Map tool info

[ian_brown]

Does anyone know of an online mapping service that uses the DeLorme designations for roads?

 

[dkile]

Interesting, I have never seen any of their products used by others companies on the web. The company Navteq really seems to have this corner of the market locked up. What were looking for?

 

[Chaz]

Not sure what you mean by Delorme designations for roads, as far as I know they use the same naming as the States, townships and counties.
For instance in PA, a state road, is designated as an SR ???? where the ???? is a numeric value. We don't have couty roads in PA so the next deisgnation is T!!! where the !!! is a numeric value. They also use the names where applicable.

 

[JackM]

See if this helps. Each map covers a single county and is 4-6 MB large. But, they are very detailed and use the designations Chaz refers to:

Index To PennDOT County Type 10 Maps in PDF Format

 

[ian_brown]

Chaz - The "SR" and "T" designations are what I was talking about. I called them "DeLorme designations" because I haven't noticed them on other maps.

Jack - That's a great resource, but it doesn't use the designations I'm looking for.

I'm interested in this because the list of streams supporting wild trout reproduction uses these designations. It would be easier to figure out where it is talking about if I could just type the road number into a map.

 

[JackM]

The SR designations are shown. They are the red numbers that appear along these roads. To get the township roads, what you need to do is use the Township Maps on the PennDOT website. On the County Maps, you can identify the township where the stream runs, then use the following link to select the township maps:

Township Maps in PDF

Here is the PennDOT page showing all the available maps:

All PennDOT Maps

 

[ian_brown]

(Apparently that's the embarrassed emoticon)

 

[JackM]

Well, it isn't your fault, I only linked direct to the County maps. I didn't even realize the Township roads weren't designated by numbers on there. Anyhow, hopefully those resources will help.

What I like to do when scouting new waters with these maps is to use the zoom features in Adobe to get the area I'm interested in the display window, then strike the "Print Screen" button on the keyboard (to the right of F12). This saves an image of the screen to the Windows "clipboard." Then, you can open a graphics program (Windows Paint works) and press Ctrl-v or select "paste" from the edit menu and the screenshot will be pasted into the program. Then you can crop it and save it as a BMP or JPEG and eventually print it out for the scouting/exploring trip.

You may already know this, but while driving around, look for small square signs at intersections, or even sometimes on the green street signs for the township road number or SR number to help you navigate.

 

[Chaz]

The State marks all SR's on signs at intersections and bridges, and usually points in between. I've never been able to figure out what the other numbers on the signs mean, or the distance between them.

As for the T routes they are unfortunately getting a bit more problematic, in the last few years I've noticed a lot more roads with names on them and not the T#. To me this is idiotic, since all the maps show the T#. The problem though is that not all roads are marked anyway, it was getting better all the time, but now it seems we have this wild card. People can't find their way around in the more rural areas I guess because they are used to having road with names. I say let natural selection do what it is supposed to do.

As an example The road that runs along Germania Branch in Potter Cty. is t-433. To get there you drive into Germania on SR 0144 and turn on T 433. I mention this particular road because the first time I went there was back in Nov. 94. Germania Branch is in Landis' book and I wanted to check it out on the way home from a job in Olean Ny. The map said it was up on a hill out of town, or that is the way I read it, and I drove around up there for about an hour before I found it. T 433 is interesting, there is a place there called watering basin hollow, where at the side of the road there is a rock that is the shape of a watering basin. The road is called Rauch Rd. on the Penn Dot map, as far as I know the signs don't indcate that it is the sign has the T#.

Anyway the first time I drove down the road I went to take a look at the stream, and it flows mostly away from the road. At one point it comes out to the road and makes a hard turn at the road where it forms a huge pool and there in the pool was a pair of trout laying side by side getting ready to spawn. I didn't fish there that day but made a note of it and returned in the spring to fish. It is now part of the Brook Trout Enhancement Program as a headwater stream to Kettle Creek. I've been back every couple of years since to fish the area.
BTW, I tried entering the T# on Topo Zone and it didn't find it, I guess they don't take their online map to that level. Maybe they do if you sign up for the enhancement. If you would like more information on how I use the Delrome maps send me a pm, I don't want to bore anyone with more stories.

 

[Gone4Day]

Chaz wrote:
As for the T routes they are unfortunately getting a bit more problematic, in the last few years I've noticed a lot more roads with names on them and not the T#. To me this is idiotic, since all the maps show the T#. The problem though is that not all roads are marked anyway, it was getting better all the time, but now it seems we have this wild card. People can't find their way around in the more rural areas I guess because they are used to having road with names. I say let natural selection do what it is supposed to do.

In my neck of the woods they've been giving the T-roads names for emergency responders. With the proliferation of development in rural areas, a surname and T-number was inadequate to pinpoint a specific location. You don’t want the paramedics driving up and down the road trying to read the names on mailboxes when your having a heart attack, so everybody is getting a specific address.

 

[Chaz]

All the areas I travel have given out emergency number to addresses and I though they were ploted to GPS, if they aren't shame on them. It isn't progress to give a locatioin a number and not gplot it on GPS. Duh!