Peak Chair

The 3D Map of Whistler has been updated, finally! This version has some new features; including descriptions, the ability to overlay your own GPS track (must be in .kml format) and a Summer Map of the Mountain Biking Trails around the valley. Check it out at it’s new domain:

3D Map of Whistler

Summer 3D Map of Whistler

It was created by Whistler 3D Solutions, and is based upon Google Earth, and more specifically the Google Earth Plug-in for web browsers which needs to be installed on your computer. You will be prompted and shown how to download and install it if required.

Comfortably Numb

It is still, and probably always will be a work in progress. So, I would appreciate your feedback, whether to point out mistakes, make suggestions or let me know if it doesn’t load/work for you.

Spankys

Lastly, here is a video showing the page in use. Take note of the feature to show your own GPS track, as you need to ‘drag and drop’ it onto the webpage. The beauty of this is that you never actually upload the file so your privacy regarding where you go remains protected, as unlike other companies, I am not interested in tracking your movements.

World Cup Luge

The Whistler Sliding Centre (website or location on 3D Map) is an amazing place. It is home to the Bobsled track (and Skeleton/Luge). Those ‘sports’ are borderline crazy and are something you really have to see in person to appreciate.
The Luge World Cup was just held on Friday/Saturday (9th/10th), and yesterday I saw the Women’s Final along with some kind of ‘national relay race’. I have been to various meets held there, and it never ceases to impress.

In other news, I recently acquired the domain name whistlersnowreport.com and will be moving this blog over to it at some point. I am going to think about a new design, hopefully making it more mobile and social friendly. In the meantime it will simply re-direct to this site. I mention this because I had fun playing with the Luge footage I took. Check out the results

Whistler Snow Report

Greg

Dry, sunny weather has meant I haven’t been skiing lately. Still, I would go stir crazy if I didn’t get out once in while, so myself and some friends decided to head south to Squamish for some rock climbing. My friends skied in the morning; a few groomers on Whistler. Their opinion was the skiing was decent, off piste a bit hit and miss but the groomed runs were fun – especially The Saddle.

We had a fantastic day, and were surprised the rock wasn’t too cold. It actually seemed to offer more grip than normal (I have heard that when granite gets cold it gets easier to climb, but have never experienced it myself). I wont go on too much, but if you have never tried to climb, I highly recommend it – great physical challenge but an even harder mental challenge.

I plan to ski again soon, but am in no real rush until the snow falls again. It’s a long season and it is only just starting

Anyway, a couple more photos from the climbing.

Burger and Fries

Kelly

View

We also noticed some weird ice formations on the ground. This is apparently surface hoar, which is the kind of layer in a snowpack that increases the risk of avalanches.

Surface Hoar

It’s finally out!

We (W3DS) have released an application for Android (2.2 or higher) to go along with the iPhone App we released earlier this year. They allow you to see the map data from our 3D Trail Map of Whistler on your mobile device. Using your built-in GPS, you can then see your location

2

It uses the ‘Google Earth App‘, so you need to have it installed. The ‘Google Earth App’ is available for free, and you will be directed to download it from within ours.

It requires an internet connection. We suggest you load our Map while in a WiFi zone (either in your hotel or in a restaurant on the mountains). While still on WiFi, zoom in and around a bit to allow the imagery to load (and cache). Then, when skiing, simply open the ‘Google Earth App’ (our map will still be loaded). We also suggest you increase the cache size of the ‘Google Earth App’ (available in it’s settings). Doing these suggestions will help minimize any data usage.

You can access them at the Android Market by clicking here:
Whistler
Cypress

Interested in the iPhone version instead?

Whistler 3D Solutions (a company I am co-owner of) recently released an iPhone version of the 3D Trail Map. It is a basic ‘app’ – but it does allow you to view the map, on your phone, and use the GPS to work out where you are. We are working on updating it to a more thorough ‘app’ but figured we would push out this version as early as possible.

We would appreciate it if you would visit the company’s blog post – and Facebook ‘like’ it

If you just want to get it now – it is available on the App Store.

Update: Here is the Android Version

Here are two screenshots: