To prepare your routes, navigate, and orient yourself correctly in the mountains, it’s essential to know all the elements you can work with, so you can prepare your itineraries with precision and detail.
Today we will review: maps (and their types), tracks, waypoints, and finally, roadbooks.
MAPS
Maps are the foundation for preparing and navigating your activities. Whether you plan your activity in Land, navigate it on your GPS or in the TwoNav App, you should ensure you have the most suitable map for your activity and the terrain you will cross. As you’ll see, you can use a wide variety of maps. Here are the different types:
Topographic Maps Represent the terrain relief with contour lines. They include useful information about the area (trails, peaks, springs...) |
Orthophotos Georeferenced aerial photographs of the Earth’s surface, allowing you to distinguish the type of terrain at a glance. |
Street Maps Specific information on urban and interurban roads. Usually vector-based, these maps are designed for on-road navigation and include streets, roads, directions, points of interest... |
Relief Maps Digital elevation models containing only elevation information. Necessary to view any map in 3D mode. |
RASTER VS. VECTOR MAPS
The main difference lies in their structure: raster maps are bitmap images made up of pixels, like a photograph, while vector maps are created from individual entities like polylines, points, or polygons, allowing you to zoom in without losing visual quality, unlike raster maps.
Vector maps usually contain additional information organized by layers, which allows for more detailed and structured data manipulation and analysis. They also enable easier search for information within objects and layers, as well as quick route creation with Land’s ‘FastTrack’ feature, and automatic navigation with route calculation on GPS and the TwoNav App. Raster maps, on the other hand, are designed to be easier to understand and visually interpret.
ONLINE VS. OFFLINE MAPS
When you head out on a route, it’s important to understand the advantages and disadvantages of each map type so you can use the most suitable one for each situation. Online maps offer more up-to-date information but require an internet connection to load data in real time. In remote areas, such as mountains, data connections are often unstable or non-existent, which can leave you without access to maps in critical moments.
Therefore, having an offline map downloaded to your device that does not rely on an internet connection is the safest option for mountain activities. If you want to learn more about different types of maps, read the following article.
TRACKS
A track is an itinerary made up of a sequence of geographical points that mark the route to follow or that has been covered. Each track point includes data on distance, altitude, coordinates, and, in most cases, times as well.
You can record a track using a TwoNav GPS, the TwoNav App, or manually create it with the PC/Mac software Land.
ROUTES VS. ACTIVITIES
Although both are track files, usually in *.TRK or *.GPX format, at TwoNav we differentiate routes from activities for better organization. In Land, TwoNav GPS and the TwoNav App, you will find these two categories:
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Activities: Routes you have recorded in real time with a GPS or the TwoNav App while doing a physical activity such as hiking or cycling. During recording, data on speed, distance, and altitude, among others, is captured. Activities are used to analyze your performance and progress.
- Routes: These are routes you plan to take or have downloaded from other sources (friends, the internet...). They are routes that include points of interest, directions, and shortcuts that you can follow during an excursion.
In summary, a route is a guide you can use as a reference for a future excursion, while an activity is a record of what you covered during one of your outings.
WAYPOINTS
A waypoint is a point defined by geographical coordinates (latitude and longitude) and altitude. These points are used by GPS navigation devices and route planners to mark locations you want to highlight on the map, such as a shelter, spring, forest, peak, or town...
To facilitate the organization and management of your waypoints, they are arranged in waypoint collections, which we call ‘Waypoint Files’. Typically, a waypoint collection includes individual waypoints from the same geographical area. You can customize the properties, appearance, and attach files to your waypoints if you wish.
ROADBOOKS
A roadbook is an enhanced track with additional information such as waypoints, descriptions, or images at specific points along the route.
This allows you to enjoy nature safely, as while navigating, a TwoNav GPS or the TwoNav App will alert you in advance about events, maneuvers, caution points, and alternates along the way, enhancing your navigation experience.
Tip: If you have a waypoint collection for the area you will cover, turn your track into a roadbook by dragging the waypoint file over the track.
EXERCISES
Now that you know all the elements you can work with, we suggest creating your first roadbook with Land.
- Create multiple waypoint collections with waypoints from different categories.
- Create a roadbook with points of interest and mark the key maneuvers of the route.
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