TO: wjw in SD

[Mike Michalak]

Got your mail but kept getting script errors trying to respond...

Wes,

I wish I did! I know we have several lakes on a rather long list for SD, but a timetable hasn't been attached to it yet. We meet in April for a look at what's ahead for the latter part of this year and into 2003. If something comes up, I'll post it. Thanks!

Mike (mapguy) Michalak
FHS

[Hawgeye]

Mike,

What goes into mapping out lakes to create the maps for GPS units? The reason I ask is that your company is likely a smaller company that does not have the resources to map out the thousands of lakes to create maps for GPS units in a short period of time. I personally am interested in lakes such as Devils Lake, NE SD lakes, central Minnesota lakes etc....

Is it possible to get local support to assist in mapping lakes out? If there is any support that I could offer, I would be interested.

Thanks
Mike

[Mike Michalak]

Mike,

You've asked an interesting question because an awful lot goes into researching/surveying lakes and rivers. The initial data is used for our paper maps. We then license that data to third parties like Outdoor Intelligence, Garmin, Lowrance, Topo-Log, National Geographic and others to use in their products.

As for being a small company, well, we have thousands of lakes in 44 states and Canada on file. Last year alone we added 32 new waters to the line. Fishing Hot Spots, Inc. is the nation's largest fishing map publisher and invest thousands of dollars into each map.

As for the lakes you mention, we have a lot in Minnesota and as far as South Dakota is concerned, they're on the list, but stronger markets end up bumping them down the list. And Devil's Lake? If it ever stops growing, we may consider it again. We had a great map a few years back until the water decided to expand by a ton of acres.

The local support is a big part of what we do and we get offers all the time, and we appreciate that. Our research uncovers many of these people. If you have some qualifications that can add value to a project, email the info to me and I'll forward it to our production crew.

[Hawgeye]

Thanks for the reply. I suppose I should not have worded it quite the way I did as far as being a "small" company. There are just sooooo many lakes out there.

I really do not have any surveying qualifications but thought it would be a very interesting experience. I am a Project Engineer that deals with electronic systems but have no navigational experience other than using my GPS. If ever a "grunt" is needed in this area, it would be fun to help and observe!

Great product Mike!

[eyecatcher_1]

Just thought I would drop a quick note about lake maps in here pertaining to SE and NE SD to see if you have checked Scheels. I was amazed at the selection of maps. They even had maynards slough for cryin out loud. Just a thought, but they have a lot of "small" lake maps there.