Google Streetview equivalent for Germany/Austria

It’s not too long till Friedrichshafen 2016 and this year I hope to bag some DM/DL/OE summits. I’ll have a car and will have 2 days around the event when SOTA is possible.

I normally use Google Streetview to research roads and parking places and it’s a great resource as long as you remember some of the images are a few years old now. It’s useful for the UK and a huge boon when visiting a foreign country. With that said it is not available for Germany, Austria or Switzerland. It’s only when you don’t have something like this you realise its value.

So is there anything similar available for these countries or is Google/Bing maps and the satellite views the only alternative?

Failing that, is there a list of easier summits. One of my travelling companions has some minor mobility issues at present so if some one can suggest any DM/BW summits with say no more that 2km and/or 100m ascent from car park to summit then that would be most useful.

As far as I know there is no equivalent to Google Streetview available here in OE. We usually resort to Google Earth / Google maps satellite view to find out about parking and possible routes if we can’t find any suitable route descriptions.
If you need help re OE summits please get in touch I will try to get the required info.

73, Sylvia
OE5YYN

DM/BM-348 Gehrenberg is the closest summit to Friedrichshafen and is easy access. Drive to the end of the road and it’s a gentle walk up the track for about 250 metres.

For Austria, I was going to suggest Pfänder OE/VB-512, again close to Friedrichshafen and you could have taken the cable car up to this one as the walk from the car park is a little steep in places for someone with mobility issues. Unfortunately this is one of the summits that were removed at the end of 2015.

Ed.

Hello Andy,
For Switzerland, may be that can help.
http://www.schweizmobil.ch/en/schweizmobil.html
73 Gerald

Sylvia, thank for the offer. It’s likely we’ll not venture too far from Bregenz should we reach OE.

Ed, done Pfaender twice for SOTA now. Once on VHF and once on HF last year before it was removed. I’m always impressed by how busy Bregenz is on a Sunday when you get off the lake cruiser and walk to the cable car station. Then the stunning change as you emerge into tranquility and some splendid views at the summit. I have consumed far too much food and beer on that summit!

Gerald, the hire car is not insured for Switzerland! Normally hire cars are fine for all EU countries and Switzerland but not this one. Thanks for the link.

You could look at some of the Allgäu summits if you don’t mind driving a while. Auerberg DL/AL-169 is a reasonably easy one with a nice restaurant but can get busy on a weekend as it’s a favourite spot for motorcyclists to ride to.

Not sure how difficult access to the AL summits in the west of the region are as I am based to the North East of the Eastern end of the DL/AL region. Perhaps Herbert OE9HRV can comment on these and the summits in OE/VB?

Ed.

DL/AL-275 and DL/AL-276 look easy enough and AL-276 has somewhere for a post activation coffee and cake. No beer, as I’m driving.

Herbert OE9HRV just passed on the information that there is Diedamskopf OE/VB-473 which is one of the few summits that is accessible by cable car and takes only a 20-minutes walk (80m ascent) from the top of the cable car (2010m) to the summit at 2090m. About 45 minutes by car from Bregenz to Schoppenau. And there is a good restaurant at the top of the cable car, too.

Vy 73, Sylvia
OE5YYN

I’ve found that OpenStreetMap often shows at least the official parking places in OE9 if you zoom in far enough (not all map renderings seem to include them, but openstreetmap.org does). Example with a few summits nearby: Relation: ‪Stadt Bregenz‬ (‪75073‬) | OpenStreetMap

For an easy summit close to Bregenz that fits your description, try OE/VB-511 Eichenberger Hochberg. Park along the road at/near 47.538215, 9.799473 (if I remember correctly), then it’s an easy ~15 minutes walk. Nice bench and lots of space at the top as well.

BTW: not that it helps you in this case, but Google Street View is indeed available in HB9, often even for quite remote little roads :wink:

vy 73,
Manuel HB9DQM