Trail Grade Needed (not just general terrain slope)
Would be nice to have trail grade depicted (not just the cross slope of the hill / mountain). Getting to see how steep a climb or descent you will have along the trail or road is important information; it would have to be averaged out over some distance, but having a clue would be great information. Cross slope is important when you are off trail,
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Hi John,
If you create a line on the trail (or off trail) and then open the terrain statistics it does give you slope statistics along that line.
More information on using this feature and where to find it here: https://training.caltopo.com/all_users/objects/existing-lines#terrain
I hope this helps!
After seeing how some of the other mapping sites have included color-shaded "trail grade" layers, I have to agree it's a nice feature to have, and presents important information in a unique way that isn't readily captured by slope angle shading or averaged statistical analysis. For instance, let's say a trail is mostly flat except for two areas where it traverses steep hillsides. One of the climbs the trail heads straight up the grade, while the other has switchbacks. Color-shaded trail grade data (red is most steep, then orange, yellow, and green) immediately conveys the difference visually in a way that numbers alone, or a visually separate elevation plot, just can't do.
onX backcountry has a nice feature where you can color a line by its slope. This way, you can see in one view where your steep ascents and descents are. It doesn't tell you about cross slope, just the slope of the line itself. Would this be reasonable to implement in Caltopo?
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