Tour Trails Live Using Google Earth

A couple weeks ago I read about a new mashup Lijit had created called Lijit Live 3D. This mashup place marks searches done on the Lijit Network and flys you to the location on Google Earth. I downloaded the KML file and it was indeed entrancing for a couple minutes. I honestly thought, "That is cool! I don't understand why they did it, but it is cool." I envision it being one of those cool ways to display your success in an office foyer.

Much like Google would project all the searches currently being done on a wall. I imagine this to be a 2.0 version where those same searches are now being represented geographically. A cool approach to display information that is otherwise pretty boring.

While reading the blog post (Lijit 3D Live With Google Earth), it stated that development of this mashup was "trivial." That intrigued me. I don't necessarily know why that sparked my interest. I consider Google to be masters of simplicity. I've never known them to over-engineer the apps they allow hack developers like me to play around with.

After I closed the KML file for Lijit Live 3D I didn't expect I would revisit the mashup.

Throughout the next week it was business as usual, but every now and then I would think of the word "trivial" as used to describe the ease in which the mashup was created. Oddly, the term "trivial" turned into "How did they do that?" Finally, curiosity got the best of me and I decided to sit down on my computer and figure out how they did it.

A couple trips to the Lijit website, a few minutes reviewing the Google KML documentation, 2 cups of coffee, and 1 hour later I had it figured out and working on TrailCentral. I then spent another 5 hours making it pretty.

So would I call it trivial? Yeah, I think that was a good choice of words. The amount of work done for the amount of "cool" you get makes the development "trivial."

So imitation is the highest source of flattery, but in today's world you need to not just imitate, but build upon. Obviously my website is a directory of trail information, maps, and local bike shops, which is much different than what Lijit does.

Lijit has a large user base which makes the Google Earth map zip around the globe. TrailCentral is Colorado based and focuses on mountain biking. During the month of December it receives about 1/17 the visitors it gets during the peak seasons of Spring, Summer, and Fall. So currently it lacks the zippity-zip-zip that entrances visitors of the Lijit 3D map, but there is a silver lining.

The live map I created basically allows those who view the map to take a tour of TrailCentral, while being guided by visitors currently browsing the website. It will lack the zip, but in its place I've added information about the last trail or bike shop visited on TrailCentral.

This currently isn't live on my website (meaning not everyone can access it). I'm currently only giving those who read this blog the ability to take it for a spin. (read: Aren't you special....)

However, I can talk about it all day or you could just download the KML file and check it out yourself.

For those interested, here are a few details:

• When you click to download the KML file you will be asked how you want to open it. Open it with Google Earth. If you don't have Google Earth, download it here.
• You will be automatically taken to the last trail, map or local bike shop that was visited on TrailCentral.com
• Google Earth will check for an updated location every 60 seconds. Remember, this is a tour, sit back and relax. Nobody likes to be rushed while touring a place.
• While you are viewing the last location, click on the place marker. This will give you "Facts at a Glance." The most important information about the place mark as well as a link to go directly to that web page to learn more.

Don't believe it is real time? Have Google Earth open in one window and Visit TrailCentral.com in a second window. Visit a couple of the trail or local bike shop pages and within seconds you will be flown to that location. Here are a couple links to make it easy for you.

• Local Bike Shop - Dean Ultimate Bicycles
• GPS Map - Grays Peak
• Trail Page - Slickrock Trail

Finally, I gotta give my kudos to Lijit for making such a cool mashup. Cool enough for me to want to imitate it. For those that view the TrailCentral Tour, I'm sure you will enjoy it for a couple minutes and then never visit it again.

I on the other hand love to have the ability to view what is happening on my site in semi-real time while grounding cyberspace to specific place marks on Mother Earth.

2007 Winter Park MTB Series Maps Added to TrailCentral

The 2007 race courses used for the WP MTB series have been added to TrailCentral.com.

If you raced the complete series as a sport rider; your series stats would look like this:

Series Total Distance: 98.74 miles
Series Ascent Total: 52.03 miles
Series Flat Total: .33 miles
Series Descent Total: 46.39 miles

Series Minimum Elevation: 8,758'
Series Maximum Elevation: 11,222'
Series Total Elevation Gain: 17,823'
Series Total Elevation Loss: 15,545'

Note: The above is based on GPS data and not official course data from EpicSingletrack.com.


Analyse each course individually on TrailCentral:

Hill Climb Kick-off (Link)
Mountain Circuit (Link)
Cross Country Super Loop (Link)
Valley Point-to-Point (Link)
Cross Country (Link)
King of the Rockies (Link)

Thanks to Curt (cwilhelm) and EpicSingletrack.com for helping make the trail listings for these courses complete on TrailCentral.com.

WP Courses Will Be Represented on TrailCentral

My current project involves a colaberative effort, which is always fun to work on.

I recently posted about a simple tool that converts KML to GPX because I had a problem reading a file that a friend sent me of the King of the Rockies race course, which I raced last weekend.

I was overjoyed when a community member piped up and wrote that he had uploaded all his GPS data to MotionBased. He also included that I was welcome to use them to create maps on TrailCentral.

I was of course thrilled and started thinking. After thinking about cake for 15 minutes; I never said I started thinking about something relavent; I wrote an email to the WP Competition Center.

I asked if I could republish their course descriptions on TrailCentral along with the new maps I was creating. My email got forwarded to Jon, the race director, and we ended up exchanging several emails. Long story short, Jon is a great guy and allowed me to repuplish his trail descriptions on TrailCentral.

Last night I started the project and I got two of the six courses posted to TrailCentral. Between the GPS data supplied by Curt and the trail descriptions from EpicSingletrack; I have no doubt that the Winter Park MTB Series courses will be well represented on TrailCentral.

I'm still thankfull for the generosity of Curt and Jon. What may seem like small contributions to them are not to me. Their generosity is well received and it made my day.

Thanks guys!

What I have currently posted:
Hill Climb Kick-off
Mountain Circuit

Convert KML to GPX

Convert KML to GPX

Yesterday I had an urge to do some coding. I've taken a couple weeks off and I find that idle hands lead to an idle mind. So, I spent a couple hours creating a VERY simple tool that will parse a KML file, saved from Google Earth, and format it as a GPX file.

So what good is that?

Lots of mapping tools will read GPX, but only Google Earth with read KML. The original problem and why I created the tool can be read here.

Some Details:

This is not a robust tool. What this tool does is looks at the polyline from a KML file. Anyone who enjoys viewing trail data on the web, knows that the polyline is where the bulk of the trail beta lies. On that line you have latitude, longitude, and elevation data.

What I did is parse the KML file and pull the data from the polyline. I then reformat the data and download a GPX file to the users computer. This allows me to use the KML data in a lot of other mapping software that doesn't import KML, but does import GPX. More importantly, it allows me to upload the GPX file that was created from a KML file to TrailCentral, which was my original reason for creating the tool.

I left the tool active, because I figured there may be others that would find a simple tool that converts a KML file to a GPX file useful.

Suprised To See Winter Park So Clearly In Google Earth...

Today I spent some time working on new code for the GPS mapping section of TrailCentral.com.

To test the code, I opted to upload some of the race courses that I've raced this year in Winter Park.

When I uploaded a GPX file of the hill climb, I noticed that the satellite images displayed on my web page map were much clearer than I remember.

I've visited Winter Park in Google Earth many times to try to get a feel for some of the courses, but the images of the ski mountain were extremely blurry. It was difficult to get any detail or even make out trails.

I quickly downloaded the KML file from TrailCentral to verify what it looked like in Google Earth. To my surprise, the images in Winter Park are now crystal clear. Clear enough, to get me excited about posting some more of my GPS routes in Winter Park to TrailCentral. And clear enough to be able to do some recon of the area trails.

Have fun checking out Winter Park in Google Earth!

*The image displays the course used for the Hill Climb, which is part of the Winter Park Mountain Bike Race Series.

Hill Climb Links:
GPS Map
Trail Information
2007 Race Report

13th State Added to GPS Maps Directory

Pennsylvania is in the house! Blackjack Trail was recently added by Private Jackson. This is currently the only trail listed in the state, but that is all that is need for Pennsylvania to be the 13th state represented on TrailCentral.com!

13 down.... 37 to go!

States Represented on TrailCentral.com:
Arizona
California
Colorado
Florida
Maryland
Montana
Nebraska
New Mexico
Pennsylvania
Utah
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia

24 of Big Bear and other 24 Hour Races

Recently, one of the community members uploaded the 24 Hours of Big Bear course to the GPS Mapping section of TrailCentral.

While taking a look at the course in Google Earth (Pictured at left), I started thinking of all the the other 24 hour races promoted by Granny Gear Productions.

Well, that started the snowball rolling and I spent some time this afternoon adding all the 24 hour races to the TrailCentral events page.

You can view details about all seven races - promoted by Granny Gear Productions - by going to the events page and searching by "24 Hour Event." Alternatively, you can go right to the source using the links below.

So if endurance racing is your bag, you better get into gear because the first race is the 24 Hours of Temecula, which is only 49 days away from the time I'm posting this... Good Luck!

Granny Gear Production Races:
24 Hours of Temecula
24 Hours of Conyers
24 Hours of Big Bear
24 Hours of Killington
24 Hours of Landahl
24 Hours of Moab

Banner Day for GPS Mapping on TrailCentral

Today was a banner day for GPS mapping on TrailCentral. Five new trails were added to the GPX catalog. That doesn't sound very impressive, now does it?

Well, that part isn't. What is impressive is that those five trails now give representation to Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia.

How cool is that!

Links:
Maryland Trail Maps
West Virginia Trail Maps
Virginia Trail maps

What does Fruita have that others don't?

So what makes Fruita so special, especially in the early season? Yeah, they got sick single track, but this post doesn't have anything to do with their trails.

Here is a hint; it has something to do with their weather...

Yeah, Fruita has winter months - just like the Front Range - and boy does it suck to ride those trails when they are wet and muddy. However, the speed in which those trails dry out makes it an awesome location to get some early season training and racing done!

Fruita has relief for many of the overly winterized folks on the Front Range. That relief comes early in the season with events like the Fruita Fat Tire Festival, 18 Hours of Fruita, and Bikerpelli.

Geared towards anyone, from the weekend warrior to the enduro racer, these events will give you an excuse to escape your daily training routine to enjoy the Western Slope.

I've spent the afternoon adding Fruita events to the TrailCentral events page. Check them out!

Or go right to the source:
Fruita Fat Tire Festival
18 Hours of Fruita
Bikerpelli

Trail Advocacy Regarding Tour de Front Range 2007

Trails on the Front Range haven't melted and already my mind has been focused on the annual Tour de Front Range. A bike ride that in years past has signified the end of the riding season (at least for me).

I got to thinking about how we have been able to connect really great trails together for this event. Trails such as: White Ranch, Chimney, Apex, Matthews Winters, Green Mountain, Mount Falcon, Lair 'o The Bear, and others in between.

All of these trails are available to the lucky riders on the Front Range all year. It got me wondering if there was any way to give a little back to these trails that challenge us during the TdFR?

These trails are part of Jefferson County Parks and I'm not sure the best way to handle this idea. Is a monetary donation the way to go? How about trail work?

If a monetary donation, does that mean there needs to be a entry fee or do we do it as a optional donation at the trailhead. How about corporate matching? Would there be a company out there that would be interested in helping the trails in the name of mountain biking by matching any donations that the TdFR raises?

If it is trail work, would the County Parks even want our help. There are full time employees that maintain these parks. I'll be the honest and say that I truly don't know the best way to organize a trail work day that the county would approve of.

My head is full of questions and right now I don't have any answers. However, I do believe I'm thinking about this early enough in the season to be able to have answers by the time the TdFR 2007 hits the trails in September.

Do you have any ideas on how to give back to the trails? If so, I'd love to hear about them!

More Info (2006) TdFR:
TdFR Course Analysis (1 of 3)
TdFR Course Analysis (2 of 3)
TdFR Course Analysis (3 of 3)

Ever Wonder What TrailCentral Looks Like From Space?

For the past year, TrailCentral.com has allowed visitors to upload GPX files. GPX files are created by mapping software when an individual with a GPS downloads a track from their GPS of a trail they recorded.

When a visitor uploads a GPX file to TrailCentral.com they are sharing a wealth of information about a trail. The cool thing is that TrailCentral.com analyses the trail and posts this information on the website. Plus, it allows you to view the trail in Google Earth or download the GPX file so you can upload it to your GPS. This allows thousands of visitors the opportunity to know as much as possible before they hit a new trail. And TrailCentral.com does all this for free!

I'm writing this up because as you can see in the image, a lot of really awesome people have pooled their rides together and cataloged it on TrailCentral.com over the past year.

This feature on TrailCentral is something that separates us from a lot of the other websites. Others that copy, don't hit the mark, others charge for the same information. I'm not down with the whole charge to view basic information thing. Never have been, never will be!

Those that have a GPS, I encourage you to share your information with the mountain biking community by cataloging your ride on TrailCentral.com. Those that do not have a GPS, but enjoy the feature, please act as an advocate and spread the word about TrailCentral's mapping feature!

Two more points to make. One, you don't need to be a Coloradoan to use it. GPS Mapping on TrailCentral works Nation wide! Two, it doesn't have to be a mountain bike trail. We accept any trail (multi-use, hiking-only, bike path, road bike). You ride it with a GPS and we'll catalog it!

I've worked really hard to get any bugs out of the system, so as long as you have a valid GPX file, there shouldn't be any issue and it will take less than 5 min of your time!

If you do have any questions about how to upload, please post comments and I'd be glad to answer them!

Currently there is no incentive, other than using a really cool tool and sharing/receiving information from fellow mountain bikers. However, as TrailCentral begins to make money, I'll do my best to create incentives for GPX uploads.

Thanks!

State we currently represent: AZ, CA, CO, FL, MT, NE, NM, UT, WA

Balanced Rock Trail

Balanced Rock Trail

Trail Information
Photo Gallery
GPS Map

Arches National Park is filled with dozens of natural formations that will make you say "oh…" or maybe you prefer "ah…?" Either way, one of the formations in the park is called Balancing Rock and it will certainly provoke one or the other, depending on your personality type.

As you can see in the pictures, there is nothing misleading about the name of the rock formation. The rock formation truly looks like a huge boulder balancing, rather precariously, on a pedestal.

A trail is available that circles the base of the rock. Easy to access, the trail is located 9.1 miles from the Park Entrance fee area.

Two quick facts need to be known about this trail before packing the car and heading to the trailhead. The trail is hiking only and it is only .36 miles in length. This means you will need to pack the family into the car instead of your biking gear.

Truly, if you have a young member of your family, this is a great trail to use as an introduction to the great outdoors! Don't worry, the older members of the family will not go away disappointed either. The views from the trails are spectacular, ranging from arches within the park to the La Sals mountain range in the distance.

I had the great fortune of hiking this trail in the off-season, which meant my family was the only one on the trail. If you are traveling to the rock during the high tourist season I can only assume you will have plenty of company. I make this assumption because of the overflow parking that is available at the trailhead as well as the many signs along the road that warn of heavy road congestion.

No matter the time of the year, I think you will enjoy this trail. It will give you great family time, awesome views, and fresh air. Sounds like a great combination to me!

Enjoy!