Managing Editor:
James Perry

By Stu Bristol
e-mail: sbristol@gwi.net

"Unless you want that laptop computer pitched into the lake, you better stick it back in the trunk" said one of my hunting buddies. "You know the rules about bringing work into deer camp," he warned. Little did he realize that before the weekend was over, he and the other five in camp would be begging me not to shut the thing off.

On the screen was a full-scale topographic map of our hunting area and I had taken the liberty of placing tiny icons at all our favorite hangouts. In the lower left corner of the map was another open window depicting an elevation profile of the terrain along the route we planned to scout. Attached to the computer's serial port was a hand-held GPS, and I was in the process of downloading all our tree stand locations.

"Whoa, Nellie." Was the collective response when the gang realized what was happening. "Where'd that stuff come from?" they asked. Actually, U.S.G.S. topographic quads, scanned and collected onto CD-ROM disks have been around for several years, but only a few mapping companies have gone the extra mile to package them with a land navigation system. The product I fell in love with is Terrain Navigator, made by Maptech, Inc. of Greenland, New Hampshire.

You sea dogs might recognize the Maptech name by its other products, the Chart-Kit and Embassy Guides and the NOAA charts they also compiled onto CD-ROMs. What you might not have realized yet is that the same technology that makes Terrain Navigator so easy to use is also loaded into the company's marine products.

Some of the guys were starting to think my name should be changed from the "Camp Cook" to the "Camp Couch Potato," because I was using the laptop for scouting. But, in a couple of days, those same guys are sure to be thanking me for providing the security of knowing where they were and where they should have been during the hunt.

When hunting season begins, I intend to take up residence at the edge of a large wooded marsh a mile or so from camp. Using the laptop, it's easy to point out the half acre of high ground smack in the middle of the marsh. I call areas such as these "swamp or marsh islands" and it's been proven that they hold big deer when hunters turn up the pressure.

Being Saturday night, and since hunting is not allowed on Sundays, my plan was to go fishing while the rest of the gang busted their guts on the hilly terrain around camp, looking for deer tracks. I already decided where I'm going to sit, come opening morning. It didn't take a lot of arm-twisting to get my neighbor, Bill, to come along for the boat ride. "Before the rest of the guys interrupted my planning session," I explained, "I used Terrain Navigator to plot a trolling course around the lake. My plan is to hook up with lake trout big enough for tomorrow night's supper."

Using the drawing tool feature, I scribed a line from the camp toward the far point of a big island on the East shoreline and 50 yards or so off the island. The contour lines on the map were almost touching each other, suggesting that the water would be deep. Lake trout seldom leave the security of deep water even though they cruise just under the surface at this time of year.

Shortly after daybreak, while the rest of the gang headed up the hill, Bill and I laid out the lead-core, I took the wheel while Bill booted up Terrain Navigator. With the coordinates for each leg of the trolling route downloaded into the GPS, we could set out the lines and pass the time planning Bill's upcoming 4-wheeling vacation in southern California. "We're going to be following a Jeep trail in the Baja, around San Felipe." He said, expecting me to walk him through a tour of the software. "Go to the database file and type in the name of the nearest town." I instructed. San Felipe was not there, but just a few miles away was Warner's Spring, and the disk drive whirred and up came a topo map surrounding San Felipe and smack in the middle was a Jeep Trail off Highway S2 just east of the village.

"Now, select the little ruler icon in the menu and draw a line along the Jeep Trail. Right click and select 'information.' The software gives you the distance (in feet and meters) and headings. Now click on 'profile' and a window will appear with a side-view of the terrain along the trail." The tone of his voice when he said "Wow" summed up how impressed he had become. "Can I borrow this thing for a couple of weeks?" he said, only half kidding. "You'll want to buy one for yourself when you try out the real-time tracking feature," I told him, while thinking of an excuse why I couldn't let him borrow the machine. He's done a lot of electrical work around my place and I felt some payback coming.

"Now here's a kicker," I said, pulling out a 5-foot computer cable. "Each make and model of GPS has it's own special cable. You can't just run into Radio Shack and ask for a universal PC interface cable." I did note that most of the major GPS manufacturers were bundling interface cables with their units, anticipating the growing popularity of CD-ROM mapping and navigation software. "Just plug one end of the cable into the serial port of the laptop and the other end into the back of the GPS. Boot up the GPS and we're ready to go." Of course the next question was, "You're using a Garmin 12. Will this work with my Magellan?" You'll have to consult each CD manufacturer, but to find that answer when using Terrain Navigator, open the GPS menu on the setup bar. There is over a dozen models from most of the major GPS manufacturers listed. "Just look at the model of your GPS to see if it features a PC interface port. In common language, see if there's a hole in the back of the unit, covered with a rubber plug." The low-end units (under $100) probably won't offer that feature.

On the other end, you really don't need the more expensive units, with dozens of features. Almost all the GPS models now offer 12-channel reception. That means you can receive a signal in fairly heavy cover. If the unit has an external antenna, like the Garmin 12 XL or the Garmin III plus or Magellan ColorTrac or 2000 XL, that's a plus.

Going to the database and selecting the lake we were on, Terrain Navigator allowed us to connect the GPS and as we trolled along, a neat blue line drew our course on the laptop screen. "This will do the same thing off-road." I told him "And, you can toggle back and forth between real-time tracking with the GPS and using the other functions of the software." As we passed over the imaginary line separating two quads, the software drew a solid line and the maps kept tracking, seamlessly. Even those corner locations where you'd need to buy four different quads were there, and I knew if I needed a hard copy I could print out just what I needed, markers and tracklines and all.

"Do I dare ask the cost." He said, sheepishly. Not wanting to sound like a sales rep for Maptech, I deferred him to the Web site, www.maptech.com , where he could see the whole product line and the variety of pricing available.

In general, Terrain Navigator sells for between $49 and $99 per CD, each of which includes roughly 250-300 topo quads in both 1:24,000 (7.5 minute) or 1:100,000 scales Unlike some of the other products I looked into, Maptech has compiled topo maps by entire states. Most of the New England states are on a single disk per state, with my state of Maine taking up 4 CDs. The last time I visited the site, the company was offering all but a dozen states.

Visiting the site, it's easy to get sidetracked on the other Maptech products like their "Take a Hike" series that provides topo maps and other information on popular hiking regions such as the White Mountains, the entire 2,000 mile Appalachian Trail on 4 CD's and all 54 National Parks.

But what really impressed me about the technology was the relatively low cost for such a huge amount of security. A single Terrain navigator CD at $99 and the hand-held GPS at just under $150 puts the total investment at less than I paid for my 12-gauge turkey gun. Using the product for two years now, in my guide service and for my hunting and fishing travels from Maine to California, I feel confident that I can go off-road anywhere in the country, using my laptop, a GPS and a compass, with a deep feeling of security.

Copyright © 2000 by Stu Bristol.  All rights reserved.

Stu Bristol also writes for Adventure Travel, sharing his expertise with weekly hunting and fishing updates from the state of Maine.