Not Mission Manager specific, but hopefully Mike won't mind the interruption . . .
For those who don't know, I supply the USGS and forest service maps used by MM. I've also given some teams copies of the map layers, so that they don't have to pre-cache a particular region when beginning an offline mission; see
http://www.radishworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=195.0 for details.
I just updated caltopo.com to bring my map layers to a couple new formats. None of this is revolutionary, in the sense that there are already other options out there, but it may be of interest to the MM community because the maps will match the MM's exactly. They are:
1.
PDF Generation. Some people want 1:24k maps, and like other web mapping tools MM has no way of satisfying this. Although hardly a perfect solution to the problem, you can now create a 1:24k PDF on CalTopo that matches the maps you print from MM (minus all the MM stuff like assignments and tracks), which at least makes it easier to translate between MM printouts and 1:24k topos.
2.
Garmin Custom Maps. Newer Garmin GPSs (62 series probably being the most popular for SAR) allow you to import KMZ imagery as a custom map layer. Unfortunately this feature is crippled in order to make you pay for their BirdsEye service, but it's still better than nothing. Using it, you can load team GPSs with topos or aerial imagery that match MM's map view and printouts.
3.
Dynamic Google Earth Tiles. You could previously export a small map segment to GE, but I've added a service that dynamically generates KML files as you zoom åand fly around, so that you can start with one root file for the whole US. I'm not sure how useful this is for search planning, but lots of people ask for it - and again, they'll match the MM layers.
Topo,
Forest Service.
These three features will eventually form part of a paid subscription on CalTopo, but I'll continue supplying them free to the SAR community.
