Railfan Technology > Mapping app for planning railfan trips?

Does anyone have a favorite mapping app for iPad that shows rail lines well to help plan trips? Google Maps shows them, but you have to be way zoomed in to see them. I'm taking a trip to Kansas later this month and trying to choose a route with railfanning possibilities. 

Nathan Beauheim
Cheyenne, WY

I have been using AcmeMapper 2.1 and previous iterations for several years.

It is an overlay using Google Maps but has add-ons wherein one can determine
distances and the angle of track.  Railroads are shown clearly as opposed to
the Bing map symbol.

You may also find "The Photographer's Ephmeris" of interest.  It does many of the same
things but it is quirky and will not accept Lat-Long inputs.

Be Well,

Tim Colbert  K3HX

Most that I have seen require you to zoom in quite a bit before they will display railroads.  Some of the state provided highway maps show railroads.  You might consider using those for your overall planning and then use the GPS or other map app to get you exactly where you want to be.   The paper maps would get you to the right town or highway if you were looking for a line running between Cincinnati and Chicago for example.  State highway or DOT websights usually have these maps available.   The problem is that a few states do not show railroads.   On the other hand, some states publish a state railroad map.  Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana are examples.

John

I think I may very well have answered my own question.  Once Tim jogged my memory with a PM link to FRA's on-line mapping, I remembered that FRA also puts out a free IOS app called "Rail Crossing Locator" that not only shows railroads clearly, but also links to the crossing inventory so you can also determine which railroad runs there and how many trains a day they run.

Nathan Beauheim
Cheyenne, WY

I use TOPO USA 10.0 from DeLorme (now owned by Garmin) on my desktop and their mobile app on my phone. I also use GoogleEarth with the "Transportation" option turned "on" in the menu.

Bob

They used to have these things called 'Atlases' or 'maps' that were basically the same as a book (a non-electronic device that required no battery/power) but with pictures that were a scaled down version of the world. On these pictures, or 'maps' you could see where the railways and roads went and then you could plan your railfanning based on that.
Really quite good but if you're younger than 40 you'd need to go on a course to learn how to use one.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/16 16:03 by exhaustED.

Right on!  I just completed another successful 4615 mile trip using a 2015 Rand McNally Road Atlas, an Official Guide, and Delorme/Benchmark maps for each state plus a copy of the Professional Railroad Atlas.  They don't crash, are easy to understand, readily available, and I can write notes on them.   
   

exhaustED Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> They used to have these things called 'Atlases' or
> 'maps' that were basically the same as a book (a
> non-electronic device that required no
> battery/power) but with pictures that were a
> scaled down version of the world. On these
> pictures, or 'maps' you could see where the
> railways and roads went and then you could plan
> your railfanning based on that.
> Really quite good but if you're younger than 40
> you'd need to go on a course to learn how to use
> one.
>  

Rathole Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Right on!  I just completed another successful
> 4615 mile trip using a 2015 Rand McNally
> Road Atlas, an Official Guide, and
> Delorme/Benchmark maps for each state plus a copy
> of the Professional Railroad Atlas.  They
> don't crash, are easy to understand, readily
> available, and I can write notes on them.   
>    
>
> exhaustED Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > They used to have these things called 'Atlases'
> or
> > 'maps' that were basically the same as a book
> (a
> > non-electronic device that required no
> > battery/power) but with pictures that were a
> > scaled down version of the world. On these
> > pictures, or 'maps' you could see where the
> > railways and roads went and then you could plan
> > your railfanning based on that.
> > Really quite good but if you're younger than 40
> > you'd need to go on a course to learn how to
> use
> > one.
> >  

I used my Ohio and Indiana Delorme Gazetteers so much that they finally crashed, or more like fragmented. At least I can sort through the stack of pages and find the maps I need. If I am going to be in a particular county for a day or so I try to find the county office or county engineer's office. Some counties provide excellent road maps that show railway lines in great detail while also showing all the county and township road numbers and names. A lot of them are free or noniminal in cost.

Jim