USGS Free Maps

The word 'free' drew me in as I read the newsfeed from The Goat. Maps and free. Great combo. The fact that I had never been to America was beside the point, and a trip to the U.S. Geological Survey was called for.

Direct links time out, so a bit of navigation was needed. Then off to Sharpsburg, but finding one in Georgia instead, I still sampled the topothingamy maps via their map locator. They cover some of Canada too (maybe for the invasion).

Once you zoom in enough to an area you are interested in, you can download a map and view it in Adobe's PDF Reader. There's an additional toolbar that you can download, adding more functionality, and the ability to link back into Google Maps.

With the cursor, you can get accurate WGS 84 Lon/Lat readings. As well as measuring areas and lengths (the Paradise Lakes are about 3,152 feet long), magnetic bearings are given. That could be a useful feature for trekking by compass. Remember to add, or is it subtract, the variation.

If, like me, a GPS unit is the main navigation tool after a map, there is GPS support and a lot of information in the help file.

I don't know if this is the level of detail for maps in the USA, or if there is something approaching what our own Ordnance Survey produces. Right enough, though, the 1:24,000 map that I'm looking at was last revised in 1982. I'll need a closer look at some places. Upstate New England I think.

Test from Flickr - Take 5

Test from Flickr - Take 5, originally uploaded by dimacleod.

Flick via Flickr. Tested resizing sent image to 800x600 then sent via Flickr, which is set to publish via Blogger at 500 pixels wide. If it works.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Yes, Sir, She Can Boogie

It may be only Monday, but here's my vote for video of the week.

I'm still reading Peewiglet's trail diary of her GR20 trek in Corsica.

Letter from a Region

Sent from the Scottish "region" to the BBC iPlayer people:

Sunday 3rd August: BBC2 Scotland 1800-1900 "The Adventure Show"

Programme listed as "Not Available". As it covered the annual mass-hike of the TGO Challenge, which is open to all nationalities, and not just the Scottish "region", perhaps there's a simple reason why the programme is "Not Available" on iPlayer?

Some people chomping at the bit to watch it were  there, in shot, eg http://alansloman.blogspot.com, and others just want to see it, eg http://walkaboutuk.blogspot.com.

As you don't broadcast the programme to the non-Scottish regions, the iPlayer is the only chance people have to watch it. Short of paying money to your competitor, Sky.

Duncan

One of the chaps running the Cape Wrath marathon said he'd moved to Scotland after competing in the marathon. What a shame that instead of filling the schedules with reality shows, we don't get to see so-called regional programmes. As I commented elsewhere, I had the same problem with "Wainwright's Walks" when finally shown on BBC2 Scotland. It is worse for local languages (eg "Tir is Teanga"), which are so poorly advertised in the English-speaking schedules that some people miss them completely. In the TV-listings, an arts programme will often be scheduled as merely that, but Ealtainn recently covered a couple of artists (a photographer and a poet) who walked the length of the "Long Island". Previous series have included a history of the Lordship of the Isles.

I suppose the iPlayer gives the BBC a chance to truly become the British company that it's name proclaims.

And the rain ceased

And after 40 hours and 40 minutes, the rain ceased. The clouds lifted slightly and light came down upon the Earth as the fading embers of the Sabbath day passed unto memory.

The Adventure Show TextCommentary

Me: Did you remember to set the recorder for the adventure show?

Him: Yes, days ago. Set to keep as well.

Me: It started on time. There was Martin.

Him: What about me

Me: Half o face obscured by fishing boat mast. Beside Dawn. Mark Alv's on now.

Him: Saw Martin.

Me: So far better coverage than I thought.

...

[gear section with Chris Townsend starts]

Me: Watch for the midges

Him: Oi, Chris isn't that small

Me: He'd commented on how bad the midges were n walking into loch to escape them.

...

[sfx: play loud music to drown out interview]

Me: Did the bellringer follow the challengers?

Him: Bellringer O_o

Me: New Englander saying what Freezerbag Sarah said about hiking in the US mainly in woods so no view. I recognise the unnamed 1st year chaps. One reads my blog

Him: Bob just been on is a great guy

Him: Mr Grumpy

Me: The [larger] of the two?

Him: No, bearded guy

Me: I'm losing track

Him: 5555555

....

Ended with some chatter about the new DVD that Cameron mentioned across on his blog, spotting John Manning, Chris, Kenneth Knight, Alan and Phil. I won't bother with the usual nit-picks. Others can do that. At least the BBC decided that the 29th year of this massive duration event was worth covering, and what was shown was a good cross-section of people. Well done to all involved.

Death in the Air

The croft was strangely quiet. A solitary wood pigeon perches statuesquely atop the windvane, eying the leftover rice. "What's up?", i ask the Old Man. "There's a pair of buzzards nesting in the Castle Grounds." As i looked back out, the vane was empty, rice untouched. Walking round the side of the house, a small black dot is visible against the thunderous clouds. My eyes, drawn by the motion quickly makes out the ragged wing-ends. Only seagulls are big enough to risk taking to the air. Behind me, the cat is sitting on a fence-rail, waiting to pounce on birds moving close to the ground. Every cloud has a silver lining for the hunter.

TGO band in the UK

Programme on Radio 4 just mentioned on old band called "The Great Outdoors". I'll need to look them up. They're talking about John Peel being a brand. I wonder if that makes the fans a branded community?

Continental Fair

On the westernmost edge of Scotland, a fair is advertised as 'Continental' and then 'European'. It is probably both, and to confuse matters, i buy some wasabe coated peanuts. Also some salami stuffed with olives. My Dad sticks with the tactic of hardly moving from the central spot as he chats to people he knows. On a hot, cloudy day, it is a sensible ploy. Off to one side of me, 2 ambulance crew load a slowmoving gent into the back of their vehicle.

Not quite another SPOT-killer

Webware is a useful service to subscribe to. Overnight there were about 6 items of news2.0 to look at. This one caught my eye:

Online travel communications retailer Telestial has just launched Travel Journal, an online service that automatically creates an online trip journal based on the location of the user's phone. Using a special SIM card that triangulates the user's location using cell phone towers, Travel Journal automatically updates in more than 100 countries.

Full article at: Webware

I hope we see more of these useful features being added to mobile phones. Obviously, the difficulty is receiving mobile phone connections in the wilds. Something that SPOT recognised, and so set up their own system to negate that issue.

You can, of course, send your own email link to your blog, and have it appear as a flag on Google Maps (see earlier post). With GPS hardware appearing in more and more mobile phones, the search for the killer geo-application goes on. But it will be difficult to sell an application to the outdoor community whilst signal coverage is so poor. But, who cares about it? It is good to get away from people texting about problems at their work and how rubbish tv is.

One solution that I heard of to taking the world with you in your mobile phone was that the wife gave him a pay-as-you-go SIM for his phone. Work didn't know his new number, but he could call out if he needed. He had a great time painting watercolours in France.

Coldplay Blocked in the UK

Here's another sign that Earth2.0 is screwed up. I go to look for an appropriate video clip for Darren and stumble across a Colplay video hosted by Capitol Music of YouTube. It tells me in a pink bar "this video is not available in your country". A band from London can't be played in the UK.

I investigate further, and find that I can see their main page, but clicking links merely returns me to their homepage. Capitol punishment indeed.

What a joke this Web2.0 is turning into. If some legal issue means I can't watch a video, don't waste my time by displaying the channel in the first place. I don't want to see their stinking badges or adverts. If you're a dinosaur, go and play in the nearest tar pit, and let the mammals get on with trying to use the tools that technology is providing us.

Oh, and here's the link to the Coldplay tune. Enjoy it if you can. Tough squidgies if you are in the UK.

Winner of the Comments Race

The recent comments race has been won by "version 8", the googleData feed. In 2nd place was the Atom feed, "version 2". The more observant will have noticed that I removed other versions a few days ago.

Although some were fast to collect the data from Blogger, the relay via RSS to the user was slow. E.G. when using Yahoo!'s "Pipes", I could refresh the program after writing a comment, and the code would show it on the screen (along with the previous comments), however the delivery from Pipes, via RSS, to the blog page was slow. Checking with other bloggers via text, and via other browsers, I got the same story.

As I mentioned here recently, there was no reply from Google/Blogger to the causes of these delays, and I can only surmise that it is volume of traffic causing it. Sometimes it took 3 hours for the sidebar element to pick up notification of an updated comment. Sometimes less time.

This all started when Blogger failed to notify me of new comments, and then I noticed how long it took for updates to appear in the sidebar element. In the end, to see who had left recent comments, I resorted to watching the number of comments change below the blog post. Hardly a 21st century solution. So the search started.

And now, to end with a quote from Mr Adams:

"we have normality........ anything you still can't cope with is therefore your own problem"

source info - what a shame that the Guide's warning is covered over by the BBC's guff. Says it all about the respect that megacorporations have for the customer. Go on, panic, the BBC wants you to! Now, where did I leave my towel?

Yup, back to normal. My faith in Web2.0 megacorps has been shattered by this, and another recent event. But life goes on. Who cares. Earth2.0? No thanks. It'll be filled with management consultants and telephone sanitisers...oops. Play the closing tune, Satchmo.

Another Tarp Convert

Covering an area of about 9 foot by 9 foot, the Mountain Laurel Design Spinntex Mid is a winner with my parents' cat. Dry inside, when i open the door, some water drips in. There were some big flies inside, lurking at the top, but no midges. I'd still not trust it without a net during the season . As for ticks, i'm not sure if they get under the integrated edging nets. I've taken the tarp in overnight, and want to see how it copes with strong winds.

Tipi Tarp - take 3

Not quite got the hang of it, but close enough for nephew and niece to start playing in it. I'm still left with about a foot of one corner out in the air and relying on the regular guyline, but it is calm inside the tarp. Except for two kids playing hide-and-seek with the mosquito netting.

Hot on the Croft

It's a bit warm out in the sun today. Always wear sunscreen.

The MetOffice WebCams are Dead

I lament here the passing of the Met Office's webcam scheme.

Started in an age before Web2.0, they provided a 360' view of the land around a few chosen weather stations. Over the years the numbers dwindled. And today, a prompt reply to my query told me that the scheme had become commercially unviable and had been withdrawn.

The few English and Welsh cameras had been withdrawn over the years, and we in Scotland had been the beneficiaries of the remainder. We could point people towards glorious sunsets, snow clad lands and the occasional Met Office subby coming to do some maintenance work. Viral advertising for my homeland.

What a shame that, unbidden, Visit Scotland did not step in and say "Lo, it shames me that we can not show off our land in this way", and pass on some coins for the upkeep. But that is not the way the world works, and we were lucky to have enjoyed such a service for so long.

From you, sweet Scotland, there comes forth
a cause to sing your praise across the earth.

In the meantime, TrafficScotland have some cameras watching the roads (and even some outside the Central Belt!). They aren't 360' views, and you can't just look up and stargaze. But it's better than nowt.

Sunny Stornoway

Flat crossing despite winds.

The Triumph Tree

As ever, i stopped off in the Ullapool Bookshop in Ullapool. For a book. Usually i in into a bookshop with a book in mind. This shop is different. It has an exceedingly good stock of books about Scotland. The people, the place, the history, the languages and every sort of facet imaginable. And because Scots ran the Empire, many regions of the world are covered too. So, i go in and buy a book that i didn't know about before entering the shop. Today it is "The Triumph Tree: Scotland's earliest poetry AD 550-1350" ed by Thomas Owen Clancy. The sources obviously cover Latin, Welsh, Gaelic, Old English and Norse. Even the glossaries are packed with information. Now, is Nudd Hael Welsh, in which case it's pronounced 'nith'. Here's me in the middle of the Minch trying to remember who the Jomsviking were. Were they the ones who settled around here? I think this is going to be fun.