Elevation profile

Thanks for all the replies,

The one fire I was on last year the Comm Unit Leader had Topo North America and it was very fast. He just clicked the two mountain tops and it gave him the profile view and the bearing. But with the merger between Garmin and DeLorme, I'm not sure what will happen with TNA. I'm willing to purchase it, but if they are going to revamp, revise and update it I will hold off and use BaseCamp. I currently have a GPSMap 64st with the 100k maps preloaded. Just playing around with it I don't think those maps have the DEM attached to them. It could be that I'm just not clicking the right buttons. I've just now started exploring BaseCamp by enacting scenerios I might need out in the field. Now in the off season is the time to find out if something doesn't work. Since there is a chance I could get sent to 49 of the 50 states, I would need to spend a fortune for all the Garmin 24k maps. Topo NA is only $80 and has all the features I need.
Usually we have to get this information within a minute or two. How long would it take to import, export, translate files, etc? Sounds like it might take a while.
Thanks for the help.
Onelick

US Topo 100k v5 does this no problem in either BC or Mapsource; takes seconds if the map is already open. Place two waypoints and upload to the 64.

Sorry it's taken me a while to get back, I'm at work and with the weather here on the east coast, we've been pretty busy here at the fire station.

I guess I wasn't too clear with what I would like to do with the elevation profiles. Here's a scenario:
40,000 acre fire headed to the north east. We need to get some radio coverage out ahead of the fire about 40 miles out. We are in the Comm tent scouting maps on where to put a couple repeaters. We pull up some kind of mapping program and start clicking mountain tops to check their elevation and to see if there is anything between them for line of sight antennas, and also to see if there's a road up to the top, or if at the last resort, we can fly a helicopter in and set the repeaters up that way. And also "see" back to the repeaters we already have set up.
That is just a very quick down and dirty scenario to represent what I'm trying to do. When we are doing this, we aren't transferring any kind of data to the handheld unit. I only mentioned this because those are the only maps I have and I'm not sure if they have DEM on them. When we get back from setting up the repeater, we will then transfer the waypoints back to the computer for incorporation into the main fire maps through the GIS guys. When the fire is 'running and gunning' we don't even have time for doing this much and we fly by the seat of our pants, and then when things calm down a bit, or we get more staffing, we go back and refine the system.

I hope this clears things up a bit, or did it muddy the waters?

Thanks for letting me pick your brains and experience. This GPS stuff is very new to me and I appreciate all the help.

Onelick

As one who was playing with Delorme Topo6 ten years ago to visualize the elevation profile to a Direct TV satellite in geosynchronous orbit near the equator, and most recently a week ago to reconfirm with Topo10 that I could not watch Super Bowl 50 at home from a weak local CBS repeater antenna, I am reminded of one major problem:

The computer needs to run cool! If you will be doing critical work in the field, buy a new one or at least have the geeks take it apart, clean it, and install a new fan. Good luck, and yes Delorme Topo10 should do most of what you need quickly once you get past the learning curve. I have not had the impulse to learn if BaseCamp can do the job as easily.

There are three things you should consider to make a decision. They are the visual map, the DEM data and the road data.

In the US, you will definitely want a 24k map to visually find peaks. Topo North America meets this requirement and covers the whole US.

DEM data is essentially a grid of elevations with an elevation value at the intersection of each grid line. Elevation within an individual square of the grid is interpolated from the values at the four corners. So, the finer/denser the grid the least likely you are to have a bump in a square that could affect line of sight. I’m not sure if this information is readily available, but you can always the various companies.

Roads are a bit of an iffy thing in the US. Major roads and cities are pretty much kept current, however, small towns and rural roads in sparsely populated areas are a bit more iffy. If the roads in Topo North America are based on 24k topo maps, this might be the best option. The roads may or may not still be there, but the information will likely be more complete then say City Navigator NA. I do know that the Garmin 24k maps supplement the road data with additional data. I’m not sure about 100k maps that have DEM data.

I would probably invest in the Topo North America for your purposes, but you may want to see what else is available with national coverage. I’m don’t think that there is a reasonably price Garmin solution. As far as roads go, you can compare Topo North America with what you have on your Garmin device. Or better still, 39_Steps can comment.

I’m sure when you test BaseCamp before if you had your device connect to the computer. When the device is connected you should be able to access the maps on the device.

At worst going forward, you can supplement the Topo software with another program to check for roads. But I suspect that if there will be local paper maps at your station, they will likely be the most accurate for road data.

Sounds like Topo NA it is.

Thanks for all your help and advise.
I do have a brand new hp Spectre x360 SSD I7 computer that is very fast and runs cool since it's SSD. However, that can be both a curse and a blessing. Blessing in that it will make my life a whole lot easier in the field, and a curse in that if a computer is not listed on my resource order and something happens to it, I won't get reimbursed.

Again, thanks for all your efforts to help. I'll keep you updated as the fire season progresses.

Onelick

Just one more online resource I found to easily display elevation profiles
http://www.geocontext.org/publ/2010/04/profiler/en/
you can move to the desired location, switch to terrain map, reset and then click on the map to select the points