Determining distance between cities on a river

Is there a site where I can get information on the distance between two cities along a given river? Like maybe some type of marine navigation site? Anyone know of anything like that?

Can you possibly get a local map where your at and use a ruler and the scale on that map?

I've used google earth for this a few times. You can use the measure tool and keep clicking points along the river to get a pretty close estimate.

Tim B said:

Is there a site where I can get information on the distance between two cities along a given river? Like maybe some type of marine navigation site? Anyone know of anything like that?

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Remember to account for current and windage! I second the google-maps riverwalking technique.

+1 on the google earth.

Yeah, that's what I ended up doing. I used the path measurement tool. I just had to Zoom in to be able to follow all the curves of the river.

The most practical way would be to put on a pair of boots that measure as close to 1 foot as possible, then walk heel to toe along the river side while counting the number of footstep til you finish the journey from one city to the next. Then divide the total number of foot steps by 5280 and you will know how far it is in miles! Easy as pie.....LOL

Why not just look up the Mile Marker number for each town, then do the math?

Before Google Maps, we used to use these kind of tools. In those days, they were usually available at office - business supply stores.

Empath said:

Before Google Maps, we used to use these kind of tools. In those days, they were usually available at office - business supply stores.

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I might buy one of them. I've never seen one of them, and I grew up in the 80's before google maps. But I dont necessarily trust the distances in Mapquest or Google maps, Google Earth, etc. I've gone on hiking trips where one of our group took the time to map out our route down the AT on Google earth, including figuring out the actual distances of our hikes, and one time it turned out that our 2nd day hike, along the AT, going up and down mountains in mid winter with 1-3" of snow on the ground, which was supposed to be 15 miles was closer to 20 miles!
Its one thing to walk 20 miles in spring on a flat trail when its warm with no backpack, its another thing to walk up and down mountains with 30 lbs on your back in 15- 22 degree F windy weather through snow and even some ice. (cant wait to do it again though!)

Google Earth takes elevation changes into account when you draw a path on it, any standard flat map you use will not; you would have to do an elevation profile on a separate sheet of paper and then extrapolate the total distance.

HighlanderNorth said:

The most practical way would be to put on a pair of boots that measure as close to 1 foot as possible, then walk heel to toe along the river side while counting the number of footstep til you finish the journey from one city to the next. Then divide the total number of foot steps by 5280 and you will know how far it is in miles! Easy as pie.....LOL

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Not good enough. A better method would be to subsequently walk the other side of the river back to the first city, then average the two numbers.

Kestrel said:

Not good enough. A better method would be to subsequently walk the other side of the river back to the first city, then average the two numbers.

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Yeah, that would help to ensure a more accurate measurement, as we tend to lose count every now and then, or we may skip a few numbers during the count, so maybe it would be better to do it several times to be sure....

If you do ever lose count, simply walk back to city A and start over.