670 Resorts covering the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and United Kingdom

31,759 Named Runs

4,469 Lifts

368,233 Mapped Acres

293 resorts had some kind of map change for the season. Expansions, New lifts, New Named Runs, Relocated Terrain Parks, Parking and Amenity Improvements to name a few. That’s over 43% of the resorts on file. Coverage expanded to include two new countries of Australia and The United Kingdom.

Skimap got several improvements including live North American winter storm watches and Radar loop of incoming storms. New season pass access option added.

Mapsynergy got several improvements too including a dedicated page highlighting the many colabs I have been proud to partner with.

Want in on this Skimap goodness? Drop me a line.

Matt Liapis – Creator of the Most Accurate Ski Resort Maps | Mapsynergy

Using maps in Commercial Real Estate is key to communicating all the most important items of the deal. How you deliver that information comes in many forms from screen shots from your favorite free map platform, Adobe design, to using a full GIS. Lots of options for different costs and level of detail. If you are looking for the latter option here are some options that might be of interest that could help your business.

We will be showcasing three types of map products. Traditional PDF Maps, External Interactive Maps and Internal Interactive Maps.

Traditional PDF Maps

Traditional PDF Maps are closely used with existing marketing efforts. These maps can be included within the flyer or offering that is assembled within Adobe Design. Also these maps can be used as a standalone map for tenant or landlord specific uses.

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What was missing in the two options they had access to? The plat had addressing and lot information along with property lines and right of ways. It was missing context of the actual aerial photography. The second option was aerial imagery and streets that was used more but lacked the detail needed due to it’s small size and lack of parcel info. A new class of map that brought everything together in one place.

HOA Maps

With that information we set off to build a larger format map that contained all of the key pieces they were missing, Parcels with Addresses & Lot numbers, Street names and current Aerial Imagery. With this assembled maps created and delivered the project expanded. What happens when the HOA needed to bid out landscaping or snow removal? Two new versions were now needed.

Using current high resolution imagery along with county parcel data we started drawing in landscaping and snow removal areas. Once collected we noted each layer and colored them appropriately for easy understanding for the viewing audience.

The new HOA Maps can now be used for for both general reference and specific bidding purposes in one unified product. Making everyone happy with the end result.

Another conversation that just needed someone to assemble the parts into something that is more useful than the separate pieces.

Have a map need? Or don’t know exactly what you need? Contact us.

Navigation Challenges

With being lost such a widespread thing you think there would be all kind of possible solutions for the masses. While there are many solutions out there the core issue comes from figuring out where you are vs where you want to go. Most people will try this visually by looking at their surroundings and some will use some form of map and most surrounding ski resorts are more artistic representations vs actual reality. This is a location question pure and simple.

One notable quote we heard on the chair while looking at the resort map was, “I can never follow these trail maps when they stretch them. I can’t relate to it and find where I am let alone lunch.” Others mentioned they wanted a more realistic version including topo based markers they could follow. Both things do not exist on the trail map of today.

How do you help people overcome their navigation challenges? We suggest making their location easier to understand. Helping them trace their tracks from starting point to ending point. The faster you can do this the faster you can project forward to the next step.

We do this with standardized skimaps that have consistent markings and true world scale and directions. Also being GPS enabled knowing where you are is just a button push away at any time. All making where to find lunch much faster and easier. Leave the challenges on the mountain up to the terrain in front of you, not in how to get to it.

Find out more here.

We find maps are needed in a lot of different professional areas. In this post we will explore a new area that is quite intriguing to us. Maps in the Legal Industry. Not what you were expecting? Let us dig a little deeper into this topic.

Or primary exposure to maps in the Legal Industry as been in the Real Property section. Things in this area revolve around property ownership. Not only who owns what right now but what does it look like? Who owned what when in the past? When was this road built?

Maps in the Legal Industry

Tracking legal descriptions of land through time is not an easy thing. Here is some more in depth reading if you are interested. Basically it is a definition of what a piece of land looks like and is the basis of land ownership in the US. Pretty much every piece of land out there has one. Sounds simple on the surface but have you ever read one? Not easy to understand.

That’s where the map steps in. Plotting all the individual calls to see the area that it covers. Sometimes this can be a Township/Range/Section or a complicated set of angles and distances with a curve or two thrown in.

These have been the basis of several legal cases we have been an expert witness to. Plotting out who owned what when and gathering all of that info up into one map (Print, Digital or Web) to assist the legal council in arguing their case.

Another example was a land rights case where council needed to know current owners with beach front access for many miles. They needed a working map and list to keep track of potential clients.

Lastly there was as road access case where council needed to know in historical documents if a road existed and when it was first noted. Tracking down historical notations and plotting them out to see what happened to this road over time.

All intriguing examples of how maps help illustrate complicated documents in an easy to understand format. From what we have heard some of the major cases we have been called in as an expert we have helped win the case overall.

First off we have expanded our Ski Map coverage to include  73 different resorts. Add to that 7 combo resort maps not found anywhere else. If you are looking for our high quality and accurate Ski Maps in Arizona, California, Montana, Nevada, South Dakota, Utah or Wyoming. We have you covered.

New and Improved Ski Maps for 2016-17

Check out all 80 of our Ski Maps here.

We also made several improvements to the overall design this year.

We started with the base color and moved to a more blue hue. This changed the HD elevation shading and 40′ contour interval information. We wanted to pop out the buildings a bit more so we went with a snow covered roof with a shadow to make them pop a bit more with matching labels. We also added more lodging information this year where available. A new more consistent amenity point types are on each map along with easier to read boxes for each location.

We took a different approach in displaying  the in-bounds tree cover and out of bounds actual mixed forest types. In-bounds was updated to a darker symbol set while out of bounds trees were given three different symbol types for Evergreen, Deciduous and Mixed forests. All look much more realistic and accurate to what is really there.

We made the most important improvement on the traditional Green Circle, Blue Square and Black Diamond symbols. We took a new groundbreaking approach by minimizing these symbols to the legend and made thing more intuitive overall. Runs are still Green, Blue or Black. The twist is single or double lines equating to single or double symbols. This makes it much easier to see the type of run without searching for the symbol set to see if that black run is a single or double diamond and much faster to understand the layout of the mountain. Now runs follow the same setup as lifts for a consistent experience.

Skimap.com Our take on the Cottonwood Canyons in the Wasatch Range, Utah.

Avenza Maps store

With all of the new additions to our Ski Map this year we thought the next addition would be more places to get them. Starting with our Avenza Maps store for off network usage on your phone. This option is perfect for when you are on the mountain with no cell coverage. Read more about this option Skimap.com.

ImageKind Store

Second is a new store on ImageKind. All of our High Resolution Ski Maps can now be purchased and printed out in several sizes and medias including Canvas Prints and Framed Art Prints. All delivered to your door.

We are still expanding into new areas and will be improving each map with new information as we go. Contact us for more information.

Trade Area Basics

We had a client project that fit this sample set perfectly. We started from a location list of over 300 stores with the associated number of employees included in the data. Goals were create 10 equal trade areas (and the associated center location for each) based on a set distance & drive time. They also had to include roughly the same number of employees per trade area. Second goal was to show the 10 densest locations based on the number of employees per location.

After running the distance rings, then the drive times like shown in the previous Trade Area Basics articles, we added the extra dimension of number of employees. Finishing with the appropriate trade areas based on location and final numbers.

Second goal was approached a bit differently. Starting with a smaller distance of 5 miles we performed geographic searches trying to find the 10 locations that had the most employees without duplication.

Overall here is what we ended up with.

Great project to show off how to use Trade Areas in a practical way. Answering real world questions with the use of GIS.

Contact us for you next Trade Area map project.

The Trade Area

We take the best of all variables and draw what the typical pattern would be for someone to get to your site. Most importantly including number of other locations someone could go to. Radius and Drive Times do not account for this.

In this example we have added three other locations and their respective trade areas then added the trade area for the new location.

The areas we are showing here are derived from a combination of radius, drive time and physical and mental boundaries along with store locations. Remember no matter what area you come up with there will always be outside factors that will influence your potential trade area.

Much different than either of the previous examples. While all examples have their uses we find trade areas to be the most useful. Of our three examples which do you prefer?

Let’s wrap everything up for you with a real world example.

The Drive Time

Basically this is done by accessing road type and an associated speed for each road segment. The software estimates out the area one could travel at assumed posted speeds. Also the model typically does not include for any time stopped at a stop sign or signalized intersection. Better said, just straight driving time no stopping.

This can also be adjusted for time of day. By default it does not account for any traffic. You can add your selected time of day and directionality to the search to get a rush hour value as well if needed.

While this does a better job showing a trade area that is more probable based on physical boundaries, it missed mental boundaries. Is someone really going to travel 10 min by freeway to get here? Well that depends on what the draw is. That’s where the final leg of our trade area journey comes in.

We will look at the final approach in part 3 of our series, the trade area.

Have Questions? Contact Us.

The Radius

While this is useful in a simple yet standard setup, it could miss very important items like physical and mental boundaries. Kind of like this sample.

While we are showing a 3 Mile radius, we are ignoring in this example that the area show only has population in half of the area due to the mountains on the east. More commonly known as a 180 Degree trade area.  It’s also ignoring mental barriers like people on the other side of I-215 and their unwillingness to travel further south away from their typical traffic pattern.

For better or worse this is typically the starting point for all trade area analysis. We use this approach all the time to illustrate simple distances between targets. We also use it in to build the basics of a trade area you will learn about in Part 3

Overall it’s a good starting point for simple comparisons but it’s lacking. We will look at Part 2 in this example set next, the Drive Time approach.

Have Questions? Like to know more? Contact Us.