A common complaint about BP's PSS is that lack of up to date topo maps. Further down in this post I will show you the USGS website where you can downlaod all Cape Vincent area topos to help study BP's wind nonsense. Could be handy. I will also show you how handy these topo maps and a GPS were in my CV industrial wind research
These are likely the exact maps BP will use too.
I designed the land navigation trainings for my search and rescue team and teach land navigation for them our sheriff's dept. and other groups like ski patrol, S.W.A.T. and National Park Rangers and our new deputies. So maps and GPS are kinda my thing!
So here is a little info for anyone who might be interested in more detail on the mapping aspect of the BP wind disaster and a way to keep an accurate monitor on it. BP does have current mapping available as does anyone with a computer. If you are going to talk setbacks, turbine locations etc, mapping and GPS and coordinates can be critical skills.
The old 1958 "St. Lawrence" USGS topo of Cape Vincent
with setback estimates I drew on it.
I used this to estimate turbine setback distances being
argued in the original 2006 wind law efforts. Kinda scary to
think even anti wind was willing to possibly accept some of these
setbacks at one time. How times have changed....well maybe!
Also later I entered the exact location of the Wood's property
met tower from a map plot then entered it into my GPS. That tower
is about 263 ft high, or the hub height of an older 1.6 MW wind turbine.
Then I could drive to different viewing distances all over town and
know the exact view distance to the met tower
(or it's annoying strobe) from a accurate GPS reading. Add
about 135 ft for a blade tip and the viewshed impact
became real obvious, and that wind developer photo
simulations were pure bullshit!!! I did this for other cell and
radio towers of known height in CV as well, and the impacts
quickly became real obvious. I even used the prison water tower.
I did this from my boat as well for various viewing distances on the river.
It was then it stunned me with this accurate information what a visual
disaster industrial wind turbines would create for the
1000 Islands region. It helped to formulate my early anti wind stance that
NONE belong here and some of the setback distances even
anti wind was suggesting were a terrible mistake, and the impact on
Wolfe and Carleton Is would be staggering. Of course we now
graphically know that with the Wolfe Island Wind project.
As a result of these river view distance GPS and map research efforts,
I argued to the old planning board that NO pictures had
been taken by Acciona from the water. And it was obvious why
and that Acciona was trying to hide the terrible impact over flat water.
I demanded they do simulation photos from the water and Edsall
to my amazement finally forced Acciona to do so in their SEQR SDEIS.
One other thing I could do is enter a location in my GPS by either standing in that
location or plotting it from a map. Then I could drive down say the Millens Bay road
into the CV back country to see accurately were a proposed setback location
was located, or maybe a setback from 12E. That became a real wake up call.
In another GPS experiment at Maple Ridge, I would walk to a turbine base, enter
that exact location in a GPS, the walk or drive away and I could measure
the accurate distance for view impact, or sound. After a few of these experiments it became
painfully obvious that even one and two mile setbacks were a crazy idea!
Really handy stuff!!!
This is a Cape Vincent topo map downloaded from my Back Country Navigator
app to my phone. Note that I have plotted (red dot) the location of the met tower near
Constance Rd. Now I can drive anywhere in town and know the exact
distance to the tower. This could also be done with any location BP comes up
with for their turbine array plan. Measure the location from a map in UTM coordinates,
and enter into your Smart phone...or GPS. Real handy! Wanna know the EXACT
distance of any BP turbines from your residence of property. Can easily be done, and
they can't run some distance scam on you! Of course with an exact location measured
and entered into a GPS you could walk to it exact location outdoors too and
see what is there...like Karst topography or other terrain problems .
But that would be trespassing but could be handy and legal
for a town officer studying this mess!
Takes a little map and GPS training but is fairly easy!
http://store.usgs.gov/b2c_usgs/b2c/start/(xcm=r3standardpitrex_prd)/.do
This is a cool site if you are into hiking or have any need for maps. They download as PDF files and best of all are FREE. I use them in my wilderness hiking and some search and rescue activities.
What you can do is download Cape Vincnet area maps from the USGS Map Store Website to a flash drive, and then view it on your cvomputer or take it to an office store with a big printer plotter like Staples, and they should be able to print you out a full scale map, maybe even in color. About $4 for a black and white.
Once on the USGS Website go to the map locator/downloader.
Zoom the map into the area of interest or put in the name Cape Vincent, NY and it should take you to the CV area and show you the maps available. Use the cursor tool to click on the map. A red marker will appear. Then click on this marker and it will list the maps around where the marker is placed. Click another place on the screen map to get another map. When the list comes up you can download the map you want.
Make sure you select the 2012 or 2013, 7.5 x 7.5, minute US Topo. This will give you the latest map of 1:24,000 scale which is the best scale map you will need and BP should use, and I believe is even the scale suggested as the size by the NYPSC. 1:24,000 scale is a ratio that means one unit ( like an inch for example) on the map equals 24,000 inches out on the ground.
The maps available to cover the BP area project should be.
Cape Vincent North
Cape Vincent South
St. Lawrence
Chaumont
and maybe Clayton
When you view the map you will see a grid on the map. That is a coordinate grid called Universal Transverse Mercator or UTM. It relates to little coordinate numbers all around the map edge. Each square is exactly 1000m or 1 kilometer on a side, or square, or each square is approximately 0.62 miles on a side. This is handy for quick distance reference. Of course there is a scale of miles, kilometers and feet on the bottom of the map as well.
UTM is basically a relatively simple military designed coordinate system and much better that Lat. Long. for a ground navigator. Especially if you are using a map and GPS. This is the system we use on SAR missions except when we are guiding in helicopters that only use Lat. Long. It is usually used by people doing planning and research, like arc studies on the ground.
With a little training and the correct scale UTM map tool ( which I can provide you if you want) this coordinate system is really handy to measure the exact coordinate locations of things on the map, like turbines and other BP structures and then they can be entered into a GPS...but not a car GPS since most of them don't read UTM.
For example maybe you would like to measure the exact location of BP's turbines and then see in a GPS or mapping software how far they are apart from other objects like property lines or houses, wetlands etc.
If you have mapping software on your Smart phone or tablet or computer, you can enter coordinates in in mapping programs available for them as well. All in all if you are interested it will put you in a really advantageous position with BP or the NYPSC on mapping issues. In the end you may have more mapping information and skills than they do.
An important note. If you take locations from this map or any map, make sure the "datum" on the map matches the "datum" you can set in your GPS settings or Smart phone. Otherwise the locations can be off significantly.
The horizontal datum for the new US Topo maps is NAD83 or WGS 84, they are virtually the same
datums. The old maps datums are NAD27 CONUS in your GPS. Look in the map information block in the margin, usually lower left for this datum information. The datum and the coordinate system of any map BP presents should be listed on their maps as as well. Don't worry about the vertical datum.
I did note the road names are up to date on the new USGS topos but it appears there are no buildings shown on the new US TOPO I looked at for CV. I find that odd. The various squiggly lines are contour lines that attempt to show the shape of the land. The closer they are together like near Angel Rock Lodge the steeper the terrain feature. When they are spread far apart, it indicates flatter or flat terrain. The "contour interval" listed at the bottom of the map will show you how far apart VERTICALLY the lines are. If the contour interval is 20 ft, then the rise of land between any two lines is UP 20 ft. If it takes a mile horizontally for the land to rise 20 ft. then the lines would be spread a mile apart.
If you have an Android Smart phone or tablet you can get really neat topo mapping apps. I use Backcountry Navigator Pro. Costs about $10 and if you are into hiking, or whatever it is worth it. It will use the older topo maps but is still really good. When on a wireless or cell data connection you can pre- download the maps you want and then use them off line like hiking, or in a car (or in a meeting arguing BP map issues!) with no data or cell phone connection and even track your location real time, or where you have been if you have a GPS in your phone or tablet, which most do. You can imagine how handy that is on a pitch black night in rugged confusing terrain on a SAR mission! I can call a helicopter right to my exact location.
One thing I have suggested to Mr Hirschey our town supervisor is that we should survey places around CV that would safely accommodate the landing of an EMS or Ft Drum large helicopter in case there was an emergency or disaster in town. Record those location by GPS. Then fire or EMS could quickly give exact locations for them to land, and would reduce confusion. And believe me trying to get a helicopter to your location otherwise can really confuse things and delay life critical situations. All this can be done on a Smart phone...it's amazing!
I have used all these mapping and GPS/ Smart phone techniques and maps in really difficult hiking and SAR missions in very difficult terrain and at night, and they really work, and are great!
I am sure Apple has similar mapping apps.
Anyhow, probably more info than most people wanted...but could be a way to keep BP in line on the mapping issues. Look at it this way at least this post wasn't about me taking the town board to task!!!.
Rescue helicopter landing to pick us up from a remote location on a search in the Grand Canyon.
A Smart Phone and map were used to report our exact location and give the
helo a safe place to land in rugged terrain.
If anyone has mapping or GPS questions feel free to email, phone, or comment.
Of course then there is Google Earth and all the super things you can do with it and a GPS!
Refreshing and useful info. The town board should assign someone or a few people to follow Mr. Pundt's suggestions in this post. As Mr. Pundt points out it will be an accurate way to keep BP in line, and will come in usefull in case of a town emergency.
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