Fat Boy Deluxe

So I created a new page on the blog called Maps (see the tab above).  I thought it might be a good central repository for keeping my *.gpx files of the outdoor stuff I’m doing.  Right now I don’t have a whole lot up there, just a few bike rides, some snowboarding, and one run.  It will get more populated as I remember to take the GPS unit with me more often.  I’ll also eventually put up some of my other maps I’ve made, trying to document some of the trails, like the Private Reserve (PR) for example.

The little inline maps are created using a nice little plugin called XML-Google-Maps.  All you do is create a link to your *.gpx file and the plugin sees the link, takes the file and creates a Google Map out of it.  Then it also strips out the information to create an elevation chart below the map.  Pretty slick stuff.  It has a bunch of options that I haven’t really started messing around with yet.

Previously I’ve used GPS Visualizer to create maps from *.gpx files.  The site is an awesome resource for the mapping community or GPS users.  The ability to add overlays to maps is great.  It’s always nice to be able to see your tracks on Google Maps, but it’s even nicer to be able to see those tracks with a topographic or USGS overlay.  I’ll still use this site, as it’s so customizable and so much more full featured than the little plugin, but the plugin does the basics well enough.

Anyway, have fun.