lake mead

I don't know what a Stan Jone's map is but we wrote to the Dept of Wildlife in Nevada and they sent us all kinds of boating info, including a nice map of the lake...
 
Jody ... since you're a "computer person," do you know of any charting/cartographic programs that permit a person to select lake water levels to get a better picture of a lake's shoreline?

With reservoirs (e.g. Lake Powell) the variation really change what you're looking at!

Any ideas?

Best,
Casey
 
Casey":3r5uk2sj said:
Jody ... since you're a "computer person," do you know of any charting/cartographic programs that permit a person to select lake water levels to get a better picture of a lake's shoreline?

With reservoirs (e.g. Lake Powell) the variation really change what you're looking at!

Any ideas?

Best,
Casey
Click to expand...

Casey

I have seen it discussed on other boards, I have not run across one that does. I just use the contour lines and do it in my head. Seems like the manufactures could give you a lake level field in the gps and it would gray out the shoreline. I don't know if it has ever been brought to the manufactures attention. I think it would be a nice addition.
 
I've thought about the contour lines, depth sounder, and GPS working together to produce changing shoreline patterns to be viewed electronically before, but decided that it would be difficult for a number of reasons:

1. Detailed contour information may or may not be available for all lakes, and would, when available, still take some time and expense to be turned into functional data bases. This could be prohibitive to do for a very large number of inland lakes.

2. The contour maps would have to have at least a certain minimum level of definition and accuracy or the whole function would be pointless. How far apart are the contour lines, typically? 10 ft? 20 ft? 50 ft? Do they vary from map source to map source?

3. Elevations could be taken from the GPS functions and the depth sounder readings could be used in conjunction, and for comparison. How accurate are the GPS elevations? Measured depths? What would be the total +/- error? What would +/- 2 ft mean in a shallow lake in Florida? Wisconsin?, etc.

4. How useful and cost efficient would be the developed shown lake outline profiles when you can already see them through the windows? ($64 question! :shock: )

5. How large a market would there be for such a system, and would the cost of developing the data bases and subsequent (probable) limited number of lakes for which the software/data base/ mapping would become available put a limit on the market size that would therefore make any development prohibitive?

Etc., Etc.

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
Both Garmin and Navionics have High Definition maps available for a lot of the inland lakes in the country for fishing. I talked to Garmin at the Seattle boat show and they said they were doing the soundings themselves and they working on the most popular first and then down the list. I've seen places on both Garmin and Navionics were it draws me running on the shore. I'm sure some of this is just mapping errors and some is the time of day and the position of the satellites. I had a couple of surveyors outside my house one day and asked them to give me the coordinates of two of my survey marks at my house. I put them in my mapping software and the distance between the two points was 35 feet. It should have been about 120 feet. There equipment should be accurate down to like a quarter of an inch, it wasn't. Most of the manufactures have a disclaimer when you turn it on that warns you not to use the maps for navigation. You can get a lot of the lake levels off of the web that would get you close. So for all the lakes that Garmin and Navionics have in High Def they would just need a software change to do it. I don't know if it could be done or not, just think it would be nice.
 
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