Tiled Maps takes full advantage of what ever device it is on, meaning a specialized interface for iPhones and iPads, not just a stretched screen like some older map apps. The map can follow your location and even rotate the maps to match the way the device is facing if you prefer to be “in the map”.

~Craig, and Tania, and version 2.0

P.S. Right now I’m under sedation from a wisdom teeth operation so I’m explicitly forbidden from driving and “making important decisions” so the talk about product branding will have to wait a few days.

Download iPhoto9ColuredIcons

Update 2012-01-22: I’ve tested this in iPhoto 9.2.1 and it seems to be working fine.

First off you’ll need a bunch of stuff installed on your computer.

• Photoshop or other TIFF editing program
• gdal utilities
• gdalcopyproj

With those installed you’re ready to follow my process.

1. Remove the collar

The USGS maps that I’ve been using come with a ‘collar’, that bit around the outside of the actual map data that you’d have to cut off if you were printing them out and sticking them together.

Before cutting the collar off make sure to keep a copy of the original tiff because most image editing programs will lose the geo data when you press Save. In Photoshop I had to convert the image to RGB mode so that I could make the outside part transparent. It’s important not to change the size of the image. The embedded coordinates are for the corner of the tiff even though the map doesn’t reach there. Save the image and get back to the command line for step 2.

2. Restore the geospatial data

The new tiff you have just saved does not have the embedded coordinates that it started with. So long as you kept a copy of the original file you can reinstate the data using the following command and the gdalcopyproj program.

> gdalcopyproj.py original_file.tif new_file.tif

3. Create a Virtual Tile Set

If you’re combining multiple maps you’ll either need to merge them into one large file or create a virtual tile set like this

>gdalbuildvrt -srcnodata b4 -hidenodata merged.vrt *.tif

The “b4″ tells GDAL that band four of your images is the transparency layer, and the “hidenodata” tells it that when two maps overlap, hide the one that has no data (is transparent). Without that the transparent collars of the geotifs erase useful content from geotifs they join up with.

You can merge the files like this

> gdalwarp -co COMPRESS=LZW *.tif merged.tif

But it won’t do the compression until the end, so with USGS maps you’ll be generating files over 1GB even if you only have a few source maps. The virtual tile set method is definitely quicker and takes less disk space.

4. Cutting the tiles

The following command will take either your merged geotif file, or the virtual tile set as the first parameter and an output directory as the second (which will be created if it doesn’t exist).

>gdal2tiles.py merged.vrt tiles

The process can take quite a while, but it starts with the most detailed layer and each one after that is about 4 times faster than the previous one. When it’s complete you’ll have a full TMS tile stack ready for use on web map systems such as Google Maps and OpenLayers and my iOS app Tiled Maps. Next time I’ll post the scripts I use to optimise a tile set down from ~1.7Gb to 700Mb.

We’ve rented a tandem before and found it was a lot of fun. That time we were riding around a beach suburb in San Diego having to deal with pedestrians, “side walks” and occasionally traffic. This time was lot simpler. Most of the people we saw were heading our way and only one was on foot. Much like the PCT when everyone is on a trail with the same goal and similar traveling style there’s an easy camaraderie between strangers. We all have to deal with the same hills and are all getting sore bottoms (though some to a greater degree, do hardly riding a bike more than 5km for the last 15 years).

We were very lucky with the weather in what has been an unusually wet season. The fields were much greener than normal but we were late enough that the trees has started to change and it wasn’t the still dry air that can sit over the Canterbury plains. I’ve put a selection of photos in a MobileMe gallery page, but you really have to experience in person. I’ll gladly do it again and definitely encourage more people to go by tandem. It’s just so nice to have your other half within arms reach the entire time, a very sweet way to spend a few days in New Zealand.

As noted below by Darren you need to change the channels in your guide to xmltv.

Ayumi, Paul, Tania and Craig atop My Fuji

So go check out and AyumiMeegan.com and drop her a line, she’s one of the nicest bloggers I know with an amazing imagination and it’ll add a bit more sparkle into your life.

1: Otago Rail Trail

The most obvious starting point. 150kms of trail graded gently enough for the trains of yesteryear. The trail might be a bit rutted and bumpy so I hope they’ve given those trikes some good suspension to protect the equipment as well as the rider.

2: Wai-o-tapu

It’s an amazing “thermal wonderland” not far south of Rotorua and though it looks really good from the sky you really need to get in amongst it to show off some of New Zealand’s famous geothermal features.

3: The Luge

Whilst they’re down in Rotorua they should definitely pay a visit to The Luge. It’s a set of paved downhill tracks each as wide as a single lane road over looking the city. But don’t spend anytime looking down there because you need to pay attention to the corners and other riders as you hurtle down the hill on your three wheeled carts. This is my favourite man-made tourist attraction in NZ by far, and features in any good road trip. There’s one in Auckland too but you can see most of it from the motorway and it doesn’t look half as exciting as the Rotorua one.

4: Rangitoto Island

The jewel of the Hauraki Gulf is a volcano with a few unsealed roads. Right now they are only used by the D.O.C. workers and the pull-along tourist tractor that takes those that can’t walk to the summit. The last 100m or so is on wooden steps that the trike couldn’t traverse so they’ll need to carry it. Which should get them in good practice for…

5: The Tongariro Crossing

One of the world’s best day hikes, and there in lies the problem. If Google can get the Street View equipment down to a size where two people can carry it I’d gladly be one of the sherpas.

6: Viaduct Harbour

Often touted as ‘party’ central for things like The America’s Cup, the Rugby World Cup and really any event that Auckland hosts. I made a Real Place for it a while ago but I think it could do with the Street View treatment, ideally on a day when some really interesting big yachts are in.

7: Rainbow’s End

New Zealand’s biggest theme park may not stack up against the some of the ones in the recent UK update but that doesn’t stop it being the best one we’ve got. As you can see on the map there’s enough space to be worth exploring and I reckon putting the trikes on the race track would be fun too. If only they could make a splash-proof version for the log flume .

Any other suggestions?

Update
GEarthBlog.com has some speculation that StreetView might be heading indoors. If this is true then I’d add Te Papa, New Zealand’s national museum to the list of places to document. I think GEarthBlog’s idea is more of documenting the collections in proper posed photo shoots rather than riding a trike down the halls, but I like the idea of riding around the museum late at night when all the other visitors have gone home.