How to map out hill grades?

August 24, 2005 1:45 PM

Is there a cheap, simple way to map out the profile of a road to show the height / length of the hills?

If you follow pro road-bike racing, you're probably familiar with hill categorization: the course's profile is mapped out, and hills are categorized according to their steepness and length. I ride road bikes in hilly terrain, and would like to determine the steepness (grade) and length of the hills on some of the rides that I do, just out of curiosity.

Is there a computer / tool that will let me map out rides, and then generate a ride profile (showing the height / length of hills), for free / cheap? I've searched and found a few professional mapping packages that do this, but they're all prohibitively expensive...

posted by fearless_yakov to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (11 answers total)

I think you seek a topographic map. Depending on your location and the size of the hills, the US Geological Survery may already have the information you seek.
posted by Kickstart70 at 1:55 PM on August 24, 2005

depending on where you live, there already exists some free software out there called klimb that allows you to do just that. it comes with maps of the san francisco bay area and you can download maps of i think ohio too; but with a topo map you can create your own maps of a local area. it's pretty nifty.
posted by sergeant sandwich at 2:21 PM on August 24, 2005

Alternate idea -- get a ZLog -- I bought one for RC flying but have been amazed at how accurate it is (+- 2 ft). It has both RAM storage and LED output of the altitude. Downside is it's out of stock and you'll have to find one on eBay or an RC forum.
posted by rolypolyman at 2:52 PM on August 24, 2005

I don't know for sure but I think my Garmin Vista handheld GPS unit can map altitude changes as well as directional changes. I know it tracks altitude if I've got four satellite signals (three for triangulation and one more for altitude). And the resultant maps are downloadable.

It may not be perfect but I think it would work for your needs. Plus, you'd have the coolest cycling computer of all time, it provides accurate distance travelled, average speed, top speed, maps of your ride and alot more that I've not even begun to learn about yet.
posted by fenriq at 3:05 PM on August 24, 2005

If you're interested in this kind of thing... here's a book that you will want to have. I
posted by cadastral at 3:15 PM on August 24, 2005

Topo-USA from Delorme lets you click on a route (or trace one) and it will show you the profile and give you rise, fall, distance rising, distance downhill, etc. Nice for mountain biking.
posted by 445supermag at 3:58 PM on August 24, 2005

Here's the Topo USA site.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:31 PM on August 24, 2005

Thanks for asking this question, I was thinking about the same thing over the summer.

When OLN was showing the Tour de France in July, they started every broadcast with an overview of the day's stage. I bring this up only because they also showed a profile-view of a topo map indicating where the big climbs, feed zones, etc. were.

I want a tool that will take my route and allow me to make either

a) a rotatable 3d map of the ride

b) a 2d profile topographic graphic of the ride. ( I suspect I could do this with a bit of spreadsheet work and the appropriate data.)

Ideally, I want to be able to preview potential rides, and find the flattest routes from place to place.
posted by Wild_Eep at 9:30 PM on August 24, 2005

Eep, Topo USA does exactly what you describe. Unfortunately, DeLorme has short-sightedly not built it for anything but Windows.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:08 AM on August 25, 2005

Thanks for the responses. Topo USA does what I need but is unfortunately very expensive. I need something that does what that program does, but cheaper / free.

The klimb program seems perfect, but is unfortunately not set up for my location -- the Appalachian foothills of Alabama.

Eep - watching the Tour coverage is what made me want to do this in the first place.
posted by fearless_yakov at 11:25 AM on August 25, 2005

fearless, you can buy just the Eastern US part of Topo USA for half the price of the whole deal. Is $50 still very expensive?
posted by Kirth Gerson at 6:45 PM on August 25, 2005