March 31st, 2008 ydant
This project is largely irrelevant, as the WMATA website now has a live Google Maps version of their rail map with the same exact information available. I did this long before they provided such a service and keep it around just because I found the project interesting when I did it.
Having access to GIS software well before Google Maps made public consumer mapping popular and prevalent, I got curious as to how closely the public maps provided by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) matched the physical layout of the tracks. Obviously the rail map provided by the service is fairly stylized. A full and clearer image of this map can be obtained by going to the WMATA Rail Map on their website. I’ve shrunk it here to hopefully fit under fair use and not get harassed for copyright infringement.
My first thought was that the outer stations seem to be a lot closer together than they are in actuality. I also wondered how much obfuscation was done for security reasons. The stations are all public knowledge, of course, but sometimes these things are hidden. The actual underground rail paths are still an unknown to me, of course, but I imagine those are public record as well.
I started by parsing out the addresses from the Station Listing on the website. Each station is in its own page and so I just pulled down all of the pages and parsed out the addresses. This gave me a listing of station “colors” and addresses.
Next I took the addresses and geocoded them using ESRI’s ArcMap product. ArcMap is a professional level GIS software package that offers data processing, mapping, and geocoding support. These days, the same functionality as I used ArcMap for could easily be found in free services available on the internet. Yahoo, for example, offers a free geocoding API that can easily be used to convert these addresses into real world coordinates. Google Maps, or OpenStreetMap are both free mapping interfaces.
Once I had geocoded all of the addresses I had a list of points that made up the station lines. With a little connecting (manually done, given the small number of points), I ended up with a vector map of the network.
Finally, I overlayed the vector data I had just generated on some base map data of the area that I had available from another project at work.
And, for reference, the map provided by WMATA follows.
This pretty much confirmed my suspicions. The WMATA map takes a lot of liberty with the Orange line (those stops west of Rosslyn are pretty far apart), but overall does try to give an indication of how far apart two stations on the same line are. It’s very difficult to produce an accurate map that is quickly legible and that also conveys the important information quickly. Most users of the metro system don’t care how far apart two stations are, so not as much emphasis is placed on preserving this information. All in all, I think they did a pretty good job.
I’m curious if the NYC subway preserves this information more effectively. Given the size of the railway railway transit system, the maps are larger and much more detailed, which allows for more accurate preservation of the true spatial information.
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March 30th, 2008 ydant
This weekend a friend of mine (Vivian) and I went on a backpacking trip. This was her first backpacking trip (although she’d been on long hiking trips many times before), and we got off to a bit of a late start on Saturday morning. Since we were a little pressed for time and not quite sure how much actual hiking she would be up for we decided to pick somewhere fairly easy and close. In the Northern Virginia area that pretty much always means a trip out to the Shenandoah National Park. There are plenty of other places to hike, but not quite so many that allow overnight camping.
Located less than two hours away from most of the Washington, D.C. area, the Shenandoah National Park is a very popular destination for people wanting to get a taste of the outdoors. Luckily, the weather was a bit on the chilly side (mid 40s-mid 30s over the weekend), so we didn’t encounter the usual horde of weekend warriors decked out in the latest in fashionable gear from The North Face. The park makes its money off of these people, sure, but it’s still nice when they stay home.
For this weekend’s trip we decided to go down to the Matthew’s Arm area (and not just because of the similarity to my name). This area boasts a great waterfall view (off of the Tuscarora Trail), some good elevation change, and a decent chance of finding a good camping spot. There are also plenty of trails in the area allowing us to tailor the length of our trip as we went.
The day started out with absolutely perfect weather and temperature, with just a splattering of clouds in the sky and just warm enough that we didn’t really need more than a layer or two to stay warm. Considering the forecast when we planned this trip was calling for cold and rainy the entire weekend, we couldn’t have asked for nicer conditions.
From the beginning of the trip it was readily apparent who would be carrying the majority of the load (my pack is on the right, and holds a full 50L more than hers).
Of course, the bag looks just right when she’s wearing it, so mine must be ridiculously over-sized:
The last time I was on this trail the water was in fairly short supply, but thankfully that wasn’t an issue this time. The waterfalls were all very active, and the river by our campsite was flowing quite nicely. This did mean a couple of water crossings, of course, but none that we couldn’t manage with a bit of careful stepping.
Spring is definitely just around the corner, and the trees and flowers are all starting to leaf and bloom. These little flowers were everywhere along the trail, and while I don’t know what they are called, they are very photogenic.
We managed to find a good place to camp somewhere in the middle of the land of a million rocks (the trail was filled with large rocks). This entire area was obviously within a flood area at one point in time (due to the rocks and general shape of the terrain), but that wasn’t a concern for this weekend.
As usual, my whisperlight handled the task of heating water for food.
As per NPS rules for wilderness camping (and as is just general good sense), our food was stored in a “bear bag” high above the ground in case any such creatures decided to come sniffing around.
Being in the middle of the woods doesn’t mean you can ignore proper hygiene!
Being in the middle of the woods also doesn’t mean you have to give up some comforts.
The weekend ended quite a bit colder and cloudier than it started, with the smell of wetness (rain? snow?) in the air. We were quite happy to make it back to the car when we did and as warm as we did.
A cloudy sky might have made the views a little darker, but this part of the country is still beautiful.
While a short trip, it was a lot of fun, and I think Vivian’s gotten bitten by the backpacking bug, so I imagine there will be more trips in the future.
The rest of the pictures are available in my photo gallery.
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March 28th, 2008 ydant
For me, every backpacking trip is planned almost as if I’ve never been backpacking before. The only thing that changes (since I’m such a gearhead), is that I always have more to choose from each time I pack. Luckily, I always seem to remember the crucial items (often just as I’m pulling out of the driveway) - mainly because I keep most of the gear in the same place.
While packing for the last trip I went on (to Ramsey’s Draft, VA) I decided to end this cycle of forgetfulness and so I documented every item I packed (except for clothes). Now I’m finally putting that online.
- Backpack - I have an “old” Jansport Rockies 100 that has been with me for quite some time. It’s a large pack, which only encourages overpacking. Still, I can’t find any reason to replace it.
- Sleeping bag - temperature appropriate. I am currently rethinking my sleeping bags - for a long time I got by just fine with a 20F synthetic bag, but having recently purchased and absolutely loved my North Face Solar Flare -20F, I’m moving towards a range of down bags. For this trip I plan on purchasing the Mountain Hardware 32F Down bag.
- Sleeping pad - A sleeping pad serves for more than just comfort (rocks, uneven ground) by insulating you with air from the ground and thus reducing the amount of heat that leeches into the ground. Get at least a 3/4 length pad. Self-inflatable is best.
- Camp Stool - this is a purely comfort item, but everyone seems to love using mine when I bring it. Mine’s almost ten years old now, but REI sells a similar lightweight camp stool.
- Water filter - Obviously an essential. I have an old Sweetwater Microfilter from before MSR sold them (I think). Change the filters, and they last forever.
- Stove (and fuel) - MSR Whisperlite, as a fairly recent purchase. I have no complaints with this stove, although there might be better ones out there. Don’t forge t the fuel!
- Pot - Something to boil water in, at a minimum. For this MSR makes a perfectly serviceable Alpine Stowaway aluminium pot. One medium sized one does me fine for 2-3 people trips.
- Bowl, Cup, Utensils - For pure zen, go Alpine Bowl. It’s not fancy, but it’s light and works. An alternative are the squishy silicon bowls. Any spoon will do. Or just eat from the bag. No gourmet allowance here.
- Pack cover - get one that fits your bag, and keep it handy. Even waterproof backpacks leak.
- Utility rope - for hanging bear bags, etc. Consider a small pouch that can be tied to the rope to hold rocks for weight for throwing.
- Water/camp shoes - especially if there will be stream crossings. Flipflops or Solomon Amphibian water shoes. The latter are loved by me.
- Hat - not necessary, but can be nice. I have a floppy brimmed hat.
- Knife - Something simple is fine, but you never know when you’ll need one.
- Matches - Something to start a fire and light your stove.
- Flashlight & batteries - I’m a big fan of LED head lamps. Don’t forget the spare batteries.
- Pack towel - Something microfiber and small. From sweat to spills, these are handy.
- Tent - trip specific.
- Collapsible hiking poles - A lot of people don’t like these. I love them. I have three sets because I have forgotten them too many times and had to buy at the trail head.
- Water bottles - At a minimum I take 4L of water on every trip. I can always pour it out, but not always add to that. Take 6L (per person) if water will be scarce. I use a combination of Nalgene water bottles and Platypus water bags.
- Clothes - I almost left this one off… Appropriate clothing for the weather! If you pack synthetic or wool for everything, you won’t have to pack as much (sweat doesn’t render it unusable for multiple days). Proper clothing for the weather is a long discussion.
- Stuff sacks - Not just of the compressible variety. Waterproof stuff sacks come in handy. Everything gets wrapped in one (clothes for one, food for another). Also one can be used as a bear bag.
- Resealable bags - Traditionally I packed clothes in ziplock bags, but years of lack of problems with water getting all the way inside my waterproof stuff-sacks has made me more lazy about this. The side-effect is that I never have bags to store trash in. Every trip should have at least one resealable bag.
For gear reviews, I like this site: Backpack Gear Test.
For gear, I obviously like REI.
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