GPS Mapping

[MG Jennings]

I currently use StormLab and plan to add GRlevel3 this coming year. I have a question which may seen totally elementary but I am unable to find an answer.

I use a GPS puck which shows my location on the radar page. If I installed a mapping program, can the program be superimposed under/over the radar so I can hone in on individual streets and see storm progress or will I use the program seperately from the radar screen simply for navigation?

Thanks in advance for the assistance.

 

[Jason Boggs]

I am almost certain you will have to use it separately. I've never seen a mapping program "superimposed" over radar data.

 

[Skip Talbot]

A coupling of Street Atlas/Streets and Trips with GrLevel3 would probably be the ultimate chaser application. Most chasers just toggle between the two during the chase. What you can do is add enhanced road shapefiles to GrLevel3. Check out these threads and follow the links to the TIGER placefiles:
http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?21442-GRLevel3-Place-files
http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?15491-Roads-in-GRL3
Those shapefiles will add a whole mess of roads to your Gr display. There are pluses and minuses to this, like being able to see the whole road grid at the expense of computer performance and readibility of the radar/map, but its worth checking out.

 

[MG Jennings]

Thank you both so very much for the assistance.

 

[Mark Blue]

I have an annual subscription to Weathertap (monthly are available as well) and they have a program called Radar Lab HD that has a background similar to a relief map, but it may not be as robust as you are looking for. It also has GPS functionality to plot your current location with respect to any storms you may be chasing. If interested you could check it out at Weathertap. I noticed they even have a 14 day free trial, so it couldn't hurt to give it a look/see.

Here's a Snagit grab of what it looks like for your reference:

 

[David Wolfson]

I also have used WeatherTAP for many years, including this spring also their mobile app on an iPad. I find the road coverage quite adequate (though the mobile version is a bit spare) without being distracting, and the service otherwise good with L2 base data offering detail. One's GPS position and track is displayed with the radar images. I think a full street network overlay would interfere with getting the full radar picture. While it seems nice if one could make turn-by-turn road decisions off one display, in fact the several minutes' lag, the limited resolution, and the progressive changes when images are looped make for a pretty confusing picture at high zoom. On both laptop and tablet the mode I've used most is WTAP's RadarLab HD multitasking with a separate mapper.

 

[Bill Hark]

I use WX WORX Threat Net and it does have a rudimentary map with their radar. It shows basic roads but will not show smaller "Bob's roads." Here is a link to an image that I took of my laptop while chasing a tornadic storm near Richmond. I can put the cursor on a road and it will show in text at the bottom, the name of the road. I do run DeLorme but rarely use it on the chase unless I am navigating small gravel and dirt roads.

http://www.harkphoto.com/042711radarimage1.jpg

Bill Hark

 

[Taylor Campbell]

I use the TIGER shape files with GR L3. I'm pretty sure that will get you what your looking for. You also can put the cursor over the road and get the name to show up in the lower left. I would suggest saving the files to a USB flash drive so you do not overload your computer's drive.

 

[Jason Harris]

I'm having trouble with the latest (post 2000) gov shape files for roads. I can't seem to properly upload the new placefiles for roads. I used to be able to go here http://arcdata.esri.com/data/tiger2000/tiger_download.cfm but the link is dead, and now I tried downloading a whole Ohio roads .shp file from here http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/geo/shapefiles2010/file-download but it doesn't seem to get properly recognized. When I load the .shp file the "records" indicate "0" in the placefile loader. Everything used to work just fine before, but no longer with these new .shp files.

 

[Bob Schafer]

I'm having trouble with the latest (post 2000) gov shape files for roads. I can't seem to properly upload the new placefiles for roads. I used to be able to go here http://arcdata.esri.com/data/tiger2000/tiger_download.cfm but the link is dead, and now I tried downloading a whole Ohio roads .shp file from here http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/geo/shapefiles2010/file-download but it doesn't seem to get properly recognized. When I load the .shp file the "records" indicate "0" in the placefile loader. Everything used to work just fine before, but no longer with these new .shp files.

I didn't try your links, and I didn't test the links for downloads here, either, but try this page. (Under 2013 TIGER/Line Shapefiles, click on Download and choose either Web Interface or FTP site):

http://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/tiger-line.html