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Getting nerdy with the maps

Marmuzz

Marmuzz

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2021
Messages
1,207
Location
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
For work I came across the Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access (https://www.pasda.psu.edu/) website; a public access collection of maps and overlays detailing everything from topo to historical data, mines, wetlands, flood risk, state forest lands, etc. I know there's tons of mapping resources out there, but this site continues to surprise me with the amount of varying info it can present.

Got me wondering: what are your favorite public use (free) map resources that help you with digital intel for hunting?

I think most of us know how to use Google Earth/Maps, topo maps, and OnX, so I mean a little more in-depth.

I'm curious about tools like LiDAR, infared, etc. Anything that helps you interpret land data to a greater degree for details like crop and tree types, forest transitions, walking trails, wind direction, current seasonal foliage changes... who knows? What less-than-common mapping sites and tools have you found that help you?

Redirect to other threads as needed. I'm sure the genus of this question has been inquired multiple times.
 
I use sentinelhub playground when I'm trying to locate mountain laurel and rhododendron. Pictures are uploaded three times a week. I just find a clear non cloudy day in winter and the green will pop. There's a few filters to mess around with.
 
Marmuzz said:
For work I came across the Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access (https://www.pasda.psu.edu/) website; a public access collection of maps and overlays detailing everything from topo to historical data, mines, wetlands, flood risk, state forest lands, etc. I know there's tons of mapping resources out there, but this site continues to surprise me with the amount of varying info it can present.

Got me wondering: what are your favorite public use (free) map resources that help you with digital intel for hunting?

I think most of us know how to use Google Earth/Maps, topo maps, and OnX, so I mean a little more in-depth.

I'm curious about tools like LiDAR, infared, etc. Anything that helps you interpret land data to a greater degree for details like crop and tree types, forest transitions, walking trails, wind direction, current seasonal foliage changes... who knows? What less-than-common mapping sites and tools have you found that help you?

Redirect to other threads as needed. I'm sure the genus of this question has been inquired multiple times.
Click to expand...

ESRI (ARC products) are the dominant software products, and most spatial data is delivered in a format for that product (.shp....shapefiles).

They have a free version that doesn't do a whole lot.

There are a few open source GIS softwares. One that is free and very powerful is R, which is a platform and language, but it is very intense.

I would google open source GIS programs or consider an ESRI license. Google Earth Pro can display ESRI data types you download, but I haven't yet figured out how to make it do what ESRI does.

For instance, you can overlay a stream/river line file, buffer it with 100 yards on each side for a riparian zone, and then highlight everywhere that buffer hits a land cover type you choose. Once good with it, that's something you could do for a whole state in like 15 minutes. GIS is about all I did for several years.
 
I haven't played with GIS for a bit but off the top of my head I think I used GrassGIS and Q for software. MN has a lot of publically-available geodata. I've used a lot of USDA and NOAA geodata in the past. USDA publishes false color infrared for agricultural use.

Fun fact, and this might be along the lines of what you're looking for: getting smart on false color infrared might be just what you're looking to do. We see "green" as just "green". Herbivores don't. When we think about a herbivore's vision, we think in terms of hiding from them - think, UV brightener detergent. We don't think about *why* a deer's vision is that way. It's because they use UV and near IR to discern the best plant foods.

An Astroturf field looks the same shade of green as a fertilized lawn, to our eyes. Ditto two adjacent corn fields. But look at those same patches of greenery under false color infrared and the differences are huge. A sick plant looks very different from a healthy plant if you have UV or near-IR receptors in your eyeballs. Your local ag college probably has textbooks or other resources about stuff like "remote sensing" (the techy-techy satellite kind, not the Coast-To-Coast AM kind) you can peruse.
 
A trick I like is to find imagery (can do this on Google Earth with the time slider thing) from winter. Edges (especially evergreen against hardwoods) really pop and having the leaves off some areas lets you see other things like old roads. I look for images with snow.
 
raisins said:
ESRI (ARC products) are the dominant software products, and most spatial data is delivered in a format for that product (.shp....shapefiles).

They have a free version that doesn't do a whole lot.

There are a few open source GIS softwares. One that is free and very powerful is R, which is a platform and language, but it is very intense.

I would google open source GIS programs or consider an ESRI license. Google Earth Pro can display ESRI data types you download, but I haven't yet figured out how to make it do what ESRI does.

For instance, you can overlay a stream/river line file, buffer it with 100 yards on each side for a riparian zone, and then highlight everywhere that buffer hits a land cover type you choose. Once good with it, that's something you could do for a whole state in like 15 minutes. GIS is about all I did for several years.
Click to expand...
QGIS is solid but requires understanding of the data and the user to source their own databases, which is taxing of time and waking hours. Certainly beneficial for targeting spots of interest. Consider USGS data portals, and generally flagship university offer something approximating a state databases. Good luck!
 
Fuse Dude said:
QGIS is solid but requires understanding of the data and the user to source their own databases, which is taxing of time and waking hours. Certainly beneficial for targeting spots of interest. Consider USGS data portals, and generally flagship university offer something approximating a state databases. Good luck!
Click to expand...

Yeah, the more powerful the tool, usually the steeper the learning curve.

Supposedly, there's ways to do anything you'd like in Google Earth, but you aren't going to be using just a mouse and clicking to do it.
 
@Schemeecho - this is why I advocate you getting on the ground, and focusing way less on maps.

Anything you might find because of internet map scouting will be scoped already by folks way more sophisticated than you. It will either not have good deer hunting in it, or they'll be hunting it.

This is not an absolute. But as a fella who spent way too much time looking at maps and aerial photos before and during hunting season and out of state trips, I can confirm a strong correlation between "looks good on a map" and "trucks with tethrd stickers on the back glass".
 
raisins said:
Yeah, the more powerful the tool, usually the steeper the learning curve.

Supposedly, there's ways to do anything you'd like in Google Earth, but you aren't going to be using just a mouse and clicking to do it.
Click to expand...
Here in Louisiana, there SONRIS with a GIS Access portal, it's only ok with Lidar and boundaries.
 
kyler1945 said:
@Schemeecho - this is why I advocate you getting on the ground, and focusing way less on maps.

Anything you might find because of internet map scouting will be scoped already by folks way more sophisticated than you. It will either not have good deer hunting in it, or they'll be hunting it.

This is not an absolute. But as a fella who spent way too much time looking at maps and aerial photos before and during hunting season and out of state trips, I can confirm a strong correlation between "looks good on a map" and "trucks with tethrd stickers on the back glass".
Click to expand...
I agree and thats why I have only decided to use maps for topo info and to try and find where others may be parking and easy access. That way I can avoid most other hunters as much as possible. . I understand that the info I need is on the property , I just need to go find it
 
kyler1945 said:
@Schemeecho - this is why I advocate you getting on the ground, and focusing way less on maps.

Anything you might find because of internet map scouting will be scoped already by folks way more sophisticated than you. It will either not have good deer hunting in it, or they'll be hunting it.

This is not an absolute. But as a fella who spent way too much time looking at maps and aerial photos before and during hunting season and out of state trips, I can confirm a strong correlation between "looks good on a map" and "trucks with tethrd stickers on the back glass".
Click to expand...


I don't find this to be true in large tracts of public land because there are just too many good areas.

Also, if you get good enough, then it isn't hard to be more 'sophisticated' than most other hunters. In fact, knowing where other people might go via digital scouting is intel of its own. This is the chess game of it.

Here in WV, I benefit from the morbid obesity and bad lifestyle choices of most other hunters. If you look for hard access points, then no one else will be there.
 
Schemeecho said:
I agree and thats why I have only decided to use maps for topo info and to try and find where others may be parking and easy access. That way I can avoid most other hunters as much as possible. . I understand that the info I need is on the property , I just need to go find it
Click to expand...

You should at least eliminate bad areas via digital scouting.

As someone that routinely looks at maps and then goes to those points and finds the exact deer sign I'm looking for (I've jumped bucks bedding almost exactly on waypoints I've set), I find digital scouting invaluable in conjunction with boots on the ground.
 
raisins said:
You should at least eliminate bad areas via digital scouting.

As someone that routinely looks at maps and then goes to those points and finds the exact deer sign I'm looking for (I've jumped bucks bedding almost exactly on waypoints I've set), I find digital scouting invaluable in conjunction with boots on the ground.
Click to expand...

How long have you been deer hunting?
 
raisins said:
started at 14, now in my 40s, but took a long break while in grad school
Click to expand...

I think 25 years of hunting experience might have something to do with how much impact internet scouting will have on your hunting success.

I'm not downplaying the value of internet scouting, or disparaging anyone who does it. I do it. I'm simply trying to help a new hunter build a foundation, plus have fun.
 
kyler1945 said:
I think 25 years of hunting experience might have something to do with how much impact internet scouting will have on your hunting success.

I'm not downplaying the value of internet scouting, or disparaging anyone who does it. I do it. I'm simply trying to help a new hunter build a foundation, plus have fun.
Click to expand...

True. I also have a grad degree with research focus of spatial analysis of ecosystems, which helps.
 
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