Best app? or wot ever for mapping plotting stopcocks or manholes ?

[countrryboy]

Alright folks

I know there is some tech savy folk on here.

Basically i'm lucky enough to live out in the sticks althou have a few neighbours ( well 8) and we share the same private water supply and septic tank systems.

Generally i'm pretty good at remembering where things are, but just spent hours looking for a manhole cover i'm convinced used to be there but buggered if i can find it, even think i might of imagined it now found other 1 below and above it on the line so i'm not far away.
Most of our systems run throu mature forestry so plenty leaves falling and brambles/undergrowth growing and some of the runs are pretty long, septic tank could be 200m from the nearest house and a lot further to furthest, water tanks must be 400m up the hill above us with collecting tanks almost the same again all throu trees and rough cover.
I have put marker sticks in at quite a lot of the more obscure places, esp where i have put a digger bucket throu the water pipe, again!!
So if u haven't needed to access something after 1 or 2 years its like a bloody jungle

Just thinking it would be handy plotting mapping where all these points are and then all the neighbours or future residents can get a proper map that actually means something.
We have have various 'schematic' plans of the pipe work which are like a spider crawling in snow and about as much good as a chocolate fireguard for actually finding something.


Wot options are there for doing this?
I'm guessing mobile/smart phone based as most have 1.
It wont have to be mega accurate, despite looking for a relatively small thing in rough cover, likes of the 3m sq from w3w would be fine and i'll possibly get my finger out and stick posts in at they all when i do it.


I do have W3W on my phone but have never actually used it in anger, a lot of work sites give us w3w references on the paper work but we usually just navigate to sites using the countless maps they also put in as using forestry tracks etc, which sometimes don't show up on the w3w map screen thingys.
Wot i can't get my head round with w3w is if ur looking for say a stopcock in a rough wood area how do u know which way to walk as the words are just random, not like a grid ref.
Does it give u an arrow on the screen pointing u which direction u need to go like a sat nav ( not that i've ever even used a sat nav either), still pretty old skool paper maps?

Quite a lot of my bosses tend to drop pins to get u to a new site ,which works quite well for wot it is finding a road end or turning circle. Not sure how accurate they are?

or would we be better downloading some OS or grid ref software/app and just use long grid references?


Is it then possible to take all these plots/points on a map on ur computer or phone and then write stuff to identify wot is it each point?
Then everyone could have quite a detailed digital map u could give to new house owners or even tradse men if we have a problem

Cheers

 

[Husky]

A hand held GPS, gives you the grid reference and an arrow to point you to your target.

 

[countrryboy]

A hand held GPS, gives you the grid reference and an arrow to point you to your target.

Cheers was wondering if anything similar u can do with a phone, i possibly could justify buying a gps thing but i know none of my neighbours would. Wanting something quite easily accesable and ideally free if such a thing exists?

I imagine w3w may not be far away, but i have no idea how it navigates u to a certain point

 

[Tikkat3xl]

W3W will do exactly what you want, just need to type in the words that correspond to where the manhole/stopcock is on the app, then the app will tell you where you are in relation to the location you want to get to with an arrow to show you which way your phone is facing

 

[willie_gunn]

How sophisticated do you want to be?

If you have an iPhone download the GB Grid Ref Worker app, This will let you visit each site you want to record and take a 10 figure OS grid reference (and Lat/Long) and photo, and then text or email it to you. You can then plot them on Google Earth or similar. I do this for every deer I shoot, and every high seat on our ground.

Alternatively, and if you live in an area with a poor mobile phone signal, buy a cheap hand-held GPS and mark every stopcock, etc as a Waypoint. Each waypoint can be named, and again has a 10 figure OS grid reference. When you next need to find it, turn on the GPS, pull up the required waypoint, and the unit will direct you straight to it. I did this for every stag I shot in Sutherland, and used to amuse the stalker by telling him things such as “seven years ago we shot a stag on this exact spot.” Something like an early Magellan GPS unit will do everything you need - for example have a look on eBay at item number 385200750654 - £33.99 + £3.35 postage. There are other similar units starting at £10. These type of units were used by the armed forces, and seem to go on for ever!

 

[Jon P]

We get a lot of water leaks on our water line at aunts farm, any repairs and new stop cocks we have put it, I take lots of photos of area, and email them to myself with title water maps , has come in useful when looking for that section of water line again.

 

[Sharpie]

Cheers was wondering if anything similar u can do with a phone, i possibly could justify buying a gps thing but i know none of my neighbours would. Wanting something quite easily accesable and ideally free if such a thing exists?

I imagine w3w may not be far away, but i have no idea how it navigates u to a certain point

I highly recommend Alpinequest. The paid for ($12) version, not the free "Lite" introductory thing. Android only. AlpineQuest Off-Road Explorer - Apps on Google Play

You will need an Android 'phone with GPS, preferably multi satellite systems (GPS, Glonass, Beidou, maybe one day Galileo if they ever get that properly working). and ideally with a magnetometer (compass), though that is not essential, not all have these. You don't need a state of the art expensive phone, it runs very well on antique hardware, I have a spare old 'phone dedicated only to it, as a backup to my main one.

This will enable you to walk along your old runs, and to tag e.g. manholes, stopcocks, standpipes, whatever etc. All the while recording your track in an industry standard .Gpx or .Kml file which can then be used by almost anything, Google maps, whatever.

Geotag your photos on a separate camera as well, with a bit of post processing.

It can do so much more too, I can't begin to start on all the features. I have the entire GB OS mapping (a fairly old set from about 2010, stored at 1:50,00 and 1:25,000 on the phone. Plus, if in mobile coverage can access the very latest OS mapping at both scales, as well as tighter, to Street View level. For free. that was part of the deal when the OS was privatised, but they try to make it obscure. Even if out of data coverage, if you pre-plan, it will cache the latest data whilst still having some data coverage, mobile or WiFi. Then operate standalone without a data connection. Even if no GPS coverage it can still locate using cell site, or even Google's mapping of home WiFi installations., data garnered by their Street View vehicles, amongst other methods. and show a "circle of confusion" indicating precision. Quite Spooky. On, in the limit, It's base map, but better if you have cached the area previously with a better one, when still having a data connection.

Together with an immense amount of other public free mapping data. As well as overlay Google and Bing satellite and aerial reconnaissance images. Google is better in some places, Bing in others.

It is, being extremely sophisticated, quite a learning curve to get started, but worth the effort.

The opposite of that is simply to take a photo on your phone, with location data enabled. Subsequently you can look at such photos and extract the precise GPS coordinates from them. I am sometimes dismayed people who post e.g. pictures of dead deer, or guns for sale, on here, without having realised that they have given away precisely and I mean precisely, where and when they took the photo. For all to see.

E.g. Google "photograph location exif data" for a starter.

W3W will do exactly what you want, just need to type in the words that correspond to where the manhole/stopcock is on the app, then the app will tell you where you are in relation to the location you want to get to with an arrow to show you which way your phone is facing

No, it might not. I can't begin to describe the limitations of what W3W actually does. Or how it relies on using other services for actual mapping and direction. It appealing to simple people who don't think they can read a lat-long, or grid reference. Or say a postcode and house number in a built-up area.

And entirely proprietary, with rather a lot of limitations and weaknesses found by security analysts. It does however integrate with proper things, such as Alpinequest. E.g. I can use W3W to register a location then have that transferred to my AlpineQuest database. Where it could be useful.

Whereas, say mark up a sketch map with W3W wordy locations, then later want to find them. Precisely. No way to reverse translate a W3W name into useful positions, unless you pay them for that. Even the Emergency Services I think don't get that entirely for free. If I was say a pirate burying my treasure chest, to maybe be discovered many years later, I wouldn't be using W3W to do that. Lat.-Long, or a grid reference maybe. Otherwise just "X marks the spot" ...

There used to be a fun hobby, "Geocaching" back in the day when the civilian GPs signal was jittered to limit location precision. Bill Clinton had that turned off when he resigned, forward thinking. But it can still be done again, and is, in some places, where say guiding drones to very precise locations using civilian frequencies and technology may not be considered ideal.


Another good use for e.g. Alpinequest or something like it. Stalking. Keep it running and track your stalk. Tag where you took the shot, tag where you found the animal. Maybe take a photo of it. Save it all and replay the stalk at your leisure, maybe overlaid on a satellite or aerial photograph.

 

[.25-06]

Download os grid ref and note the grid ref. Of the bits you know against a schemic map. Share laminated copies with each other.

 

[angusb1]

I highly recommend Alpinequest. The paid for ($12) version, not the free "Lite" introductory thing. Android only. AlpineQuest Off-Road Explorer - Apps on Google Play

You will need an Android 'phone with GPS, preferably multi satellite systems (GPS, Glonass, Beidou, maybe one day Galileo if they ever get that properly working). and ideally with a magnetometer (compass), though that is not essential, not all have these. You don't need a state of the art expensive phone, it runs very well on antique hardware, I have a spare old 'phone dedicated only to it, as a backup to my main one.

This will enable you to walk along your old runs, and to tag e.g. manholes, stopcocks, standpipes, whatever etc. All the while recording your track in an industry standard .Gpx or .Kml file which can then be used by almost anything, Google maps, whatever.

Geotag your photos on a separate camera as well, with a bit of post processing.

It can do so much more too, I can't begin to start on all the features. I have the entire GB OS mapping (a fairly old set from about 2010, stored at 1:50,00 and 1:25,000 on the phone. Plus, if in mobile coverage can access the very latest OS mapping at both scales, as well as tighter, to Street View level. For free. that was part of the deal when the OS was privatised, but they try to make it obscure. Even if out of data coverage, if you pre-plan, it will cache the latest data whilst still having some data coverage, mobile or WiFi. Then operate standalone without a data connection. Even if no GPS coverage it can still locate using cell site, or even Google's mapping of home WiFi installations., data garnered by their Street View vehicles, amongst other methods. and show a "circle of confusion" indicating precision. Quite Spooky. On, in the limit, It's base map, but better if you have cached the area previously with a better one, when still having a data connection.

Together with an immense amount of other public free mapping data. As well as overlay Google and Bing satellite and aerial reconnaissance images. Google is better in some places, Bing in others.

It is, being extremely sophisticated, quite a learning curve to get started, but worth the effort.

The opposite of that is simply to take a photo on your phone, with location data enabled. Subsequently you can look at such photos and extract the precise GPS coordinates from them. I am sometimes dismayed people who post e.g. pictures of dead deer, or guns for sale, on here, without having realised that they have given away precisely and I mean precisely, where and when they took the photo. For all to see.

E.g. Google "photograph location exif data" for a starter.


No, it might not. I can't begin to describe the limitations of what W3W actually does. Or how it relies on using other services for actual mapping and direction. It appealing to simple people who don't think they can read a lat-long, or grid reference. Or say a postcode and house number in a built-up area.

And entirely proprietary, with rather a lot of limitations and weaknesses found by security analysts. It does however integrate with proper things, such as Alpinequest. E.g. I can use W3W to register a location then have that transferred to my AlpineQuest database. Where it could be useful.

Whereas, say mark up a sketch map with W3W wordy locations, then later want to find them. Precisely. No way to reverse translate a W3W name into useful positions, unless you pay them for that. Even the Emergency Services I think don't get that entirely for free. If I was say a pirate burying my treasure chest, to maybe be discovered many years later, I wouldn't be using W3W to do that. Lat.-Long, or a grid reference maybe. Otherwise just "X marks the spot" ...

There used to be a fun hobby, "Geocaching" back in the day when the civilian GPs signal was jittered to limit location precision. Bill Clinton had that turned off when he resigned, forward thinking. But it can still be done again, and is, in some places, where say guiding drones to very precise locations using civilian frequencies and technology may not be considered ideal.


Another good use for e.g. Alpinequest or something like it. Stalking. Keep it running and track your stalk. Tag where you took the shot, tag where you found the animal. Maybe take a photo of it. Save it all and replay the stalk at your leisure, maybe overlaid on a satellite or aerial photograph.

Alpinequest is really good. I use the free version to mark places I'm interested in for shot sites, good stuff I've foraged etc. I have only used a small amount of its functionality but when you said about wanting a GPS app to mark things you're interested in so you can find them again I thought if you took a photo with a GPS tag then open that in Alpinequest you can mark it. That is what I do.

 

[enfieldspares]

Make you own map? Buy an Ordnance Survey map and have the shown area of your property professionally enlarged and mark that?