my garmin shows railroads only if zoomed way in. is there a recent and available brand and/or model that shows tracks well at any zoom level?
thanks
My Garmin doesn't show railroads at all. With the number of vehicles we get 'turning onto' the tracks without GPS indicating them - I would hate to hazard a guess of how many more would really think the track are a street if they were indicated on GPS.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Whatever happened to reading an actual map?? A little advance planning goes a long way and I would find the screen on a Garmin contraption to be a distraction.
The sole purpose of a consumer GPS device is to help you find the right ROADWAY route to a location, not how to drive down a railroad track. Showing railroads would be courting disaster by people turning down them thinking they are a highway.
Even the FRA's GIS is a joke. You are not gonna find much of a decent uniform geographically registered system until the market demands it.
http://fragis.fra.dot.gov/Apps/GISFRASafety/
Union Pacific by far has the best in-house railroad GIS application.
The map behind my Android "Navigator" app shows railroads reasonably well. I haven't really tried to pinpoint a geographic location (ie, a specific crossing) so I can ask for directions there, but it might be possible. It'll take me to road intersections, though.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
If you have a smart phone, most web maps (Google, Bing, etc.) have a pretty good representation of railroads on their base map and can also show your location.
mudchicken Even the FRA's GIS is a joke. You are not gonna find much of a decent uniform geographically registered system until the market demands it. http://fragis.fra.dot.gov/Apps/GISFRASafety/ Union Pacific by far has the best in-house railroad GIS application.
I was pretty disappointed with the FRA'S railroad dataset. I think I read in the metadata that it was digitized in the 90's from USGS 1:24k quads. With PTC coming, I bet we'll start to see higher resolution geospatial data at the national level. Could the FRA request that type of data from the Class 1's that they have either developed or had contracted?
The North Carolina DOT has recently digitized the state's rail network from 6-inch orthoimagery, and it's pretty detailed. No real attributes, other than maybe crossing id's, but it's impressive for data in the public domain.
NCDOT North Carolina Rail System
For a fee, anything is possible. Uncle Sugar won't get it for free considering the other unfunded mandate that is currently a frankenstein mess as an overall system, hardly uniform.
I don't think USCGS maps are available in printed form now. Some of the last ones I got showed no evidence of such landforms as existing RR cuts from abandoned RR lines. It's been a long time since then, so I don't remember specific maps with this problem. IMHO, a map should show what is there. Maps are used for more than just driving from here to there. They show historians what used to be there, and indications of such things as abandoned RR's show why there is (for example) an existing cut or fill where no RR currently runs. If we rely on maps with incomplete data, I can imagine problems for those involved in construction projects.
Tom
ACY I don't think USCGS maps are available in printed form now. Some of the last ones I got showed no evidence of such landforms as existing RR cuts from abandoned RR lines. It's been a long time since then, so I don't remember specific maps with this problem. IMHO, a map should show what is there. Maps are used for more than just driving from here to there. They show historians what used to be there, and indications of such things as abandoned RR's show why there is (for example) an existing cut or fill where no RR currently runs. If we rely on maps with incomplete data, I can imagine problems for those involved in construction projects. Tom
cacole The sole purpose of a consumer GPS device is to help you find the right ROADWAY route to a location, not how to drive down a railroad track. Showing railroads would be courting disaster by people turning down them thinking they are a highway.
Some GPS NAV systems definately show rail lines, the one installed on my phone does...
In the last decade or so as GPS in vehicles has become common I have seen several news stories of motorists blaming their Nav system for getting their vehicle stuck on railroad tracks. In many of these cases it seems that the GPS system was telling them to turn onto a road running parallel to the tracks and they drove onto the tracks by mistake (i.e driver error).
In one case around here (Southeastern New England) a trucker managed to get his rig highsided (wheels stuck off the ground) on a rail line and tried to blame his GPS. Luckily the track in question was not a busy mainline.....
"I Often Dream of Trains"-From the Album of the Same Name by Robyn Hitchcock
carnej1 cacole The sole purpose of a consumer GPS device is to help you find the right ROADWAY route to a location, not how to drive down a railroad track. Showing railroads would be courting disaster by people turning down them thinking they are a highway. Some GPS NAV systems definately show rail lines, the one installed on my phone does... In the last decade or so as GPS in vehicles has become common I have seen several news stories of motorists blaming their Nav system for getting their vehicle stuck on railroad tracks. In many of these cases it seems that the GPS system was telling them to turn onto a road running parallel to the tracks and they drove onto the tracks by mistake (i.e driver error). In one case around here (Southeastern New England) a trucker managed to get his rig highsided (wheels stuck off the ground) on a rail line and tried to blame his GPS. Luckily the track in question was not a busy mainline.....
Complaint: formerly, it was possible to strike through a word and leave it; it is no longer possible to do so.
Johnny
I suppose mistaking a turn by a few feet is better than driving "ILS" at highway speeds using your GPS to tell you you're still on the road because you can't even see the lines due to the fog...
That may be an "old wive's tale" about truckers, but I wouldn't doubt it's happened...
I find the nav system in my tablet tells me to turn a few feet before I actually reach the intersection. Of course, common sense and looking at the road tell me that I shouldn't yank the wheel at the exact moment the box tells me to turn, but I can see folks doing so.
tree68 I suppose mistaking a turn by a few feet is better than driving "ILS" at highway speeds using your GPS to tell you you're still on the road because you can't even see the lines due to the fog... That may be an "old wive's tale" about truckers, but I wouldn't doubt it's happened... I find the nav system in my tablet tells me to turn a few feet before I actually reach the intersection. Of course, common sense and looking at the road tell me that I shouldn't yank the wheel at the exact moment the box tells me to turn, but I can see folks doing so.
Truckers using civilian grade GPS get themselves into deep doo doo by paying more attention to the GPS instruction than the highway signage - 'Clearance 12 Feet' - 'High Center Railroad Crossing' etc. etc. etc.
There is a new Distribution Center that has been built near one of my carriers low clearance overhead bridge's. Weekly or more often we get a call from the local authorities about a truck wedged under the overpass - the most common explanation proffered - 'I was following my GPS.'
Keith Schmidt KC9LHK You don’t bring nothin with you here and you can’t nothin back, I ain’t never seen a hearse with a luggage rack. George Strait Check out Flickr Train Photo Page
GPS is handy, but lots of drivers forget it is also necessary to look out the window.
Norm
My Google Map app on smartphone gives great reference for railroads.
Mudchicken...your knowledge of the industry never ceases to amaze me. Thanks for your contributions.
Ed
One can't blindly rely on the GPS.. look out the windows too. If your GPS doesn't jive with reality, assume the GPS is wrong and go with what you see outside (to avoid running into trains or through barns).
UlrichOne can't blindly rely on the GPS.. look out the windows too. If your GPS doesn't jive with reality, assume the GPS is wrong and go with what you see outside (to avoid running into trains or through barns).
Sounds like you don't deal with the i-Zombies* too terribly often. They are virtually indistinquishable from the overly reliant button-pushers with their GPS/GIS brainboxes.
(*)Any time we work in a high pedestrian area anymore, we have to bring cones, barricades or sawhorses with us to protect us from them. College campus areas are nuts to work around.
Here's one way to do it:
Use http://mapper.acme.com/ to find the general area you're interested in, then click on the "Topo" button in the upper right corner to view the USGS maps (at possibly a much larger scale). Use the USGS map to find the rail line or facility that you're interested in, or is closest to you; then use the Lat. - Long. data from the box at the lower right (e.g., N 40 51.616' W 75 16.562') to input into your GPS.
- Paul North.
If you use an Android smartphone (or tablet with GPS) then OsmAnd is pretty good for rail lines - http://osmand.net/ https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.osmand&hl=en_GB . It can be used 'live' online, but I always download the maps offline so I don't need a constant connection when using it.
The free app allows 10 map downloads, and the paid version (OsmAnd+) is unlimited - the US maps seem to be state by state, so that's 10 states for free.
It's not as slick as TomTom, Garmin etc. for turn-by-turn navigation but you can't beat the price....
One thing about the topo maps on Acme Mapper - they are all over the place, date-wise. But that can be a good thing!
If you follow a given rail line over some distance, you may find reference to several different predecessor railroads (assuming there are some), as well as some lines that no longer exist. Topo maps also often show "former" / abandoned routes.
Another handy feature is the ability to "mark" a spot - you can mark a location on the satellite or the topo, then change map types, and the pointer will still be there. That can be useful when running down former lines, so you can see what modern landmarks exist around the former route.
As you can guess, I use Acme Mapper a lot.
mudchickenAll USGS maps (Still available in print, but the imagery is free online = "current" and historical in pdf form) are used for in the construction process is for recon and some large macro projects like figuring approximate drainage areas for hydraulics, otherwise surveyors are performing topographic (topo) surveys for the engineers. The level of precision and timeliness isn't there for a responsible engineering project.
As explained to me, a lot of the Topo maps were generated from photogrammetric surveying. I seem to recall some of this going on in my home county in the fifties, oddly enough at night, with bright parachute flares being dropped along the flight path. The problem with photogrammetry was that the contours were often derived from the tops of vegetation, which yielded some varying errors on top of the uncertainty in the photogrammetric processing. Of course, in my business, that was a safety margin when doing radiolink studies.
The GPS in my 2012 MoPar shows rail lines. I belive the mapping is provided by NavTech.
I tried the Verizon Navigator, does show some railroad routes, but they want $5.00 a month for it.
CSSHEGEWISCHWhatever happened to reading an actual map?? A little advance planning goes a long way and I would find the screen on a Garmin contraption to be a distraction.
Just purchased a new vehicle - in transfering 'stuf' between vehicles I threw away several AAA Trip-tiks and several maps that had ridden around in the old vehicle for 15 years and 360K miles. Have been GPS guided since about 2012. I do know the difference between a road and a railroad - no matter how insistant the GPS is with it's TURN LEFT (or right) instruction.
Good question . We have a '' RAIL CART '' and have a great time on the old railway tracks. Good connection points would be helpful. AND. For you idiots taking cars down the tracks. Go Home.
I have owned 3 different GPS units, all manufactured by Garmin. My first was a Garmin nuvi 1300 - it did not give any visual representation or warning of railroad tracks.
Next I got a Garmin nuvi 57 - it did give a pictoral representation of a railroad track.
Finally I have gotten a Gramin Drive Smart 61 - it does not give any pictorial representation of a railroad, but it does give a warning sound with the display at the top of the device and a countdown in feet to the tracks.
Idiots will be idots no matter how we try to idiotproof society.
Another necro-thread risen from the dead for no reason.
Norm48327 GPS is handy, but lots of drivers forget it is also necessary to look out the window.
A few weeks ago we and another crew were being transported by contract van down to Omaha. The driver was using his GPS. I was sitting behind him, watching his GPS device. It was going to take us the long way through downtown, plus one that doesn't actually get us to where we need to go. We go to a place called 20th Street, but it's actually above the physical 20th Street. There is no access there, you have to access down about 14th Street and take railroad access roads. GPS doesn't know that.
When I saw what GPS was going to do, I told him to stay on I-80, don't get off and take I-480. I told him 5 times. Others also told him to stay on I-80.
Needless to say, he took I-480. He followed the GPS, but we still had to direct him to the proper entrance after telling him the GPS' 20th Street wasn't the railroad's 20th Street. He finally seemed to understand.
Jeff
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