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Waterway Map

waterwaymap.org

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Re: Waterway Map

#11
post #2

The "Navigable by canoe" filter seems to filter out everything, which is a bummer, because I've always wondered how far up into the Sierras I could drop a canoe and still be able to paddle back to the bay area.

The "Navigable by canoe" filter seems to filter out everything Selecting "Rivers" shows an awful lot of dry gulches and alluvial fans that haven't had water in them in half a century or more.

Yep.

Navigable by canoe leaves Australia with about 50 km of two rivers in Gippsland to be navigable.

It shows the Hunter and the Nepean as a single system.

Connectivity between ephemeral waterways which are joined by ephemeral lakes is poor.

All in all I think it speaks to the ownership of the market by private interests and the lack of utility of water navigation for most people.

Re: Waterway Map

#12
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have both hills and urban areas blocking about the whole east side of San Francisco Bay. Hard for me to imagine being able to get through that. And further north you've got the Central Valley.

I'm not sure how hills or urban areas block the ability to canoe... Waterways always are locally low and canoe trips on rivers will typically have hills on either side of you. And I've been on plenty of canoe trips that went through the downtown of a city. Most older cities are built in some place navigable by boat.

The parent was asking about getting down to the SF Bay from somewhere in Sierras. I'd have to study a map in detail but I doubt there are much in the way of east/west routes in that area. Also, while there are navigable waterways in cities they tend to be very limited. There's often one river in older cities that flows through the center somewhere.

It really depends on the watersheds. You can get to Boston from pretty far north but you would have to cheat by going down the coast from the mouth of the Merrimack River which I think captures all the rivers in southern NH/northern MA.

Re: Waterway Map

#13
There's a group of people who regularly sail a great circle up the Atlantic, down the St. Lawrence & the Great Lakes, through the Chicago River & canals to the Illinois River to the Mississippi, and east along the Gulf Coast & around Florida. I can't remember anything more about it than that. Anyone?

Re: Waterway Map

#14
Weird how so many streams end at the Massachusetts state line.

Not the dev's fault of course.

I've noticed a similar difference of how rock formations are recorded at state line boundaries on USGS maps.

Dealing with different datasets from different bureaucracies is an intractable problem.

Re: Waterway Map

#15
Seems great for debugging waterway topologies.

Some things I noticed after a few minutes:

- A lot of smaller rivers system and tributaries seem not to be connected all the way through as seeing smaller disconnected systems with shorter total lengths.

- small rivers that and at the shore geometry of larger rivers but are not connected to the main centerline

- some streams are disconnected by other waterbodies where they should not be, as there seems to be little consensus on how to connect waterways through lakes and other waterbodies, having an unnamed waterway along the centerline connect through the named lake seems to be a good compromise to not mess up rendering but helps with linking up topologies.

https://help.openstreetmap.org/questions/52843/does-the-rive...

Re: Waterway Map

#17
post #14

Weird how so many streams end at the Massachusetts state line. Not the dev's fault of course. I've noticed a similar difference of how rock formations are recorded at state line boundaries on USGS maps. Dealing with different datasets from different bureaucracies is an intractable problem.

See: USGS 3DEP Program

Re: Waterway Map

#18

There's a group of people who regularly sail a great circle up the Atlantic, down the St. Lawrence & the Great Lakes, through the Chicago River & canals to the Illinois River to the Mississippi, and east along the Gulf Coast & around Florida. I can't remember anything more about it than that. Anyone?

I believe that is the Great Loop: https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/great-loop.html

Re: Waterway Map

#19
post #2

The "Navigable by canoe" filter seems to filter out everything, which is a bummer, because I've always wondered how far up into the Sierras I could drop a canoe and still be able to paddle back to the bay area.

There are a ton of rivers and sections thereof that are easily navigable flatwater in MA which don't show up.

Re: Waterway Map

#20
post #8
post #2

The "Navigable by canoe" filter seems to filter out everything, which is a bummer, because I've always wondered how far up into the Sierras I could drop a canoe and still be able to paddle back to the bay area.

You have both hills and urban areas blocking about the whole east side of San Francisco Bay. Hard for me to imagine being able to get through that. And further north you've got the Central Valley.

There are a significant number of canal systems to the east of the bay. I have no where boating is allowed, but the ones we frequently drive past are ~100 feet wide and extend at least out to Stockton and Sacramento. I have no clue if you can get past those cities, though.
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