NZ Route Guides wiki

[bernieq]

Take a look at http://www.routeguides.co.nz

It's a great resource for planning your next tramp in NZ - both North and South Islands.

Being map orientated, you can zoom in to the region you want and browse the route segments and trips that others have uploaded.

You can put segments together and download the whole tramp as a gpx for your GPS or just browse and see what's possible.

The website is relatively new so, if you've done some tramps, join up and load your tracks for others to access.

BTW, I'm not associated with the website, other than having contributed a few trips.

Attachments

From the home page of RouteGuides.co.nz - zoom in for great detail

[icefest]

I have thought about mapping the Moors guide routes on Google earth, but gave up at the amount of work involved. This is pretty cool.

[GBW]

Nice maps. Why don't we have this sort of thing available in Australia?

[icefest]

Tasmania does.

NSW are trying (but the end product isn't as nice).

[bernieq]

Tasmania does.

That would be useful, too - Tassie has some great wilderness. What's the link, icefeast?


The only ones I know about are more text-based (eg TasTrails, Bushwalk Tasmania or the various global ones).

The thing I like about Route Guides is lots of route segments that the user (logged in or not) can put together for a whole trip. It's unashamedly aimed at the tramping community (which suits me) rather than day-walkers, glampers (some of the global sites look more like a travel show - focused on advertising and revenue - imo).

I think Route Guides has the potential to develop into an active community but the key for me is the tracks.

[icefest]

The maps are here: http://maps.thelist.tas.gov.au/listmap/ ... rkId=82503

Track isn't as available. I assumed GBW meant the maps themselves.

[bernieq]

Ha - I had my hopes up there was something similar for Tassie (and the rest of Oz - that would be great).

All the LINZ NZ toppo maps are available for free (electronically) so I didn't even think of map access. I have the whole of NZ as an .img file on my GPS which is great for tramping across the ditch.

andrewp is doing a great job with Australian OSM maps, state by state, including Tasmania. Major and lesser tracks are marked on the map but just as lines - not gpx segments that can be linked and downloaded.

NZ has a bit more of an off-track culture, I think. Finding a new route from A to B is considered a good thing and publicising it is a positive (whereas this site, for example, discourages such action).
Over the years, Moir's Guide (and other books) have popularised lots of new routes.

[madpom]

Looking at the TASMAP system it _looks_ like it would be really easy to set up such a site for Tasmania at least.

From what I can glean from their copyright declaration you can reproduce the TASMAP maps on a website so long as it's for non-commercial use. Looks pretty similar to the LINZ copyright in NZ.

And the map tiles are served by their server without restrictions, in a standard TMS format. So technically you could set up such a routeguides-like site that pulled the base maps directly from the TASMAP server without having to host the maps yourself. Or, by the terms of use and copyright there's nothing stopping you pulling all the tiles off the TASMAP server to your own server and serving them from there. You'd probably want to check with TASMAP first.

If you weren't allowed to do that, and had to pay the $2 for each of the 414 1:25k map sheets to download them it would be an expensive operation though!

If anyone's keen - I'd be happy to help / advise / participate

Matt

http://routeguides.co.nz
http://mapspast.org.nz

[north-north-west]

Very nice maps.
And an incredible number of tracks. How well maintained are they? There are massive networks in some areas. I t would take a lot of work to keep them all open.

As for the route guides . . . meh. Sometimes it's useful to have something like that as a backup in case you get yourself lost, but it's much more fun to find your own way.
*sigh* I'm turning into an old fogey, aren't I? "It wasn't like this in my day. We had to do it tough . . . "

[bernieq]

an incredible number of tracks

Correct, NNW, there are quite a few tracks uploaded so far, but a comparative scant few compared to the total number in NZ.

How well maintained are they? There are massive networks in some areas. I t would take a lot of work to keep them all open

Track maintenance is done by DOC, interest groups (eg Permolat / RemoteHuts, tramping clubs) but a lot is maintained by usage. Generally, recognised tracks are a pretty good standard. Routes might be marked / poled but generally not formally maintained.

I enjoy route finding too - if we're off-track, I'm usually out in front. However, NZ terrain can be very testing. It can be valuable to know how others have done it (or, indeed, THAT others have done it).

For example, I was working up a trip on the NI, crossing the Kaweka Range. On routeguides.co.nz I saw an off-track short-cut that saved a day (out of 6) - very valuable.

To get the view in the pic below takes 'on the ground' route finding (but reading someone's description lets you know it's there and it's possible)

West Matakitaki Valley - Feb 2013