Gwinnett-DeKalb County Border
My quest is to run every street in Gwinnett County, Georgia. From Lake Lanier, to Chateau Elan, to Stone Mountain, to the Chattahoochee River, and all roads in between. If it’s a road and it’s on the map, I’m going to cover it. According to Wikipedia, Gwinnett is the 9th fasted growing county in the country. This fact could make running every road a never ending task. Eventually, every undeveloped area will be bought and turned into a subdivision.
Gwinnett County
Tracking Progress. In order to track my progress across the many roads in Gwinnett County, there are some key items that I use. These items assist me in tracking my progress and map out future courses.
Garmin Forerunner 305 A GPS and heart rate monitor watch. Uses GPS technology to track my movement. I later upload the data to MotionBased to then send to Google Earth. Also, I use the watch to guide me through a course by uploading a course to the watch, then following the course as I run. Helps me drive to the beginning of a course, keeps me on track as I run the course, and keeps me from getting lost
Google Earth Used to visualize where I’ve run and what roads have not yet been covered. Allows me to zoom in and locate potential parking areas from which to start a route. After a route has been completed, I upload the activity to MotionBased, then export the file to Google Earth. The header of this blog is a screen capture from a section of my Google Earth.
MotionBased This is a data analysis web site. It is specifically designed as a database to store virtually all activities from Garmin GPS devices. All sorts of data analysis can be done using this site. However, for purposes of tracking my Gwinnett County progress, I use it to convert my GPS tracks to a form that Google Earth can recognize. MB comes in handy as off site storage for backups and restoring data.
Microsoft Live Search Maps This site is useful for viewing highly detailed satellite images. The maps on this site are more up to date than Google Earth. In a fast growing area, such as Gwinnett County, I’ve found that what appears to be green space is now a new subdivision or a subdivision in the process of being built. Live Search Maps helps me verify that. The “birds eye view” that is offered shows incredible detail.
