on your hunt, research the land, see historical data, find different types of data, like the False Color IR, etc. Sometimes I dive into that on property I don't know, but I'm good with the easy/basic stuff on property I'm somewhat familiar with.
You can also create your plan in Google Earth, save it as a KML, and import it in Cal Topo or Google My Maps. KML helps you get data into and out of different systems.
This is a really a whole ball of wax to really learn how to take advantage of the free data that is available. Most counties, states & at the federal level have different types of data that can help you on your hunt, research the land, see historical data, find different types of data, like the False Color IR, etc. Sometimes I dive into that on property I don't know, but I'm good with the easy/basic stuff on property I'm somewhat familiar with.
You can also create your plan in Google Earth, save it as a KML, and import it in Cal Topo or Google My Maps. KML helps you get data into and out of different systems.
- 88jeep
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Re: Mapping/Imagry
Drenalin wrote:I'm pretty sure most of the mapping apps out there are using Google Earth imagery. I personally use OnX and love it, but I've heard good things about Gaia (spelling may be off) and one called Alpine Hunt that I believe is only available for android. Caltopo is a great free resource on your PC.
I use to use OnX a lot on my phone but a couple of updates ago the app lost most of the layer options that it used to have. I got the Gaia app a couple months ago and I really like it. It has a lot of layer and base map options and the maps work offline without having to load and save them prior. That is huge to me, because there is no cell service in my favorite hunting areas.
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If it was easy it wouldn't be an accomplishment.
If it was easy it wouldn't be an accomplishment.
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Re: Mapping/Imagry
88jeep wrote:I got the Gaia app a couple months ago and I really like it. It has a lot of layer and base map options and the maps work offline without having to load and save them prior. That is huge to me, because there is no cell service in my favorite hunting areas.
Google Maps also has a (free) solution for using maps where there is no cell service. Assuming you know the general area you are going to hunt, before you leave home,navigate there in Google Maps and then you can download the data for offline use. That's what I do; about half the places I go don't have cell service. This guy has a good tutorial on doing that. https://9to5google.com/2018/04/06/googl ... id-basics/
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