Build your own USGS topo maps - for free

[AWG_Pics]

https://topobuilder.nationalmap.gov/

I fiddled with it for 20 minutes and created eight 7 1/2 minute topos. Having them e-mailed -- soon I hope.

 

[dr.tucson]

Hi AWG_Pics - I've used: https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/topoview/
and it is fairly easy to use to download USGS maps of any 7.5 minute quadrangle you choose and then print the pages, I've taped them together. I guess the advantage of https://topobuilder.nationalmap.gov/
is that you get to define the borders rather than the standard quadrangles they've created. That would allow maps of various sizes, not necessarily 27"x 22.5", which can be a little cumbersome.
National Geographic used to have TOPO! Outdoor Recreation Mapping Software offered for every state. I thought it was an excellent program, unfortunately they quit supporting it quite a number of years ago. They never did make a version of it that actually worked on Mac.

 

[AWG_Pics]

National Geographic used to have TOPO! Outdoor Recreation Mapping Software offered for every state. I thought it was an excellent program, unfortunately they quit supporting it quite a number of years ago. They never did make a version of it that actually worked on Mac.

Hey Doc,
I used this software back in the day and really liked it. Maybe they were too far ahead of the times -- my issue was what to do with maps once I generated them. Now we have tablets and ultralight laptops and GPS devices everywhere.

I do like the new USGS mapping option now that I have learned to save the map as a TIFF file and then run the image through LightRoom -- pretty easy to adjust the size and prints out nicely with my canon printer on 19 x 13 inch paper. The one thing I need to remember is click off the orthophoto option -- the print output is almost indecipherable with the orthophoto layer on. I can't really tell the the difference between contour smoothing low or medium. Shaded relief is very nice.

Tony

 

[ski3pin]

<snip>
National Geographic used to have TOPO! Outdoor Recreation Mapping Software offered for every state. I thought it was an excellent program, unfortunately they quit supporting it quite a number of years ago. They never did make a version of it that actually worked on Mac.

This remains my "go to" program. I know it and how to use it for my needs. Years ago I bought all the discs for the western states cheap on ebay. All that data is now on my hard drive (so much bigger these days), both on the desktop here and the laptop we carry along on long trips. The old program still works on Windows 10.

When printing, I keep the scale at 1:24,000 to match the tradition USGS quads - 2 5/8" equals a mile or an inch equals 2000 feet.