ON THE NEW SITE ONLY

I just added a new, experimental map background. It uses vector tiles, which is a different technology than all of the other map backgrounds available. There is still some tweaking that I have to do, but you can try it out. It is listed on the map backgrounds menu as "Paddle Planner Vector (experimental)." Feel free to offer feedback.

The background should look similar to the default Paddle Planner background, but the different technology offers a lot of promise for features I want to add in the future. A couple of additions are rocks in Manitoba/Ontario and lake bathymetry (lake depth maps) in Minnesota/Michigan/Ontario.

The lake bathymetry mostly works, though there are a few issues I still have to work out. The bathymetry is shown by differing colors and in 3D when zoomed in. It is not perfect, but it is a lot of fun to play around with.

The biggest issue right now is that a good graphics card is needed to keep it running smoothly. It runs really well on my desktop that has a graphics card. On my laptop, it freezes once in a while, though it unfreezes when the CPU catches up.

I have been trying to fix the Cirrus Lake problem. Cirrus gives bathymetry in 1-meter intervals instead of 3 or 5 like the others.

The source data in the U.S. is mostly from The National Map, though the wetlands are from the Fish and Wildlife Service. Bathymetry is from the various state departments. For the US, I only have bathymetry for Minnesota and Michigan. The other states did not offer it in a vector format.

Ontario has a robust open data program, which is where I got that data. Manitoba also has an open data program, but there is much less available.

Edited by user Sunday, November 7, 2021 4:01:15 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Originally Posted by: arnesr

Thanks. I might have to look through the Ontario data again, as it appears they either updated it or I missed it when I looked about a year ago. At the time I found some vector data with bathymetry, but the bathymetry consisted of scanned images manually overlaid on lake outlines. It was not very detailed nor accurately placed. This appears to be much better quality.

I don't remember the Ontario bathymetry data being there before, either. I have looked but could not find it in the open data. It used to be in their FISH ON-line application, but it was not publicly available. I'm not sure when it was finally made available, but it is there now.