Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 1987)
^SPENCER < nur1c%v «r«phi< Book blends bikes and graphics By Betsy Clayton Emerald Reporter It's a gorgeous fall day — the perfect cycling weather You grab your biko and a map of a route and head off to the trail. Unfortunately, you discover the hard way that the picturesque, curving country road on your map is actually a series of switchbacks climb ing the side of a hill and your tour will be a lot harder and longer than you expected. Peter Powers knows how important the terrain of a route is and that's why he put together his map book called ‘‘Touring Eugene." Powers' maps are computerized graphics that give a three dimensional look at the topography of the chosen area and therefore give the cyclist a complete idea of what to expect. "This book is the first ap plication of this type of com puter mapping to recreation,' Powers said. "There's beam good local interest in the books because they are so dif ferent and unique.” The computer generated view of the earth's surface ac curately describe the nature of the landscape and the road system on it in different areas This is what sets the maps in Powers' book apart from other cycling books, he explains in the book's introduction. Powers began working with the idea of computerized car tography about three years ago. He has been a car tographist with the forest ser vice for the last 10 years, and he developed his interest in computer graphing as a hob by. When he found himself wady to apply the graphing to maps, he decided to combine it with his interest in cycling and touring A year ago. Powers came out with four maps of dif ferent trails in Eugene, and he started selling them in dividually in cycle shops "My original idea was just to sell them separately. I printed them in groups of four and each time I did. I improv er! them," he said. With the feedback Powers received from local store owners, he saw that runners also were us ing his maps So he then decided to look at other possi ble trails and put them all together in a book designed for cyclists, runners and walkers. "Touring Eugene" came out in August and currently is being sold in 2t> stores in the area. It has 15 mapped routes that range from flat and five miles to hilly and 50 miles The size of the book is small so it can be taken on tour, and the maps easily can lie cut out. Other information such as local sporting events, weather, fitness tips and cycl ing laws are included. There also is a special section listing 47 Forest Service trails recom mended for mountain bikes. “!‘d like to see this help people get out and take dif ferent trips It opens up an awful lot of options." Powers said. People tend to have their favorite routes, and often they hesitate to explore because they don't know what their getting themselves into, he explained To begin making a com puterized map. Powers takes a U.S. Geological Survey map and places it on a digitizer that traces the entire map lie can then use his computer program to project the image on his screen and drape lakes, roads and parks on it After that he makes a plot with col ored pens, still using his com puter. and then does more cartographical improvements At the end he profiles the route on top "Each map is very complete." he said. Powers said that he's not surprised that no one thought of using this type of mapping for recreation before. "It's a special nitch You have to have the interest to create it, the interest in cycling, the willingness to put money into it and the background in car tology." He has seen com puter cartoiogy used for oil work and in conjunction with analysis of land, but never cycling For the future direction of Turn to Book, Page 16 Open 24 Hours kinko's i Great copies Great people 860 E 13th 3447894 Wednesday Night is “College Night” at Gifow'b 3355 E Amazon Dr Happy Mode all Night! Dancing & Fun -~ Hair “ Loft w Hairstyling & Tanning | ■ for Men and women IU r Tart with Phillips Solanum System 10 25-minute Sessions: [$3.50 each • Alder St. Location 1239 Alder 485 1202 1461 19th St 484 2565 Microcomputer Support Lab Room 202 Computing Center (n**w liH.itinn) Mon-Fri 9AM-5PM /---- \ ★ Demos and info on U of O's discount Microcomputer Purchase Plan ★ Door prizes ★ Drawings for hardware & software ★ Special demos by Lotus Thurs. AM, Oct. 22 Microsoft Fri., Oct. 23 Apple Wed., Oct. 28 IBM Thurs., Oct. 29 Zenith Fri., Oct. 30 J V EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES IN JAPAN Bi lingual? Interested in learning about career opportunities In Japan? Sbushoku Joho, the employment journal ol Japan, provides infor mation on opportunities with presti gious Japanese and foreign capital companies operating in Japan. To receive the latest news In career opportunities In Japan, tree ot charge, please dial (800) 423 3387 In California: (800) 32S-9759 outside California A service of Recruit U.S.A., Inc "Mfe Communicate Opportunity"
