How to Map Your Land With Free and Simple Software

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Unfortunately, there are no good solutions for GIS and mapping for small landowners and those interested in DIY forestry. But I've done my best to find the most workable solution.

In this video, I will show you how you can map out your land and its features using nothing but a cell phone, computer, and a bit of foot work. No GPS required.

The apps used:
Tracklia
Google Earth Pro

0:00 - GIS and Its Problems
3:17 - How to Use the Tracklia App
8:45 - Mapping the Boundaries
12:10 - Streams
18:39 - Ruins and Vernal Pool
21:13 - Post Processing Using Google Earth

[Parkinwad]

Good video. It was fun watching the insects crawl around on you near the middle of the video. Appreciate the upload.

[denniswright]

I added the metes and bounds from my deed to google maps, anchored the polygram to the correct stake (approximate but very close), exported a KML file, and then added the resulting data to OnX maps and then onto my phone with an imported mapping source file for my area. I now have a map I can use offline and it is much more accurate than the boundaries shown on the state tax assessor's maps. I did this to stop some folks that had trespassed and started taking timber off of my property. The money I recouped (under the threat of calling the sheriffs) was significant.

[slamshed]

Fantastic video, I have followed your recommendations and now have a great map of our 5 acre property here in Queensland, Australia To tidy it up I exported the boundary polygon as a .kml file. I then used online local government boundary data to find the lat / long for each corner of our place. Opened the the file in Notepad++ and edited the coordinates, imported it back into Earth and bingo.... accurate boundaries. Thank you for taking the time to make such an informative video, your property looks beautiful.

[still_learning_stuff]

Thanks for making this video. Very Useful.

[cadnaaanstar]

Very interesting and usefull app for collecting and manage files.
Should share link of app
Let me know if it support andoroid mobile phones

[sneakybohemiancreature]

..

Thank you
Greatly appreciate a useful map app
to acquaint and plan
property info

Well Done
Be Well

...

[nhmountains]

Nice information. Thank you. What brand is your stove? Lopi?

[WiSeNhEiMeR-]

Thanks
COOP
the WiSeNhEiMeR from Richmond, INDIANA
...

[jamesreed]

Do you have any recommendations a similar app for Apple users? What about cell reception is non existent?

[nicodeath]

Can you please give the name of the app you used please google earth and?

[pumpkin]

is there a version of Tracklia that I can use with iPhone, please ?

[bbd]

Please let me know if you can find an iOS version

[ericjohnson]

If tracklea could layer with county property viewer which show property boundaries or gis it would be very useful.
I guess i have to pay for the onX. :(

[BritishBeachcomber]

Your land is dense forest. How do you get a GPS signal? I have never been able to map my land using this technique.

[robbobcat]

Is there any money to be made on wood in Maine? I have 50 acres and a guy look at it he offered me 6600.00 does not seem worth it.

[freidrichnietzsche]

Option for iPhone? “Tracklia” doesn’t come up with anything.

[jefferyshall]

You could have mentioned upfront that Tracklia is only available on Andriod phones, no app for iPhones.

[BennyPoppie]

Very informative but too much info for an average home owner needing to find existing pins in the bush.

[dalemilton]

not finding tracklia on apple apps. i’ll try again on my desktop.

[offgrid-bound]

5:21 hah! You are already dumbing it down for Americans! Love it…

(sorry I couldn’t help it 😂, usually I don’t comment on specific points in a video but found this hilarious! GIS is a kind of my hobby and I agree most of the tools are complete garbage from UX perspective. So I am really looking forward to the rest of the video… )

👍