OpenSource Mapping, GPS and the Mountaineering Community

OpenSource Mapping,
GPS, and the
Mountaineering
Community
Akyatcon 2.0
Institute of Biology
University of the Philippines-Diliman
July 28, 2017

Presenters
Ervin Malicdem
is a mapping advocate for the Philippines. With over ten years
of mapping advocacy nationwide; mapping roads and trails in
the Philippines. His mapping efforts were widely recognized
during the Haiyan crisis; to which the navigation map he
produces was used by international relief and rescue
operations at Tacloban, and cited by UNOCHA as the map to
use for operations. He maintains a mapping and travel
advocacy resource for the Philippines, Schadow1
Expeditions. With his advocacy, he realized that mapping
would not only benefit tourism, but can also save lives by
empowering disaster risk reduction management through
accurate maps for the country

Presenters
Leonard ‘Bunny’ Soriano
is a member of the UP Mountaineers. He studied Geography
in UP Diliman.
As an avid outdoors person, he actively surveys and map out
hiking and bike trails around the Philippines.
A supporter of open data, he contributes and shares the trail
survey results to OpenStreetMap.

Satellite Navigation System
A radio navigation system used for tagging of
geolocation of a receiver

 Estimates the location of the receiver
 Altitude information
 Time information

 Global Positioning System (GPS, United States)
 GLONASS (Russia)
 Galileo (European Union)
 Beidou (China)
 IRNSS (India)
 QZSS (Japan)

 Provides geolocation information through:
 “triangulation” of the receiver’s location through a cluster of
satellites that are unobstructed direct line of sight.

GPS Glonass

GPS
 72 satellites in orbit
 20km orbital altitude
 55 degrees orbital
inclination
 24 satellites at 95%
operational at a time
 33 satellites at max
operation
 Maximum Coverage
Glonass
 134 satellites in orbit
 19km orbital altitude
 64 degrees orbital
inclination
 24 satellites operational at
a time
 Best for highest and
lowest latitudes

Accuracy of Geolocation
A radio navigation system used for tagging of
geolocation of a receiver

Measurement
 Accuracy depends on the amount of satellites detecting the
location of the receiver.
 To get an initial reading of location, at least 4 satellites is
needed to get a “fix” on the receiver.
 25-meter accuracy with at least 4 satellites.
 Maximum 1.5-meter accuracy for 12+12 satellites are
locked on the receiver (GPS+GLONASS)

Measurement

Measuring Altitude
 Satellite Navigation Systems such as GPS and GLONASS
can detect the receiver’s altitude through triangulation
 Basis is through an Ellipsoid Model

Measuring Altitude
 The Earth is not perfectly round
 Earth is can be best represented to an ellipsoid shape or
oblate spheroid
 Median shape - Geoid

Measuring Altitude
Geoid
 WGS84 (Ellipsoid)
 EGM2008 (Undulation of the Geoid)

Measuring Altitude
Earth Gravitational Model

Measuring Altitude
Atmospheric Pressure

Measuring Altitude
PROs
 Accurate between
ridges
 Accurate globally as
pressure constantly
decreases as altitude
increases
CONs
 Highly variable depending
on changing weather
conditions

Measuring Altitude
Watch Altimeter
Navigation Device
using Barometer for
Altitude

Measuring Altitude
Recommendation
 Barometer Sensitivity
 Manual re-calibration of atmospheric pressure at jump-off
(Watch altimeter)
 Automatic re-calibration of atmospheric pressure at restart
(some handheld GPS devices)

Measuring Altitude
Pre-made Topographic Maps
 Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM)
 Accuracy of 90 to 30 meters
 Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)
 Accuracy of up to 2.5 cm

Recommendations
Geolocation Accuracy for mountaineers using consumer
devices

Issues for Accurate
Measurement
 Measurements of altitude from GPS is based from an
ellipsoidal model.
 Due to the inconsistency of the shape of the earth (Potato
Earth), there is a -120m to 84.5m deviation from the
ellipsoidal model depending on the location.
 GPS altitude detection is erratic between ridges
 Altitude based on atmospheric pressure is effective
anywhere but inaccuracy lies on the random condition of
the weather.

Recommendation for Accurate
Measurement
 In the Philippines, when using a device that is purely reliant on GPS
altitude measurement, there is a possibility of inaccuracy of about -15
to -80m meter from the reading due to the shape of the earth
 When using an altimeter based on atmospheric pressure, ensure to re-
calibrate every start of hike.
 Use a barometric altimeter that re-calibrates automatically.
 Use a navigation device that is compatible to both GPS and Glonass.
 Before recording, ensure that you have a full fix on the the satellites.

Using Smartphones for
recording
 Smartphones use the following for geolocation
1. GPS and/or GLONASS
2. Wi-Fi or IP Location
3. Cellsite triangulation
 Power hog
NOT RECOMMENDED, Never Restricted

Where to Contribute your
Mapping Data?
Bunny explains it later…

Navigation Applications
Based on OSM
For SmartPhones

OSMand
 Based on OpenStreeMap
 Map gets updated to
about once a month
 Plugins such as Wikipedia
information can be
downloaded for additional
info on the map objects.
 Purchase for more
features.

Maps.Me
 Map gets updated to
about once a month
 Better map style for clarity
when using as a
navigational guide for
driving, biking and
trekking.
 Free

PH Mountains*
 Not-based on OSM but
with Google Terrain Maps
 Proprietary mapping data
(Google)
 No navigation features
 Integration of important
hiking information such
as pictures from social
media, wikilinks,
elevation data of
famous mountains and
weather.

Schadow1 Expeditions GPS
Map of the Philippines

 Based on OSM and
expedition data from
Schadow1 Expeditions
 For Garmin devices only
 Map style optimized for
trail visibility
 Can be layered with the
Elevation map of the
Philippines provided by
 Elevation Contour at 30-
meter accuracy at 10-
meter steps based on
SRTM

 67 hiking trails (47 of which are mapped in
detail by Schadow1 Expeditions)
 460 bicycle routes
 80,877 points of interests
 39,415 beaches
 231,980km of roads (comprises about 90%
of the country)
 16,757 gasoline stations
 1,273 evacuation centers
 As of v20170726 of Schadow1 Expeditions
GPS Map of the Philippines

http://www.s1expeditions.com

 A mapping advocacy and travel resource website for the
Philippines
 A member of the technical working group of the National
Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC)
 Cited by UN OCHA as the maps to use during Haiyan
Operations in 2013
 Houses travel documentary and guides while mapping the
country.
 Supplies a weekly updated GPS-assisted navigation map of
the Philippines.
 Supplies a highly detailed elevation contour map of the
Philippines based on SRTM 1-arc second accuracy.

Trail Mapping Case Studies
Mapping Expeditions

Mountain Mapping Expeditions by

Mountain Mapping Expeditions by
47 Hiking Trails
36 Mountains
20 provinces

Palay-Palay Mataas na Gulod
Mountain Range

OpenSource Mapping, GPS and the Mountaineering Community

Mt. Pulag National Park Hiking Trails

Google Trekker Program
(c) JP Alipio
(c) JP Alipio

OpenStreetMap
OpenStreetMap powers map data on thousands of
web sites, mobile apps, and hardware devices

OpenStreetMap is built by a community
of mappers that contribute and maintain
data about roads, trails, cafés, railway
stations, and much more, all over the
world.
• Local Knowledge
• Community Driven
• Open Data
• Legal
• Partners

Where to Contribute Your
Mapping Data?
• OpenstreetMap
• Submit map data. Eg. GPS files in GPX format
• Strava users
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/How_to_contribute

Moving forward
• Importance and Usefulness of maps for outdoor
people (Planning and Safety)
• Producing other map products/ derivatives from
existing OSM data. (Brochures, Field guide, Mobile
App, Trail Maps, Trail Information Kiosks, signages)
• Be part of the growing community of OpenstreetMap
• Collaboration between users of mountaineers,
mappers, developers, programmers and the like
• Inclusion of trail mapping in hiking or expedition trips

http://www.s1expeditions.com
https://www.facebook.com/s1expeditions
http://twitter.com/schadow1
http://Instagram.com/schadow1
Download GPS Map of the Philippines
Elevation Contour (1 arc second accuracy)
Speed limits
http://www.s1expeditions.com/p/openstreetmaps.html
This presentation will be published at SlideShare
http://www.slideshare.net/schadow1
CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0

Ervin Malicdem
Philippine Travel and Mapping
Advocate,
schadow1@s1expeditions.com
A Filipino must not be a stranger to his
own motherland.

OpenSource Mapping, GPS and the Mountaineering Community

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