Avalanche Mapping Interactive Topo Maps

I searched and didn't see this anywhere, so forgive me if this is a repost.

Avalanchemapping.org has a beta mapping application that I have been playing around with. I'm not super familiar with other apps (Google Earth, etc) but I'm sure the folks over at AM.org would appreciate some mags playing around with it and sending feedback.

Here is a direct link: http://www.avalanchemapping.org/webm...app/index.html

If the direct link doesn't work, follow this one and click on the beta web application at the bottom: http://www.avalanchemapping.org/intermap.htm

I assume they will eventually overlay their existing slide path maps/snowpack observations onto the navigable topo. A realtime collection of snowpack observations placed on the topo seems like it would be a great tool for bc users.

I'd also be interested if anyone has found similar applications, i.e. navigable topo maps with live snowpack observations/slide paths.

Thanks! I've been playing around with mapping slides on ArcGIS, but just don't have enough time to be real complete about it (even just doing Colorado).

Avalanche Mapping has mapped 1500 avalanche paths in the state of Colorado alone. We are only publishing maps of the popular back country areas. Most of the data is for government agencies and we don't give it away. We have concerns of the avalanche path polygons being mis interperted by the public. Meaning people think they are safe if they are out side the perimeter of a avalanche path polygon on a map, this is frequently not the case. These are reference to paths that have historically occured and are mapped at a 1:24K topo map scale this means there can be alot of variablility. We may produce a web map with the place names of the paths sometime in the future though.

wait...so NOAA or USGS or someone has avy shapefiles that we could FOIA?

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Originally Posted by khakis

wait...so NOAA or USGS or someone has avy shapefiles that we could FOIA?

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Nope that is not the case. I own the data.

And if they (the government) did have the data, it'd be far better to ask for it first. There are few things that piss off GIS folks more than getting FOIA'd when we'd have been happy to give the data out if it had been requested.

GIS folks, huh? ;)