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HeyWhatsThat – Calculate viewshed and panorama for any point on Earth

heywhatsthat.com

41–50 of 53 posts

Re: HeyWhatsThat – Calculate viewshed and panorama for any point on Earth

#41

If you thing this is cool, also check out CalTopo (my favorite mapping software for backpacking): - https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=40.10094,-105.61557&z=15&b=m... - Right click and select "Simulated View" - Change to "WireImagery" in the upper right

this is AMAZING! It has really great detail for RMNP.

I wish it had lighting. The weather.gov lat/lon graphs has it I wonder if that is a free source or something better.

Snow depth too would be amazing

Re: HeyWhatsThat – Calculate viewshed and panorama for any point on Earth

#42
post #18

I use the app PeakFinder all the time and it’s incredible for determining what mountain is what when you’re on the go!

I used to use PeakFinder, but then it was withdrawn and the free version disabled. Now it costs $5.

I suppose the app creator must be saying "Good riddance!" for every "user" that complains the free version of their product does not exist anymore.

Usually the less people pay, the more demands on the developers.

Re: HeyWhatsThat – Calculate viewshed and panorama for any point on Earth

#44

I can never remember what the name of this site is when I need to use it. I should set up a redirecting domain. Using HeyWhatsThat to check whether a Russian GPS jammer in Khmeimim Air Base in Syria would be able to affect aircraft over Cyprus and in Tel Aviv: https://twitter.com/lemonodor/status/1502400086696869889

> I can never remember what the name of this site is when I need to use it. I should set up a redirecting domain.

Have we reached a world where this is easier than bookmarks?

Personally, I just look through all of my open tabs until I find the site I was looking for...

Re: HeyWhatsThat – Calculate viewshed and panorama for any point on Earth

#46
post #10

There is a widely spread myth that Mt. Diablo in Oakland has the second largest viewshed in the world after Mt. Kilimanjaro[1]. With this tool you can actually compare them directly, which is pretty cool: Mt. Diablo: https://www.heywhatsthat.com/?view=K1JW43D4 Mt. Kilimanjaro: https://www.heywhatsthat.com/?view=ME9CTRPG 1: Debunked here: https://www.kqed.org/news/11808501/does-mount-diablo-have-th...

Off the top of my head, I'd figure Mt. Shasta must have a much larger viewable area than anything in the Bay Area.

Re: HeyWhatsThat – Calculate viewshed and panorama for any point on Earth

#47

If you thing this is cool, also check out CalTopo (my favorite mapping software for backpacking): - https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=40.10094,-105.61557&z=15&b=m... - Right click and select "Simulated View" - Change to "WireImagery" in the upper right

It's interesting how the simulated view makes errors in the terrain data obvious. The view from Santa Cruz island (off the coast of California) is almost completely obscured by single-pointed errors in the height map along the coast that didn't get cleaned from the data: https://caltopo.com/view#ll=34.0505,-119.8665&e=30&t=n&z=3&c...

Re: HeyWhatsThat – Calculate viewshed and panorama for any point on Earth

#48
post #10

There is a widely spread myth that Mt. Diablo in Oakland has the second largest viewshed in the world after Mt. Kilimanjaro[1]. With this tool you can actually compare them directly, which is pretty cool: Mt. Diablo: https://www.heywhatsthat.com/?view=K1JW43D4 Mt. Kilimanjaro: https://www.heywhatsthat.com/?view=ME9CTRPG 1: Debunked here: https://www.kqed.org/news/11808501/does-mount-diablo-have-th...

Not to be flippant, but it's fascinating to think how an average airline passenger may trivially (and very approximately!) match or even beat such a land-based record simply by looking out the window at 40,000ft. *about twice Kilimanjaro's elevation, for the record.

Many semantics potentially apply, of course! But the principle is there. The principle that, for many decades now, humans have been matching the entire planet's largest natural viewshed, as a trivial matter of course during the everyday usage of technology, and barely even noticing most of the time...

Re: HeyWhatsThat – Calculate viewshed and panorama for any point on Earth

#49

I can never remember what the name of this site is when I need to use it. I should set up a redirecting domain. Using HeyWhatsThat to check whether a Russian GPS jammer in Khmeimim Air Base in Syria would be able to affect aircraft over Cyprus and in Tel Aviv: https://twitter.com/lemonodor/status/1502400086696869889

Why don't you create a bookmark with a name you can search on, like 'website used to do X that I always forget'?

Re: HeyWhatsThat – Calculate viewshed and panorama for any point on Earth

#50
post #45

Are there any open source version of such tool?

Not automated, that I know of.

However, you could replicate the functionality/outputs (for a given location) by using open source GIS software, any available free geospatial data, and basic long-established GIS techniques: the DEM, the cross section, and the viewshed.

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