GeoPDFs for Wyoming riding areas now available from Wyoming State Trails Program

recreationist · Nov 3, 2016

The Wyoming State Trails Program has released GeoPDFs for the major riding areas in Wyoming. These FREE downloads are geo-referenced versions of the official Wyoming State snowmobile trail maps.

Offical Wyoming State snowmobile trail maps

You can download these to your GPS enabled phone and using a GeoPDF viewer, like Avenza PDF Maps for Android or iOS, see your location in real-time on the trail maps, save placemarks and store track logs, measure distances, etc.

I had a chance to demo these maps over the last few months and they are very nice and quite user friendly. The GIS Specialist for Wyoming State Parks has done a nice job on these so if you find them helpful, please contact the Wyoming State Trails Program and let them know.

Maybe an admin could sticky this to the Wyoming Riding Areas thread?

tmk50 · Nov 4, 2016

Glad this is finally done - had heard a few years ago this was in the works

Golanda · Nov 7, 2016

I just downloaded it to my phone. It looks very useful, thanks.

bigbone · Nov 8, 2016

How do I get that map to my garmin Montana gps

Skidoox600 · Nov 8, 2016

I love the idea, is there a way to get this into a satellite GPS, unlike a cellphone so it doesn't loose service like your phone? If so, is a special GPS required to be able to record and overlay onto this map so show up to date locations?

skibumsd · Nov 16, 2016

if you use avenza pdf maps you can download the map and most newer phones have a standalone gps chip in them so you dont need cell service to use them. I have a old iphone 5s and it has a gps chip. works great.

recreationist · Nov 16, 2016

The WY state Trails GeoPDF maps are designed for anything that has a geopdf reader (laptop, tablet, smart phone w/ Android or iOS). Like skibumsd said, Avenza works well.

The real-time mapping and tracking are possible only if you have a standalone GPS engine -- some devices use an assisted GPS and they do not work without a cell signal. I have a handful of HTC and Samsung devices and all work fine. A plug in USB-GPS for my laptop allows the maps to function on it as well.

Cheap nav unit for your sled is an old smart phone off ebay for $30, a cheap waterproof mount and these maps -- no cell plan needed so even one with a bad ESN/IMEI should work..

These maps do not easily work with "GPS" units like Garmin, Magellan, Delorme, etc. There are some "tricks" to do it like converting them to raster or geoTIFF and load them that way but the process is not straightforward.

Skidoox600 · Nov 16, 2016

Cool! I got that app Avenza, and loaded in the two maps I wanted from my Dropbox. Now it's on my IPhone 6 so when I want to use it up in the mountains, turn on airplane mode and turn off Bluetooth and such all that to save battery, and it will still track due to the GPS card in my phone?

recreationist · Nov 18, 2016

I believe GPS functionality depends on manufacturer.

I read iPhone turns off the GPS in "airplane mode" -- maybe some versions do not, or there is a way to manually turn it back on???

My Samsung Android device allows the GPS to function in "airplane mode". The first fix takes a bit longer from a cold start due to no assisted-GPS esp. if you have moved a decent distance from the last time you had a valid fix -- I do not normally have the GPS turned on for day-day use.

Skidoox600 · Nov 18, 2016

according to apple, after update 8.2 gps will still work with a 3rd party app when in airplane mode. Like to test to verify

Ron Burgandy · Nov 22, 2016

i use avenza maps in my rzr during the summer, works great on my ipad, asus 7" tablet($60 amazon) and iphone. It will be hard to use during the winter as my iphone will shut down whenever it gets a fart of cold air on it.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Raff_9001M · Nov 23, 2016

The easiest way to use a map like this in a standard GPS is to save the map as an image and overlay on Google earth. Line up the image, which can be very difficult and then you can save the overlay as a gpx or gmz (something like that anyway) and then save to GPS.

SpyderRyder · Nov 25, 2016

Edit: File size reduced so could load to Garmin GPS. I still have the larger file if anyone wants it. This file still seems to have better resolution than an older version posted in the forum since the state has provided a larger PDF map base file.

Try the attached Snowies file. I have created google earth overlay file.

NOTE: Snowest does not allow .kmz files to be attached to threads, so you will need to change the name of the attachment as described below:

1. Download the "2016 Snowies.pdf" file to your computer
2. Rename the file to "2016 Snowies.kmz"
3. Open the file using Google Earth
4. Make sure that you have your sidebar turned on (View -> Sidebar)
5. You should see the 2016 Snowies map listed under "My Places". Right click on it and select "Properties" - now you can adjust the tranparency and move the map around if you want to try to get things to line up better than I did.
6. If you have a newer Garmin GPS unit that allows you to upload custom maps follow the directions at this website starting with step #5 (I have done steps 1-4 for you)

http://www.garmin.com/us/products/onthetrail/custommaps#fragment-2

tmk50 · Nov 26, 2016

Thanks for posting - it looks like things line up pretty well. Hopefully we will get some snow soon and can try it out on the hill.

SpyderRyder · Nov 26, 2016

The file is too big to load in my Garmin Montana. I'll reduce and repost later.

Done, it looks good on my Montana (at least in my living room)!

schmidty89 · Nov 30, 2016

SpyderRyder said:
Edit: File size reduced so could load to Garmin GPS. I still have the larger file if anyone wants it. This file still seems to have better resolution than an older version posted in the forum since the state has provided a larger PDF map base file.

Try the attached Snowies file. I have created google earth overlay file.

NOTE: Snowest does not allow .kmz files to be attached to threads, so you will need to change the name of the attachment as described below:

1. Download the "2016 Snowies.pdf" file to your computer
2. Rename the file to "2016 Snowies.kmz"
3. Open the file using Google Earth
4. Make sure that you have your sidebar turned on (View -> Sidebar)
5. You should see the 2016 Snowies map listed under "My Places". Right click on it and select "Properties" - now you can adjust the tranparency and move the map around if you want to try to get things to line up better than I did.
6. If you have a newer Garmin GPS unit that allows you to upload custom maps follow the directions at this website starting with step #5 (I have done steps 1-4 for you)

http://www.garmin.com/us/products/onthetrail/custommaps#fragment-2

Ive used a image overlay before and had to stretch and skew the map to fit. I downloaded yours at it seems to be a perfect fit, It seems like you reduced the map down to the albany area. is it hard to edit i normaly do not have any troubles with these kinds of tasks.

SpyderRyder · Nov 30, 2016

schmidty89 said:
Ive used a image overlay before and had to stretch and skew the map to fit. I downloaded yours at it seems to be a perfect fit, It seems like you reduced the map down to the albany area. is it hard to edit i normaly do not have any troubles with these kinds of tasks.

It took a little while to stretch and get it lined up. Garmin requires to convert the PDF to a JPEG file that must be less than 3 MB. I cropped the JPEG to help reduce file size and keep from having to compress it too much. I wanted to keep better quality for viewing the riding areas on the mountain

schmidty89 · Dec 1, 2016

Ok that rings a bell from last time. Is 3 mb the total max of max or for each file. I'm pretty happy with my old snowys image. Most of it matches up but would like a few of my other ares. Found it was a little easier if you have a few trail intersections and common points already pinned.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

SpyderRyder · Dec 1, 2016

schmidty89 said:
Ok that rings a bell from last time. Is 3 mb the total max of max or for each file. I'm pretty happy with my old snowys image. Most of it matches up but would like a few of my other ares. Found it was a little easier if you have a few trail intersections and common points already pinned.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

3 MB for each file. I have Snowies, Grand Lake and Rabbit Ears loaded and they show up fine

Plan to work on Togwotee area when I get time. Tougher though because I haven't been there yet so don't know the landmarks. Have you seen a kmz file online for download?

tmk50 · Dec 2, 2016

SpyderRyder said:
3 MB for each file. I have Snowies, Grand Lake and Rabbit Ears loaded and they show up fine

Plan to work on Togwotee area when I get time. Tougher though because I haven't been there yet so don't know the landmarks. Have you seen a kmz file online for download?

I have Grand Mesa and Clark/Steamboat Lake if anyone wants those.

TK

GeoPDFs for Wyoming riding areas now available from Wyoming State Trails Program

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