measure slope/plan trips on google maps

Thanks,

I'm getting some reports of things not working for some people from friends and would appreciate it if anyone for whom the site doesn't work can let me know what it does and what browser version and os they are using so I can try to fix it....I've only tested it on my computer.

Ryan

Cool stuff Ryan! Not spammy at all... "of interest to the ski community", after all...

very nice tool. I've seen a few mapping tools show up, this is the first one I have seen with a slope angle tool.

is there a way to share the route as seen via email... for collaborating upcoming trips with touring partners?

is there a way to switch backgrounds to a USGS map like from mytopo.com?

Yeah, great stuff.  Haven't run it yet, but sounds handy - should be a time saver -  I've been using GE and the path/elevation on a manual level for some time to get a sense of line angles.  Have noticed that the 'path' feature follows the 'nap of the earth' (as it should, I guess), so somehow there is an algorithm at work.. , and so at least gives a visual on where the convexities, etc, are at.

a bit of a drift, but I've had fun recording 'flights' of routes (using the 'record a tour' button).  Besides using sticky pins to identify points of interest, I identify ski lines of interest using the 'Path' feature and saving them, then, having tilted the perspective (ie not from directly overhead), and finding a suitable bearing and range to view from, will record a tour of the area (once 'record' is on, you can get the screen panning with well timed click and drag).  That tour is saved in GE as a .kmz file which can be mailed as a link when you want to share the route with others - great visual tool.

very nice tool. I've seen a few mapping tools show up, this is the first one I have seen with a slope angle tool.

is there a way to share the route as seen via email... for collaborating upcoming trips with touring partners?

is there a way to switch backgrounds to a USGS map like from mytopo.com?

I'm working on both of these things, you have to apply to get the mytopo.com api and i think my application got lost in the mail when I tried a while ago but I think i should be able to get it now that I have an actual site.

Route sharing will take a bit of back end work but should be easy enough thanks the the flexibility of python/appengine. I am considering doing it like this and I'd love to know what people think:
* Save a route to your account (app engine lets you log in with your google or other open id account) but keep it private.
* Create a link like www.hillmap.com/route/ALNFLDFJH8nlZ (with or with out logging in) such that anyone with the link can see your route.

When you say collaborate would you want multiple people to be able to make changes to the same map...ie shared ownership or would it be sufficient to simply make a copy for each collaborator and make a new link each time you made some changes?

I could also add import/export for text based formats pretty easily if people want it.

I'm also planing on adding a feature to plot an elevation graph of your trip and can add any other plots or statistics for trips people want to that (should I graph the slope of travel as well as elevation for example?).

I've also been thinking about cookie monsters suggestion more and I think something like that should be doable for at least parts of North America using usgs etc data. I'm imagining an option to switch the right map to a heatmap of slope. The coding should be easy enough (I do a lot of large data analysis in my day job) but serving it will be a bit more intensive and will probably knock me over the free appengine hosting quotas if a lot of people start using it a lot so I might replace the google adds with some backcountry.com affiliate links or something to try and pay for this sort of thing but I'll try to keep it as unintrusive as possible. Google can't seem to figure out the site has nothing to do with the chevy avalanche anyways...

That is a lot of rambling and more then I will get done in the near future but I'll try to implement the things that seem most popular first so let me know.

And thanks for all the great feedback, I'm really happy people are finding it useful.

When you say collaborate would you want multiple people to be able to make changes to the same map...ie shared ownership or would it be sufficient to simply make a copy for each collaborator and make a new link each time you made some changes?

for collaboration I was thinking something like. I create a route with your browser mapping tool. The work is saved automatically in the URL. I simply copy/paste the URL into an email. My touring partner(s) can then see exactly what I drew... and continue editing. Then they can re-send the new revised URL (map). And so on back and forth until we map out our plan. (It would be great to easily print that too)

All the features you cold put into the browser would be great. the slope angle tool, Notes, waypoints, anything would be useful too, icons... (campsite, ski slope, trailhead).

Route sharing will take a bit of back end work but should be easy enough thanks the the flexibility of python/appengine.  I am considering doing it like this and I'd love to know what people think:
* Save a route to your account (app engine lets you log in with your google or other open id account) but keep it private.
* Create a link like www.hillmap.com/route/ALNFLDFJH8nlZ (with or with out logging in) such that anyone with the link can see your route.

My 2cents on creating an account. In the early days of sharing photos online, photo sites would require recipients to create a "quick" sign up in order to view the photos you shared a link with.... and nobody would take the time. Consider, many emails between friends are read during working hours, it needs to be quick and easy.