TheSamba.com :: View topic - How to find cool places to camp with google maps.

Thu Jun 16, 2011 8:36 pm

Where I know there is legal free forest service camping I'll often times use google earth to scout out locations then punch them into my GPS.

I'll usually look at google earth in map mode and zoom way in to find small roads, then switch to satellite mode to be able to see where trees and soil/rock changes are, and then I'll also check the "terrain" view which has the topography lines.

So, step one, find small road, like this one.

Then click the sattelite button in the upper right of the map image so you see this.

Then you need to switch back to the map mode, and then mouse over the box that says "traffic" under the satellite icon on the upper right corner of the map, the 3rd option down is "terrain", click that and you'll get a full topo map of the area that you are thinking about camping in, like this.

So you can see that you'll likely be spending the night up near the end of a canyon with a nice view to the south 8)

Fri Jun 17, 2011 9:29 am

Awesome technique, perfect for national forest and BLM land. How do you get the GPS coordinates from Google maps?

Fri Jun 17, 2011 10:53 am

Another great resource is the Google community forum http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php/Cat/0

I can usually find someone one there that has posted some good links and data about interesting sites to upload into your Google Earth program. If you find great spots, this can also be an excellent place to share. Unless, you want to keep it secret for a while, then just send them to me!!! :D

Quote: Awesome technique, perfect for national forest and BLM land. How do you get the GPS coordinates from Google maps?

The coordinates are located at the bottom of the Google Earth screen and traces lat. and long. locations as you move your mouse on the map.

Fri Jun 17, 2011 12:20 pm

woggs1 wrote: How do you get the GPS coordinates from Google maps?

I haven't figured that out yet, I usually just zoom in on the google maps a bit, then zoom in on my GPS a bit and repeat till I am looking at the same little road on both then tap on the GPS and click "go". It seems like there should be some way to get coordinates from google maps though.

EDIT- D'oh!! I should have read the next post, thats easy!

Fri Jun 17, 2011 12:48 pm

Thanks for posting your methods.

I will admit to having used GIS to find camping spots...

Fri Jun 17, 2011 2:44 pm

Gis can be very useful, but software is scarily expensive (well i get a free student licence for ARCgis at school) and finding the right maps and data can be hard and/or expensive (most of whats free is way more tecnical and specialised stuff), at least over here. Google earth and other similar services are very useful tho.

Fri Jun 17, 2011 3:07 pm

Well, there's Google Earth (application) and Google Maps (browser-based).

As mentioned, Google Earth shows the coordinates at the bottom. In Google Maps, you can get the coordinates by activating that feature:

Go to Google Maps. In the very upper right corner, click on the gear symbol, then click Maps Lab:

Scroll down and enable LatLng Tooltip and/or LatLng Marker

Results are in decimal format. Dunno if you can get DMS format without converting...?

Fri Jun 17, 2011 3:33 pm

we do that too. look at google maps and google earth and scan for green. zoom in and check it out.

Noticed Mt. Graham in AZ that way. it looks like a nice place to meet son & fam for camping together.

when I was thinking about driving my van to CA to visit my daughter, I "drove" it first on google maps and decided not to. more a time and distance thing than lack of adventure.

Fri Jun 17, 2011 4:03 pm

excellent info!

and once you narrow down the area you are interested in on google maps, type campgrounds into the search window and it will drop pins all around the field of view where known campgrounds exist. This includes primitive free campsites, dont know how to distinguish them.

Once I find the name of a campground, I ask my gps to find it by name, and often it does.

I also like to use my Benchmark Maps California Road and Recreation Atlas, which shows campsites as teepees

Fri Jun 17, 2011 4:04 pm

Another way to get coordinates from google maps, just right click on map, then get directions to or from here. it will place the coordinates in the window on your left. It gets buggy if you are zoomed too far and you are trying to place the point on the map near a road. It will automatically place the point on the road even after you move it. I don't think you'll have this problem if you are in terrain mode (vs map or satellite mode)

Fri Jun 17, 2011 4:15 pm

awesome info here! time to call in sick for the rest of the summer! spots to find/explore!

Fri Jun 17, 2011 6:11 pm

chimivee wrote: Well, there's Google Earth (application) and Google Maps (browser-based).

As mentioned, Google Earth shows the coordinates at the bottom. In Google Maps, you can get the coordinates by activating that feature:

Go to Google Maps. In the very upper right corner, click on the gear symbol, then click Maps Lab:

Scroll down and enable LatLng Tooltip and/or LatLng Marker

Results are in decimal format. Dunno if you can get DMS format without converting...?

Sweet!

Fri Jun 17, 2011 6:14 pm

aswah wrote: awesome info here! time to call in sick for the rest of the summer! spots to find/explore!

I think I'm coming down with a mild case of ebola, I better go on a road trip

Fri Jun 17, 2011 8:08 pm

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4...ogle+earth

Sat Jun 18, 2011 7:48 am

Here's an unknown favorite. It automatically zooms to the area of Google Maps where your IP address is located. It has all the Google Maps features plus USGS Topo Maps and some others as well. You can click on the hiker, biker, skier, or runner symbol to see what others have posted.
http://www.mtbguru.com/

You can upload your GPS routes here too. Once a route is uploaded, the Google Earth icon is activated as well as profile info.
http://www.mtbguru.com/user/profile/2882