Grid style tools are quick and easy to use and understand. Learn more about Choosing a Coordinate System Not sure if UTM Coordinates are the right choice. Learn more about UTM, MGRS, and USNG Coordinates “We do feel that we’re just part of this larger community,” Spadino said.Tools for UTM, MGRS, and USNG Coordinates Grid Style Tools Arlich said it’s all possible, now that they have the process down pat.įor now, they said they’re eager to hear feedback from customers who take their maps into the Boundary Waters. Looking forward, the True North guys are already considering the possibilities of mapping other areas around the country, where wearable maps would be useful for people who paddle or sail. “We felt it is super important to protect the wilderness area,” Spadino said. The organization opposes sulfide-ore mining just outside the Boundary Waters border. True North contributes 10 percent of sales from its products, which also include reproductions of the full wall map, to the Save the Boundary Waters group. Shaded areas mark forest cover, Primitive Management Areas and historical forest fires, while campsites are marked with dots and portages are listed - along with the number of rods visitors will trek along them. So they left behind contour lines that still give readers a clear sense of rises in elevation. They figured that, while helpful, those features make the maps too cluttered. To foster ease-of-reading, the True North guys did away with elevation numbers and lake depths. Together, they refined the canoe maps, to which Spadino added some unique insight on their features.įor Boundary Waters aficionados, some features might look a slightly different. “And, boom, things start rolling,” Arlich said of what would become True North Map Co. Spadino then reminded him of the bandanna idea they had talked about two years earlier. He revealed the 8-foot by 3-foot map to Spadino in October.Īrlich had also since cleared the most important hurdle: Receiving a copyright to the map, so it’s his to produce and sell as he likes. “The data is as good as you can get it,” Arlich said. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, became a massive spreadsheet project that would map the entire Boundary Waters. Those skills in tow, he went to work gathering data from public departments and agencies that have mapped the Boundary Waters. (Mike Longaecker / Forum News Service)Ī self-proclaimed “geek” who works in the 3M Co.’s IT department, Arlich, with the help of friends, had taught himself GIS. Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness campsites, elevation contours and portage routes are among features included on maps made by a Hudson-based business. He would work on the comprehensive map during late nights during the summer of 2018 tending to his newborn. So he embarked on a personal project to map the entire Boundary Waters. “Pretty soon, you have origami,” Arlich said with a laugh. He is familiar with the task of keeping paper maps protected in the wilderness, where they would be examined, refolded and examined again - ad nauseum. ‘GEEK’-ING OUT OVER BWCAĪrlich, like Spadino, visits the Boundary Waters multiple times a year. The only problem was they didn’t own the copyright to reproduce the maps. Spadino’s was a really good idea, Arlich explained. The wilderness area became their favorite subject during get-togethers, where Spadino shared his idea about a T-shirt map.īut the more they talked about it, the less funny it seemed. When he met up with Arlich - whose wife is a longtime family friend of Spadino - the two learned of their shared Boundary Waters interest. “Why isn’t there an easier map?”īut the concept of a functional map remained in his head. “Why doesn’t somebody do that?” he remembered thinking. Desiring a peek at a map, it occurred to Spadino how helpful it would be if his brother just had a map on the back of his T-shirt. Spadino, who runs Hudson-based Blacktop Concepts, said the idea for a dynamic map took root one day when he was paddling the Boundary Waters in a canoe with his brother in the front seat.
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