I am planning on going out and taking some beam shots however was wondering how you guys are measuring the distance while at the location? Is there an app. that can be downloaded on our smartphones to calculate it?
There are those exercise app’s that track where you walk,run etc but not sure how accurate those are.
How is everyone else doing it?
Google Earth (using "satellite" aerial image) or if you can, pace (step off) your distance. I used one step equals 3 feet.
-Garry
Google Maps has a ruler in the lower left corner. I use that and it seems accurate enough for this task.
6 normal steps = 15ft.
You can also do this in google maps in android. Go into Maps, then settings, then LAB, then enable measurement. Tap to select your distances on the map, use the ruler to reset the points.
Thanks for all the responses. All great ideas … to add on, i just found an app called Maps Ruler, its free in the android market. It is similar to the one Skelevate mentioned but a little easier to use and can easily convert the numbers from feet to meters to miles etc…
I like the walking method as you know for sure what the distance is.
Laser rangefinder… cheap ones are usually accurate to around a yard/meter.
That has some interesting features but Google Maps is accurate enough for beamshots:
Looks pretty darn close to me. Semantics at this point 
Google maps will be pretty darn accurate most of the time.
Packers can kick rocks though.
There’s one way to find out… J)
Just push down harder or attach a weight to it.
Actually, if you avoid engaging the wheel to the ground while plummeting, the vertical component of the distance won’t be counted.
We like videos…
Why both, of course. And high-def audio of the mighty kersplat!!!