SOTA Mapping Project
_logo.png){kind=logo}
SOTA Mapping Project (SMP) is a website offering mapping resources for radio amateurs participating in the Summits On The Air (SOTA) awards program. It aims to provide comprehensive mapping information in graphical form based on Google Maps, on summits included in the program; both for participants in the program and for the general user.
The site is built and maintained by a small group of radio amateurs with interests in SOTA, hill walking and mountaineering, mapping and open source programming.
Features
The site has five main mapping pages, each providing different sets of functionality.
Main page
This is the page most often used, since it is referenced directly by links from each of the SOTAWatch Summit pages.[1] In addition to being able to view various SOTA Associations, Regions and individual summits, the page offers the exporting or downloading of such data in GPX (for import into a GPS device) or KML (for importing into Google Earth) formats.
Range page
The Range page provides tools with which the user can perform various distance-measurement tasks. The most often used of these is the "range" facility itself - the user can input a central location in one of several forms - latitude/longitude, Maidenhead ("Grid") Locator, or an address or place-name - and will be presented with a map showing which SOTA summits lie within a (user-defined) distance from that location. Export of data for the summits so found is also provided.
Tracks page
The Tracks Page allows the user to view, draw, or upload tracks or walking routes leading to SOTA summits. The three main sets of options are:
- View user-defined tracks on map - view tracks generated by users of the system.
- Draw track on map - using custom drawing tools, the user can draw a favourite track leading to a SOTA summit.
- Import track from file - the user can import a track (in GPX format) to a SOTA summit which he/she has recorded with a GPS unit.
Export of tracks data for the summits is also provided.
Activations page
The Activations Page allows the user to view his/her own, or others', SOTA activations displayed both on the map and in tabular form. At the time of writing (4th January 2014), this page is in test phase.
Spots page
Presents the latest SOTAWatch Spots[2] - data are refreshed once every minute. Each Spot as it arrives is presented in the listview on the right-hand side of the main map. Clicking on an entry in the list will cause the map to navigate to the summit mentioned in the Spot and an information window will open, listing all Spots reported for that summit within the time-frame of the query.
Additional mapping tools
Each of the five mapping pages, in addition to their specific functionality, also feature a set of map tools common to all. These are situated at the top of the map area in each of the mapping pages.
- Panoramia - displays pictures associated with the mapped area from Panoramio;
- Weather - displays local weather information, from Google Maps API Weather Services, for locations on the map;
- Clouds - displays cloud-cover over larger regions of the earth, also using information from Google Maps API Weather Services;
- Position - shows latitude/longitude and Maidenhead Locator at the mouse-pointer; also features a full dynamic Locator grid, showing greater detail as the user zooms into the map;
- Open Maps - allows the user to choose in addition to, and as replacements for, the standard mapping styles from Google Maps, one of two extra mapping styles provided by the open source mapping community: Open Street Map, or Open Cycle Map Normal.[3]
- Day/Night - shows day/night shading and sunrise/sunset terminator superimposed on the mapping area. This is experimental, and results cannot be 100% guaranteed, but give nonetheless a very good approximation of the sun/terminator position.
References
- ↑ "SOTAWatch Summit pages". Sotawatch.org. Retrieved 2014-01-05.
- ↑ "SOTAWatch Spots". Sotawatch.org. Retrieved 2014-01-05.
- ↑ "Open Cycle Maps". Opencyclemap.org. Retrieved 2014-01-05.