Planning an Activation Rove? Michael recommends Ham-Map.com

Many thanks to Michael (OK7SE) who writes:

Hello Thomas.

Michal (OK1SIM) has put together an online map that might be useful for activation planning. You might want to check it out:

https://ham-map.com/

I usually activate “what’s available,” so I like that I can generate a map that aggregates SOTA, POTA, GMA, and WWFF for a target place (e.g., when I go to Austria for a trip) so I can see what’s nearby my accommodation, etc.

Fine-tuning the map results

Click on the icon with three bars in the upper left corner and select your country. Then, you can select the activities you are interested in (WWFF, SOTA, POTA, etc.).

Then click the “Rebuild Map” button and the map will show you all of the activation entities you requested.

In order not to overload the application, you can either select WWFF for the whole world (which is the default) or various activities, but only for one country at a time, which is usually enough for trip planning.

If I am around country borders, I open two Firefox windows and have two countries at once that way.

72s,
Michael OK7SE

Thank you so much for sharing this resource, Michael. We’ve mentioned Ham-Map in the past, but it’s clear that it has only grown more comprehensive over time. It’s an incredible tool, and we owe a big thanks to our friend OK1SIM for creating and sharing it with the ham radio community!

6 thoughts on “Planning an Activation Rove? Michael recommends Ham-Map.com”

  1. MENTION
    To identify the parks for POTA activations in the city of IASI- Romania, LB9HI om Mihai and the undersigned YO8CDQ om Peter contributed. This identification was made recently, after the name change from YO to RO. This is how OK1SIM made this map, with the current names of the IASI- Romania city area. Tnx Peter

  2. Now if only there was a website that displayed all the POTA entities as a shapefile instead of a pin. Pretty important when some of the parks are over a million acres in size.

    1. Yes Jonathan, that is the dream all of us – but it is simply imposible globaly from my point of view. ham-map.com is only for overview what is possible, what is around you. The goal isnt show a border. When i planning my trip, i will allways use a second source (local turistic map with parks border). But i understand you. Sorry, i cant help.

    2. Unfortunately, there isn’t one source of shapefiles for POTA entities that any app like this can use. I doubt anything like that will ever be available for the entire set of POTA entities. Just too many local, county, state, provincial, and national owners.

      There is another option, though. Once you’re on site (especially) you can use an app like Parceled to see who owns the land. That will help you determine if you’re within park boundaries. I did this only yesterday, in fact. I’ve even used this app prior to heading out the door, but it’s easier to determine where the park boundaries are when you’re physically on-site.

      1. Actually there is. I use it all the time for parks (WWFF in my case) where I can’t find the outlines (as for instance on the PAFF). You can download the shape-files and convert/imprt them in Google Earth. I don’t know if they site contains *all* parks and protected areas, but, there are a lot. So compare it with your local knowledge to see if it’s valuable for you.

        https://www.protectedplanet.net/en

  3. It would be nice if it was possible to download the pin-points in a region of interest for offline use. My GPS has a longer battery-life than my mobile when navigating.

    73, Martin – PE1EEC

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