"Scare" has developed over time by far the largest and most accurate hang gliding and paragliding site guide (actual launches and landing zones) available anywhere. And now it comes delivered in three manners to make it even more convenient and easy to use. And, even more, when Google released My Maps yesterday at 6 PM (http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/ and http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-google-maps.html) the Oz Report World Wide Site Guide became available to all as a My Maps applet by 5 AM.

You can add the Oz Report World Wide Site Guide to your My Maps page by doing the following:

• Go to http://maps.google.com/


• Hit "My Maps" (second tab from the left, just under the search input box)


• Hit "Add Content" (will appear on the left just under the tabs)


• Hit "Add by URL" (to the right of the "Search Google Maps Content" button at the top)


• Enter "ozreport.com/sites.mapplet" (or "ozreport.com/sites.mapplet.xml.php") after the "http://" in the field that appears (note the 2 P's, they call it a map applet - mapplet)


• Hit "Add"


• Hit "OK" in the "You are about to add..." dialog popup


• Hit "Back to Google Maps" at the top-left


• You may have to select the "My Maps" tab again


• Click the box on the left side next to "World Hang Gliding Site Guide"


• Sit back and have a beer.


• If no spots show up on the map within a minute or so, use this link.

You'll see something like this:

Click on above to see the high resolution version.

If enough of you load it, it might even be chosen to show up in their directory of mapplets.

By the way, it works fast and works fine in Internet Explorer (despite Gerry's warnings). Gerry had to do quite a bit of programming to make this work fast with over 2,000 launch and landing sites.

You can also access the Oz Report World Wide Site Guide here: http://ozreport.com/sites.php or here: http://ozreport.com/sitesmap.php where you can easily choose which area of the world you are interested looking at through Google Maps.

You will also be given the option of choosing to view the site guide through Google Earth (here: http://ozreport.com/sites.php), in my opinion the easiest, fastest and most powerful way to view the sites. If you have Google Earth installed click on this link: http://ozreport.com/data/sites.link.kmz.

You can add your site to the site guide at the sites above (either through the Google Earth or Google Maps interface). We appreciate any feedback and any new sites. In the near future you might even be able to submit a location right from your Google My Maps tab.

There is another web site that claims to have the largest number of sites: http://www.paragliding365.com/. We have worked with these guys and what we found out is that by "site" they mean the nearest town, and that's all they have the coordinates of. We actually provide you the exact launch location and in most cases the local LZ's (because Oz Report readers have sent these in), and each and every placemark has been manually checked and verified and in most cases are right on the launch ramp or dirt-scuff. In Google Earth you can see what it looks like from launch or above launch or coming into the LZ, and from and to where ever.

Another handy mapplet for pilots is Elevation Contours - topos for everywhere!

Discuss Site Guide at the Oz Report forum
   
 
 
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