View Full Version : Doc Samson Question
Hi Doc, I've been reading your posts and looking at your website. We have a lake home on a "private" 88 acre lake - there is public access but it is so bad that nobody can get a boat greater than a canoe on the lake. Because of this all I have to work with are very old DNR maps. From my on-the-lake experience the old DNR map is quite a bit off and in some cases WAY off (they show an underwater island running east/west when in fact it runs north/south...). There are virtually no contour lines on the map and short of looking at the map to see that it is a lake it's pretty much useless.
Anyway, in reading your posts and website it appears to me that you and your computer techs are discovering ways to use the capabilities of the Lowrance units to simulate what Lakemaster and Navionics are doing with their mapping. Is this correct or am I way off base?
I've been using the Lakemaster (Wisconsin) chip in my Lowrance LMS-332c and it's unbelieveable. I also just purchased the Navionics Premium chip but have not used it yet.
Is it going possible for me to use my Lowrance unit (LMS-332c) or a different Lowrance unit and essentially map my lake through the use of the Lowrance and outside computer programs? For an 88 acre lake it has a great amount of structure with numerous underwater islands, points, steep breaks, etc. Since there is no chance that Navionics or Lakemaster would ever map the lake I'd love to see if there is something that I could do to create an accurate and detailed map of the lake. Am I living in a dream world :-)?
Thanks in advance,
FJH
WarrenMN
11-28-2005, 06:47 PM
FJH1, Quick question. You can email me the answer if you don't want it posted here. What lake, county and near by city. I take it that its in Minn?
WarrenMN
accueview@mywdo.com
Hi WarrenMN, actually it's in Wisconsin. It's Sunday Lake, Oneida County, west of Minocqua on Highway 70.
Best Regards,
FJH
WarrenMN
11-28-2005, 09:36 PM
Ok, I couldn't find any thing of value on that lake. I was hoping maybe there was some imagery that had good visual penetration into the water. Ouch!
WarrenMN
What do you mean by "imagery that had good visual penetration into the water" - satellite imagery of the lake? If so, I have found satellite imagery in the past. If you are talking about lake maps...I have yet to find anything of any real value. Let me know.
Best Regards,
FJH
jerry bark
11-28-2005, 10:16 PM
hi guy,
if you make a good .SLG file of your lake and send it to me i will send you a contour map back in short order that you can print out. if you want something to put back into your lowrance, well i'm not quite there yet but its coming, and can be done by using several applications to achieve the task. i'm working to make one applications that does it all so that you do not need any other software.
cheers
jerry
Thanks for the generous offer Jerry! Well, unfortunately for me the boat at the lake is tucked away for the winter and the lake has a coat of ice so this is something that I will have to revisit in the spring. I wish I had known more about this 6 weeks ago, it's like I'm on a school of walleyes and I just dumped my container of leeches overboard! I was under the impression that I would be spending the winter months learning all about computer programs on mapping :-). In the mean time I'll need to learn more about what I need to do to create a .SLG file of our lake so I can get you the correct info.
Best Regards,
FJH
Doc Samson
11-28-2005, 11:29 PM
FJH,
Your 332 has a log chart function in the sonar menu. My website under Sonar tips has info on how to log a chart. Print it and bring it in the boat. If you criss cross your lake at 50-150 foot paths and save it to a blank MMC/SD card (128-512 MB, you will have the data to make a map. Take Jerry up on his offer and send it to him on a CD. You copy and paste the .slg from the MMC/SD card to a CD. I use 3DField to create the map and Global Mapper to make .usr files of the contours. You can also make .usr files of contours with Fugawi but you have to hand draw them. On most of my maps it doesn't take long to trace contours.
Doc
Thank you Doc!
Best Regards,
FJH
jerry bark
11-29-2005, 08:48 PM
you can send it over in the spring if you want,
send as an email attachment if your ISP will allow, i can recieve unlimited size if you let me know its coming.
cheers
jerry
jerry bark
11-29-2005, 08:48 PM
you can send it over in the spring if you want,
send as an email attachment if your ISP will allow, i can recieve unlimited size if you let me know its coming.
cheers
jerry
WarrenMN
11-29-2005, 10:48 PM
Some times I run across air photo imagery that really works well. Check these out. Pelican and Agency bay weren't the best I've ever run across, but the Cass is one of better.
http://groups.msn.com/Walleyemaps/shoebox.msnw?Page=Last
If you fish these lakes, be sure to save the images.
WarrenMN
WarrenMN
11-29-2005, 10:48 PM
Some times I run across air photo imagery that really works well. Check these out. Pelican and Agency bay weren't the best I've ever run across, but the Cass is one of better.
http://groups.msn.com/Walleyemaps/shoebox.msnw?Page=Last
If you fish these lakes, be sure to save the images.
WarrenMN
WarrenMN
12-01-2005, 11:28 PM
Did anyone stop in to look at the images. Got kind of quiet after I put that last post up.
WarrenMN
Yes, I saw the images and have been trying to find a good sat image of our lake. I found one on Terra Server that is fair to poor. I'm still looking for other sources.
Best Regards,
FJH
WarrenMN
12-02-2005, 10:05 AM
I looked too and didn't find any thing. One suggestion, but you have to have the software to read them is asking your local Ag agent if they carry the USDA Farm Service Agency NAIP imagery. Its stored in a file format called MrSid. If you don't have software that can read that format I think they still have a free viewer you can download. If not contact me.
Now, this isn't saying the images will be any better than what you already found, but its a chance you'll have to take. I think they sell them for an average of one county per CD at $50 a CD. Some counties can take up more than one CD. If your a property owner, or maybe it was a farmer, some states you can get them free.
WarrenMN
cjbrown...
12-02-2005, 10:24 AM
Our county Soil and Water dept has been helpful. I recently recieved some aerials of a lake they took before it was flooded. Wow,has helped with reading the countour, structure ect. If looking for maps of manmade lakes this has been my best source for preflooded maps and pics.
Dustywaterwolf
12-02-2005, 05:04 PM
Hey WarrenMn, I couldn't help but be interested in what you were sharing. I fish Lake Mille Lacs exclusively and was wondering if there was imigaes of Mille Lacs. I very quickly browsed through the msn site for walleyemaps that you provided and came up empty. Could you help me out here? Thanks
WarrenMN
12-02-2005, 06:11 PM
I don't know why, but the really big lakes don't ever come out very good. Conditions have to be just right when they to the air photo mission. You need calm winds for no waves and the time of day had to be early or late or you have hot spots in the images from the sun reflecting back into the lens.
I put a bay on Mille Lac on there but the set of photos I got it from and different for some reason. The link above is just a spot for me to pass an images. There isn't much more space than what those four are using up so its not a good spot to start up any thing on mapping, just sharing a few spots.
WarrenMN
accueview
12-08-2005, 08:22 PM
Just wanted to give a heads up to guys that have been talking about making their own contour maps from their SLG files. I understand Bruce is going to beta test a version of 3DField that will export the maps you can make in it into a GeoTiff format. This means you won't have to do any photo rectification, direct load the maps into what ever map software your using.
Also if you have Global Mapper, 3DField can export the contour lines in a DXF or SHP format and Global Mapper can read them. Bruce requested Global Mapper recently to look into exporting line data in the Lowrance USR file format and I guess they did. So this means you can make your own contour lines out of track files. He's asked 3DField to look into an export function for Lowrance USR format also. You may think it would be handy to not have to have Global Mapper, but I'm telling you here and now, this is the best map software I've ever used. It amazes me all the different data formats it can use. I still use Fugawi for its ease, but Global mapper is hands down the most powerfull map software for its money. And oh, you can down load a demo program off their site. But with limits. Warning though, it is an advanced program.
WarrenMN AKA accueview
Sorry for using copy and paste but it saves me rewriting and I thought this was important to any one else like me out there that loves to play with maps.