^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"