Update Nov. 8, 2020
2020 Depth Map Update (nearly completed contour depth map of Stillwater Reservoir): https://sites.google.com/site/
Original Description
Nathan Vary, an electrical engineer for the FAA working in their Wide Area Augmentation System (WASS) department out of Atlantic City, NJ has taken on a personal project. Since he has spent many family vacations in the Stillwater area while growing up, he was well aware of the navigation hazards of the Stillwater Reservoir. He decided to try and help other boaters by creating digital navigation data for use on Stillwater Reservoir in northern Herkimer County (Town of Webb) using KML data, underlying ortho-imagery (MBTILES) , and step-by step guides to load everything into recommended apps on mobile devices. The reservoir level fluctuates 15 feet over the course of a year and many rock shoals exist, creating boating hazards when they disappear under the surface in high water. With only paper maps previously available, Nathan suffered damage to his boat on several occasions, motivating him to start this project. With the available ortho-imagery now complete, the next step in the project will be to attempt to map the depths of the reservoir using either a drone boat, or a kayak with a GPS depth finder.
Slides (PDF)