Topo Maps

[manfredvonrichthofen]

I have a really cool program for looking at topo maps on my comp, USA Photo Maps. The only problem is that I can't print off a map section with it. Where can I find topo maps to print and use for GT?

[Spaceman3750]

You can download maps in PDF format from USGS. They also have a free tool called TerraGo PDF that will read the GPS information from the new maps with it embedded in them. That tool is about the best you can get for quickly triangulating a signal in the field, if you are brave enough to take a laptop into the field with you.

[Eclipse]

You could also screen shot what you need.

[a2capt]

You can also print topography from Google Maps, though perhaps the purists may say it's not "good enough", perhaps it is.  Give it a look.

.. or screen shot, yeah. Though some of the sites via browser extensions block screen shots too. However, if you are running the browser in a VM, you can get around that Take the screen shot from 'above'..

[manfredvonrichthofen]

I want the minutes at the edges of the maps and also preferably UTM grids, though I can live without the UTM. But the minutes are a must and GOOGLE nothing has minutes at the edges nor do they have anything like a map key.

[coudano]

you can get usgs quads at your local outdoors outfitter
look for a place that sells hiking and climbing gear.

also from vendors online.


i still use topo usa.
it's old and clunky, but it flat out works.

[Spaceman3750]

Do you have a plotter, because that's about what it will take to print a quad and get the info on the edge. Although I think national geographic has some topos that will print onto 8.5x11.

[JeffDG]

For screen captures, I can't say enough good things about SnagIt...http://www.techsmith.com/snagit/

Can grab regions of a screen, can even grab a whole web page (including scrolling), then it has a bunch of annotation tools that you can mark up your screen capture and save it in multiple different formats, including old standards like GIF, PNG and JPG.

[LTC Don]

http://www.maptools.com/maps.html

http://www.natgeomaps.com/topo.html


Cheers,

[N Harmon]

My GPS has topo maps built into it, and came with a copy of Topo USA for my laptop. It does an okay job of printing maps, but what would really be nice is being able to produce something like this for any location.

[sardak]

If you want to print your own topo maps, here are some options.

National Geographic State Series Topo ( http://www.natgeomaps.com/topo_state ) - $50 for all topos for one state - 1:250k, 1:100k and 1:24k. They can be printed on 8.5 x 11 at whatever scale you need. The coordinates in UTM or lat/lon can be printed in the margin of the map with or without the gridlines on the map. The north arrow and map scale bar can also be turned off/on when printing. Waypoints, tracks and routes can be exchanged with most GPS units. The maps can be annotated and shaded relief can be turned on/off. I've got about 20 mapping products on my computer including USA Photo Maps and a number of true GIS products including the ArcGIS suite. I've been using Topo! since before it was owned by National Geographic. For quick, hassle free maps, I don't think this can be beat.

One step up is MyTopo Terrain Navigator ($99 per state) and Terrain Navigator Pro ($299 per state). The major differences between them is Pro has aerial photos and more import/export file options (comparison chart here  http://maptech.mytopo.com/land/compare.cfm ). These products allow more customization of the printed product than Topo!

DeLorme has comparable products. I used to like DeLorme until it changed to a screwy interface system that I hate. I don't use their products anymore, though I still have some.

The free USGS topos downloadable from the USGS store ( http://store.usgs.gov - then choose the Map Locator) can't be beat since they are the USGS topos. These are full-sized topos in PDF format. The free TerraGo PDF toolbar for Adobe Reader (the free one that virtually everyone has) is highly recommended. It allows the embedded georeferencing of the topos to be read as the cursor moves over the map. Lines and areas can be drawn on the maps but not saved. There are some other pdf maps that have the geo data embedded, but the software to create them is not free.

The problem with these topos is that they're stand alone maps. They can't be joined to the adjacent topos (without other software) so while you can draw bearing lines, if one goes off the map you're SOL. Being full sized, they need to be printed on a plotter or scaled, and at some point, trying to scale a topo to a typical home printer isn't very useful, plus the margin info isn't going to be printed unless the margin is in the selected print area.

ESRI, the 800 pound gorilla of GIS software, makes a free version of its product line called ArcGIS Explorer, which can be useful for making custom maps, but the learning curve is (much) higher. It's not a map-in-a-box product like the others.  http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/explorer/index.html

Just some ideas. Do a search of CAP Talk for topo or mapping products and you'll find a number of other threads on this topic.

Mike

[manfredvonrichthofen]

Thank you guys very much for all the great ideas. I will be looking into all of them.