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2016/06/10

Log 2016061001

This is what Verizon Wireless Data Coverage looks like on the Scioto Trail Section - Buckeye/ North Country/ American Discovery Trail.  The maps that got these images were accessed today from it's coverage locator.  The parts that are a little more red are caused by the image overlay.  And where the trail is in a whiter area, that's where it doesn't have any data coverage.

I just posted on the Buckeye Trail's Facebook group about how to make these.  There's no resource that I know of that can compare the location of cellular signal to the trail.  Because if you take Buckeye's maps and try to compare them with Verizon's, both are drawn to scale, but the latter doesn't have enough detail to even vaguely lock on the right area sometimes.  They both have to be put together if you're looking for some kind of coverage between cities and villages.  And when the trail is on road, it's routed on the right-of-ways with the least traffic that gets the most scenic value.  That in of itself can make comparing these two maps difficult.

Usually I only do "call & text" coverage areas.  But as I'm going to be on a mixed mode adventure that's going to be something like hiking out and cycling back, rather than plan routes that I may not use, I'd rather know where the data coverage is so I can plot my trip back on Google Maps.  I still have the Scioto Trail, Sinking Spring, Shawnee and the West Union Section to complete.

Now these files are not shared on the cloud.  So, the images aren't linked to a location on the web.  With that said, it's hard to share the Google Earth KML/ KMZ file because the end user would have to download the images to their hard disk drive, then modify all the locations in the Earth file to get them to display right.  I don't even plan on sharing them with others because the demand for this data is low.  Not to mention that this coverage is subject to change, so as a project, it would become a revolving matter indefinitely and require the time of a dedicated volunteer to infrequently monitor it.

1 comment:

  1. I forgot to explain the return trip on my bike. Once my smartphone comes into data signal and I plot a route back, the app will download all of the map overlays for the whole trip. And even if I turned on turn by turn navigation, so long as it has the data, it can work solely off of the GPS hardware if it goes out of coverage.

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