Announcing bushwalkingmaps.com

[Allchin09]

I've long loved maps and have spent countless hours collecting, researching and using them.

I have used SIX Maps since it went live and then the handy maps.ozultimate.com version for the extra features.

Inspired by that work, I've spend the last many months working on my own version which I'd like to share with bushwalkers here

http://www.bushwalkingmaps.com

The idea was to try combine as many mapping layers as I could think useful into the one place. Most of it is NSW specific but some layers are national or global. The data comes from various sources, mostly state government servers but also ESRI, OSM providers, NLA, etc. I also have layers coming from my own server such as tilings of maps which haven't previously been georeferenced along with new datasets I've created such as stream gauges and crown land road sale proposals.

There's also a few other features link being able to draw, upload or download geojson and save/share via a link.

I've put together 20+ GIFs on the github page which give a run down of the various layers which are currently available.

https://github.com/gangerang/bushwalkers-topos

I've also attached a few screenshots of layers.

Some of my favourite include:
- crown lands and government layers (to find areas where you can walk that aren't obvious on the normal maps)
- sentinel 2 SWIR which shows recently burnt areas
- geology layers for finding canyons
- detailed ESRI hillshade, really makes the terrain pop
- strava, for finding hidden tracks
- historic topo maps, for finding those features which are no longer on our maps

I'm always adding new things and welcome feedback and feature requests, so if you have the time check it out and let me know what you think

[johnw]

Well done Alex! Must have been a lot of work to put it together, thank you for sharing it.
There are so many features and options I was getting lost and overwhelmed by selecting too many things .
But I worked out to just select one option and try it, then build on that if you want to add more detail.
Some very interesting looking layers, I've already unearthed some extra detail of a mystery track that I know in my local area.
I'll definitely be exploring the tool further. Love the location, watercourse and GNR searches .

[Allchin09]

Thanks for the comment John, yes, it can be a bit much!

You'll note the Bruces Walk map (under Other Historic Maps) which I added based on your article and subsequent discussion

[crollsurf]

Thanks for putting that together. It's unreal, comprehensive and must have been a big effort. Plenty of maps I was totally unaware of.

[snowygreybeard]

Brilliant. Thanks heaps. Great access to a lot of historic stuff. Now I have to georeference some aerial photos!

[jonnosan]

this is awesome! thanks Alex!

[johnw]

You'll note the Bruces Walk map (under Other Historic Maps) which I added based on your article and subsequent discussion

Thanks, yes I did notice that along with various other "easter egg" type surprises. I like the 1966 Port Hacking map too as RNP is in my wheelhouse.

[Allchin09]

Thanks for putting that together. It's unreal, comprehensive and must have been a big effort. Plenty of maps I was totally unaware of.

Yes, so many out there. https://mapsearch.nla.gov.au/ I found to be pretty neat. I'll have to suck in a few more from there.

this is awesome! thanks Alex!

Enjoy

Brilliant. Thanks heaps. Great access to a lot of historic stuff. Now I have to georeference some aerial photos!

Yes, the aerial photos are a great resource. The way that NSW Spatial Services had displayed them on their map viewer was very annoying (had big squares which all overlapped each other, which make sense in theory but didn't work well in practice and also had many broken links) so being able to combine them and Geoscience Australia is handy. I've had a few goes at trying to produce georeferenced image mosaics with the images using drone image processing software but without success. I think there's commercial software that can do it though. I'll have to try again.

[quote="Allchin09" I like the 1966 Port Hacking map too as RNP is in my wheelhouse.

I'll look to start adding more of these historic maps, I've previously been working on adding more of the various other layers

[snowygreybeard]

.....
I've had a few goes at trying to produce georeferenced image mosaics with the images using drone image processing software but without success. I think there's commercial software that can do it though. I'll have to try again.
......

Using QGIS and using current aerial imagery from either sixmaps or google earth I've had good succcess georeferencing if there are some common features in both images (eg old building, bridge, creek junctions). Unfortunately tops of peaks are pretty useless usually.

[Allchin09]

Yes, it's ok using a single image, but I'm wanting to try stitch many together into the one larger seamless mosaic. I guess you could try georeferencing each individually but I know there are programs which can do it in a better way

[yeverett]

Thank you Alex, love what you have done on http://www.bushwalkingmaps.com. Very useful! Thank you for all the work you have done on this, much appreciated by hikers (aka bushwalkers) and all of us who like to look at maps old and new!

[Allchin09]

Thank you Alex, love what you have done on http://www.bushwalkingmaps.com. Very useful!

Glad you're finding it useful! And yes, I love all our old maps.

[GBW]

Great work!

[Prospero]

This is brilliant work. Such a great resource! Especially useful after the 2019-2020 catastrophe. I can overlay the fire severity layer and plan trips to undamaged remnants accordingly. Love the 1st ed topos too.
Thankyou Alex
James

[Allchin09]

Especially useful after the 2019-2020 catastrophe. I can overlay the fire severity layer and plan trips to undamaged remnants accordingly. Love the 1st ed topos too.

Yes, I've found the 19-20 fire mapping to be quite handy. Not that all the bush has responded from the fires in the same way, but it can serve as an indication that things have probably changed since pre-fires.

The series 1 maps are great and present well as they're all tiled together into a seamless map.

I've got older series maps but they are generally individual maps which overlap (unless you select the specific map you want to look at). The 1:50k and 1:100k are seamless as I've gone to the trouble to georeference, crop and serve these up myself. Coverage for 1:50k isn't that high though. I would like to great a seamless 1:63360 scale layer when I get around to it.

Thanks for the feedback