# Weather and seismic links...know any? How about topo and other maps?



## mycrofft (Oct 31, 2012)

Care to share the links to map, weather (radar and satellite), earthquakes and tremors, and anything else having to do with tactical planning?
Here's one:

http://www.goes.noaa.gov/


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## mycrofft (Oct 31, 2012)

*NESDIS hazard mapping fire and smoke product*

http://www.osdpd.noaa.gov/ml/land/hms.html


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## mycrofft (Oct 31, 2012)

NOAA Environmental VIsualization Lab
http://www.nnvl.noaa.gov/
Right now there are two shots of eastern seaboard comparing manmade lights before and after Sandy.


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## bigbaldguy (Oct 31, 2012)

There's a really cool ap that shows earthquakes in real time.

Had it on my old iPad but now I can't figure out which ap it was sorry.


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## mycrofft (Oct 31, 2012)

Here's a prompt-time map for Nevada-Calif seismicity with faultkines drawn in, quakes display for one week.
It's cool to save a series of them then show as a fast slide show, like a flip pad animation.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqscanv/


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## mycrofft (Oct 31, 2012)

Central USA

http://folkworm.ceri.memphis.edu/recenteqs/index.html


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## flhtci01 (Nov 3, 2012)

Besides NOAA, I like to use www.wunderground.com.


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## mycrofft (Nov 4, 2012)

wunderground is good, check the worldwide sea temp map which shows tropical storms and typhoons/hurricanes.


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## lightsandsirens5 (Nov 4, 2012)

WeatherTap. http://www.weathertap.com Simply amazing. Especially so if you are an absolute weather nut like me. They also have a smartphone app.

And I really, really, really like the Pro Weather Alert app. I know it's available in the play store for Android. I'm not sureif there is an iOS version or not.


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## silver (Nov 4, 2012)

I get instant USGS updates on my phone and email.


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## mycrofft (Nov 4, 2012)

I miss TERRASERVER.COM.  You could look at topo map AND aerial photos for a given area. They took it down.

Now we have Google Earth for photos but no topo maps.

The NOAA daily "Current Events" site was made unavailable to the public at least. GREAT for spotting things like smoke spread fro fires, dust storms, snowfall areas, flooding. Showed the San Bernardino Mountains fires (Southern Calif) blowing past New Guinea


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## Jelf (Nov 5, 2012)

mycrofft said:


> I miss TERRASERVER.COM.  You could look at topo map AND aerial photos for a given area.



Gmap4 is like Terraserver only better.  It uses a Google map interface and shows:
* Google aerials (select Satellite or Hybrid)
* High resolution topographic maps for the USA (select “t4 Topo High)
* Vector topographic maps for Canada (select “t5 Canada”)

Full disclosure time.  I am the developer of Gmap4.  This project is part of my way of ‘paying it forward’. Translation: Gmap4 is free for non-commercial use.

The following link opens Gmap4 and displays a zoomed in topo map (with variable hill shading) for Windy Hill State Park just west of Denver:
*(I wanted to post a link here)*

Click the “t4 Topo High” button in the upper right corner to change the base map.

Rightclick the map to see coordinates (in various forms) for the spot you clicked and to get draggable directions.

Play with the Menu button.  You can search, overlay a UTM grid, get the current magnetic declination, draw on the map and save a GPX file and more.  The search tool accepts addresses, many place names and most reasonable ways to write a latitude longitude (WGS84 datum).

Anyone can make a link that opens Gmap4 with any basemap and shows any location. Simply use zoom/pan or Menu==>Search to make the map look the way you want it to look. Then click Menu ==> “Link to this map”. The link that is displayed will reproduce the same map you see on your screen.  You can email that link, include it in a forum post, put it on a blog or website, etc.

You can build a Gmap4 link that will display KML, KMZ, GPX, TPO files.  It can also display Google “My Places”maps and a delimited text file format I designed.  The files can be hosted almost anywhere online.  During Sandy the weather service published several KMZ files.  I made Gmap4 links to display those files and posted those links here and there.  People could simply click the link and see the forecast storm track, wind forecast, surge forecast, etc.  Those links were extremely popular.  

For example, the following link displays a KML file that shows trails in the vicinity of Groton, MA.  The map opens with the UTM grid turned on.
*(I wanted to post a link here)*

Gmap4 understands about a dozen link parameters.  Each one has a default value.  If a link parameter is going to use its default value then you can shorten your Gmap4 link by not including that parameter in the link.

Gmap4 is a browser app (not a native app) and runs in most browsers on most devices from desktops to smartphones and everything in between.  The browser has to be online.  Gmap4 does not have any offline capability.  Gmap4 automatically senses when it is running on a smartphone and displays phone friendly buttons.

Gmap4 is based on the latest version of the Google Map API (Application Program Interface).  That API is supported on the following browsers:
    IE 7.0+ (Windows) *
    Firefox 3.0+ (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux)
    Safari 4+ (Mac OS X, iOS)
    Chrome (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux)
    Android
    BlackBerry 6
    Dolfin 2.0+ (Samsung Bada)

The Gmap4 homepage has a FAQ, examples, quick start info (in the Help file) and more to quickly get you up to speed.  The latest beta code lets Gmap4 work more like a dedicated GPS. Click “Beta” on the homepage menu bar for more info and a link to the beta version.

Gmap4 default map: *I wanted to post a link here*

Gmap4 homepage:  *I wanted to post a link here*

Joseph, the Gmap4 guy 
Redmond, WA


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## mycrofft (Nov 6, 2012)

Thanks!

I sort of shrugged them off earlier, but handheld device app are I guess important (yeah, I know, I'm too OG). How about more of them?


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## Summit (Nov 8, 2012)

USA Photomaps is free software from here: http://jdmcox.com/
It will download terraserver USGS topos and aerial photo maps for permanent offline access on your computer.


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## mycrofft (Nov 8, 2012)

Summit said:


> USA Photomaps is free software from here: http://jdmcox.com/
> It will download terraserver USGS topos and aerial photo maps for permanent offline access on your computer.



But "Terraserver" was taken down years ago.?


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## Jelf (Nov 8, 2012)

The original Terraserver was renamed Microsoft Research maps.
That service went offline this year but has now come back online.

The aerials around my home are 20 years old and the servers can be slow.

Do a google search for msrmaps


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## mycrofft (Nov 8, 2012)

Alright, one of my all-time favorite sites. I use it in conjunction with GOOGLE EARTH.

edit:  the speed is probably quicker by a factor of five.
Oh, BING maps took over the function.


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## Jelf (Nov 8, 2012)

Funny thing about Bing.
When I zoom in all the way on my house the most detailed aerial is about 20 years old.  It shows a huge tree we took down back then.:rofl:


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## AK_SAR (Nov 16, 2012)

*InciWeb*

For wildland fire information try InciWeb:

http://inciweb.org/


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## mycrofft (Nov 21, 2012)

*How about GOOD road condition links?*

Or bad ones?


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