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2016/03/08

Log 2016030801

The guide is done and is in PDF format with working bookmarks now.  There are probably some bugs like the "BELLE VALLEY SECTION" was newly added for the upcoming edition and I didn't link the name to to it's Buckeye Trail web page (trail alerts & map updates).  I have to leave town in 7 days and this thing is already overdue.  The Whipple Section that I supervise is going to need to be tended to in April.  So, I'm at the point where I'm getting willing to sacrifice perfection.

What remains are several simple modifications to the map, glossary and site index.  The hardest thing from here might the directory.  My Mozilla Thunderbird e-mail client has been synchronizing my contacts with GMail.  In the day of smartphones, GMail is one of the options used to set up e-mail and synchronize contacts to.  I plan to give transit hikers a downloadable copy of it so they can upload it into their contacts list.  After they synchronize with their contacts list, it will be downloaded on their device and it would become something they could use off-line.  And that's what's important about the OTHR.  Ohio has it's places where, currently, even the best cellular provider still has gaps.

So while I'm on that topic, let me tell you about what's entailed with determining cellular coverage gaps on distance trails.  ArcGIS Explorer might do it easier as it might have a cellular providers maps.  But with Google Earth, it's a matter of visiting the web page for the coverage map.  And somehow saving the web page itself to a .jpg format.  I have Windows, so I just open it up in "Paint," crop out every but Verizon's rectangular map and then add an image overlay in Google Earth using that file.  With Verizon's maps, they were drawn to scale and positioned over known things (like roads) perfectly.  Then repeat the process until you've covered your entire route.

If you have a hand GPS, the image overlay probably won't read.  So in Google Earth, you'll need to make a set of placemarks (waypoints).  Personally, I label mine as "I/O" with the first character pertaining to the clockwise direction.  In electronics, "I" is a closed circuit, meaning "on."  And "O" is an open circuit meaning "off."  This is why a variation of "I/O" is printed on the power button for most computers.

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