Precise navigation that is remarkably close to best-case, good visibility navigation becomes possible with zero visibility. Crevasses and cliffbands can be avoided direct navigation to hidden gullies or notches becomes possible old school “handrailing” becomes completely obsolete. downhill ski guiding) to full whiteout navigation (traverses across icefields). The end result is a route plan that will be much more useful than one created with an NTS map for anything from onsight navigation in complicated terrain (e.g. Google Earth (GE) is extremely accurate and allows for precise route planning that, like Ozi Explorer, is as easy as point and click but with the benefits of 3D View and many organisational tools.

cons: no sense of the actually geography (land cover, micro terrain steepness), organisation is a challenge.

pros: quick, visual, GUI, accurate – minimises user error.

Ozi Explorer: Import NTS mapsheets (proprietary or free via GeoGratis) Click to create tracks Export tracks to GPS unit

Map Datum, UTM conversion and entry)ĭigital, e.g. cons: very tedious and time-consuming, subject to user error as well as inadequacies in the map representation (e.g.

pros: creates an intimacy with the maps.

digital route planning Traditional: Create list of waypoints by hand with approximate MGRS coordinates (6-digit UTMs) Enter these manually into a GPS You can download the necessary software from my website, but it’s a bit dated - you are advised to hunt down the latest versions. If you like this one you light also like my article on how to make your own topo maps! But now let’s get started with Google Earth and GPSes… If you have any questions at all please feel free to contact me via my Contact Form. This article doesn’t have a lot of detail, but despite being dated it gives a valuable overview that should help you link the high-tech features of Google Earth and Smartphones with the old(er)-school robust reliability and performance of a Garmin GPS unit. This summer’s Disaster in the Alps, is a perfect case study: 10 skiers, led by a mountain guide, got lost in a whiteout as a result of relying on a Smartphone that failed to perform.

However, just as GPS units did not render a paper map and compass obsolete, neither do Smartphones, despite their convenience, render GPS units obsolete. A lot has changed over the years with respect to digital mapping technology, most notably the usability of smartphones as navigational tools. This document was used as a handout for several Continuing Professional Development sessions I conducted for the ACMG, 2012-15.

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