Is Google Earth Pro more accurate than Gaia?
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We plan all our hikes using Google Earth (GE) and then hike the routes using Gaia to record the actual route. We find that Elevation Gain and Loss calculations for GE to be about 1.6 times larger than that reported on GAIA. Any thoughts on which might be closer to the real values?
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Hey bikervic,
Thanks for posting. It is typical to see a difference between stats for a route created online vs a recorded hike along the route. When recording a hike many different factors can affect your stats including:- GPS error/drift
- The strength of your phones GPS
- Slight changes in the contour of the land
I recommend using the elevation loss/gain reported for the route as this stat will be based solely on the contour of the land reported on the map. -
The elevation gain/loss (ascent/descent) shown when planning a GaiaGPS route is typically close to what Google Earth provides in Edit->Show Elevation Profile for the recorded track (exported from GaiaGps.com as a KML and then imported into Google Earth), far more close than to what GaiaGps shows in track statistics. With that in mind, would it be possible to show Ascent/Decent as both recorded GPS gain/loss (that you do now) and from the map data GaiaGPS uses (using the data GaiaGPS uses to calculate route elevation gain/loss). Or allow a configuration setting that allows the user to select the source of the ascent/descent calculation (from say the above two) on the track statistics page.
I know that I can get the information I'm suggesting by importing to Google Earth or creating a GaiaGps route covering the same path as the recorded hike (if the hike followed a GaiaTopo road/trail), but both of those as a hassle.
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At the premium level there is ESRI World Imagery. I checked Satellite with Labels and ESRI on an area with fairly recent construction. Both seem to be years old, but the ESRI is newer than Satellite with Labels. I'm guessing that Satellite with Labels is a lot older than 2-3 years.
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Here is a bunch of solar panels I am interested in that only shows up on Google Maps / Google Earth.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/38°46'29.8"N+123°01'02.8"W
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When I use satellite imagery in Gaia, I always use the ESRI World Imagery - it seems to have higher resolution, better download limits, and possibly more recent views than the other satellite images available (in Gaia). I often open Google Earth and Gaia at the same time if I'm concerned about the most recent imagery and the highest resolution. Thus I can check features in GE while completing my mapping or routing in Gaia.
Frankly, I think the imagery available in Gaia via ESRI World Imagery is great and a bargain. Yes, GE has higher resolution and it is often possible to get the date of the GE image, but my efforts at routing, importing, waypoints and tracking via GE have been frustrating compared to Gaia - plus I can't effectively download GE imagery for use when offline like I can with Gaia.
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I put your coordinates into GaiaGps using the World Imagery ESRI map and your solar panels are there. For completeness I checked Satellite with Labels and verified that they were not there.
Google Maps is significantly higher resolution, but all the other off line maps apps I've looked at have no better resolution than Gaia.
It might be worth upgrading to the premium level.
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I found the 3 things I was interested in and included in a bug report, but my report goes unanswered. I won’t be paying for a premium subscription or renewing my basic subscription because of their conflicting positions on why adding a feature to allow importing of custom waypoint icons just can’t be done despite widespread support for the idea. It appears to me the time they spend explaining away this feature could have been better spent on adding the feature.
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Hey all. I just want to pop in to give some more info about what's being discussed here.
MapBox Satellite and ESRI World Imagery displaying old imagery:- Because we don't create or host these maps, when and how these sources are updated is purely up to MapBox and ESRI. I do know that MapBox tends to update more popular tiles more often, so they tend to keep urban centers more up to date than some remote areas.
Custom Waypoint Icons:- While importing custom icons is not currently supported, adding more waypoint options is a project we are working towards. Sorry for any confusion about this!
If you have any other questions about using Gaia GPS, feel free to shoot us an email at support@gaiagps.com. -
Love my GAIA maps since I figured out how to download Google maps/hybrid (sat hybrid) as the base map, when loaded on my PC GAIA/GPS,com account, it will sync to my tablet and phone, see link for simple instructions how to load. Navigation with Gaia GPS. Once you have your Google base map installed, load map areas for off the grid use on your PC, again, these will sync with your tablet and phone.. Note, you can also download Google Earth as your base map, but it lacks street and trail name fidelity that Google maps/hybrid has..
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