LakeMaster - Reelbottom Mille Lacs Problem

[Guest]

I have found a possible bug in the map of Lake Calhoun. I had marked 8-9 waypoints for an early morning trip Saturday, and transferred them to my Garmin e-Trex GPS. While using that to locate my "spots", my Vexilar showed the depths were way off. I remembered what the structure looked like, so I tried to find key areas to try and determine if my GPS, or Vexilar was off. After drilling numerous holes, and finding a shallow spot, the Vex was right on. My GPS seemed to be functioning normally, so I made best with what I had.
When I arrived home, I then imported my track log, and 5 new waypoints I marked while sight fishing. The new waypoints were made in less than 15 ft. of water, and I could see the bottom.
The track log seemed normal; It showed me hitting the exact waypoints I had created with Lakemaster. The new waypoints, however, showed me in 30+ ft of water, according to the software.
I had also turned on the GPS while driving (on the parkway road) for a brief period. This track showed me to be driving ON the lake with Lakemaster! After looking at this all for sometime, I concluded the according to the track log, and waypoints, that if the underlying map was shifted to the left to some degree, everything then would line up correctly. It seems as though it is off to the right by several hundred feet.

Now, I haven't had any other problems like this with any other lakes as of yet. I'm thinking that this is a problem with Lakemaster, and Lake Calhoun specifically. The matter is, I created the initial waypoints in Lakemaster, and then exported those to the GPS. Is the map datum incorrect then? I've emailed LakeMaster regarding this, but have had no response yet.

For those of you that have it with Calhoun on it... enter this waypoint in and please post your results:
N44D 56M 08.7S
W93D 18M 30.4S

The spot should be on the SE side of the lake, where theres a frying pan shaped reef. The spot is on the east side "point" of the pan, above the saddle, almost exactly between the 15 and 20 ft lines.

Thanks guys.

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-FNC

"Hell froze over last week... glad I brought the Vex"

[Duffman]

FishNChester....
I'm guessing that the original Calhoun lake was not georeferenced correctly to begin with. I deal with maps and geographic data sets daily, most of the errors that occur come from source data. The DNR's sets of lakemaps are close, but as many of you have seen, not perfect. And if this is where Lakemaster gets their source data, that can explain why some parts of the map are off. Also, we get digital roadbases that have been corrected using satellite images, these roads have been moved anywhere from 20ft. to over a 1/4 mile from the previous roadbase release. It could be the wrong datum, but I'm guessing somebody added one to many digits or the wrong number in their original Lakemaster Calhoun Map setup. Just a guess though.

[Guest]

Duffman is correct in reference to their source data. They use DNR maps and satellite images/aerial photos for source data. You can write to them direct. They are quick to answer questions and like to hear feedback on their maps, good or bad. bigfish@lakemap. com

I was on Mille Lacs a few years back with their first edition of Reelbottom Mille Lacs. My GPS coordinates showed me on shore when I was a few hundred yards out. When the fishing was slow I called them on my cell phone to find out what the deal was. They told me there were some data errors on that corner of the map and the newer edition corrected those errors. He took the time to describe the structure in the area. He also gave me some new coordinates for the breaks, shelves, etc... nearest me. He agreed to give me the updated version of the map if I bought the other three sections of the lake.

[Guest]

Thanks for the info guys. Here is the reply from Lakemaster:

"It is possible the lake map of Lake Calhoun has some inaccuracies.
We will have to look into that lake as one to update. All of the LakeMaster
data is created using NAD83 Zone 15 projection. The problem does probably
lie within LakeMaster, specifically Lake Calhoun.

If you have further questions or problems, please contact us.

Regards,

LakeMaster Lake Maps
Technical Support Group
"

So.... we'll just see if they update it. Kinda does worry me though, as to what other lakes, if any, have this type of problem??

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-FNC

"Hell froze over last week... glad I brought the Vex"

[Guest]

We went in to lakemaster a while ago to pick some new maps for the area. As we looked at the map he said that he was pretty sure that there was an obvious inaccuracy in the map. I was pretty disappointed to here that. If they're putting out maps that they think are inaccurate...????????? Makes you wonder about other ones. But i've had nothin else to complain about. I think they're just hiding the good spots for themselves

[Rick]

The only maps LakeMaster makes that are mapped with a high degree of accuracy are the Reelbottom maps.

You can't completely trust ANY of the other maps out there with respect to GPS coordinates. Duffman hits it right on.

Now, there can be data sets incorrectly entered, but even when correctly entered, the map is no better than the original map maker was.

Reelbottom is out there mapping with the latest technology using GPS technolgy and that hasn't been done for most lakes. Most of the lakes on Lakemaster uses older maps. Those can easily be off by a several hundred yards.

If you want a high degree of accuracy look for the Lakemaster-Reelbottom Maps. There are no others out there that come closer.

[Guest]

I agree with Rick, I have used the LM for 6 lakes or so and they are right on. Mille Lacs being one of them. I also recieve many e-mails about where to fish on different lakes. I give folks some general starting points from my LM software. I havent had anyone say they were way off. Most people reply back and want to know where to get the LM software.

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