7.5 minute resolution topo software?

[BigAl]

I hope this isn't a repost, I tried seaching 7.5 to no avail. Do you guys know of any topo software that goes to 7.5 minute resolution? I am looking for the e-equivalent of the USGS 7.5 minute paper maps. I'd also like it to be compatabile with some kind of gps antenna/laptop combo. I have a copy of the National Geographic topo map software but it does not go to 7.5. What do you recommend?

 

[Scott Brady]

My AZ (I think the NV one I have does too) NG Topo does go to 7.5. Ozi explorer is also a great solution.

For a simple solution, the NG solution is the best I have used. Ozi is a little less expensive on the front end, but requires a lot more work.

 

[Howard70]

Potentially Least Expensive - USAPhotoMaps

If you're satisfied with a "no frills" but capable solution you might consider USAPhotoMaps (http://jdmcox.com/). You can download and run it for evaluation for free. Registration is only $20.

It combines 7.5 minute topo data with 1m resolution digital aerial photography (DOQ). The data is free since the program interacts with the Terraserver website and downloads the data you need. Additional data such as United States Geological Service Points of Interest (bascially anything labeled on a USGS Topo map) and TIGER streets (roads and trails - amazingly complete but not perfect) can also be downloaded for free. The program works well with Garmin GPS units - either in real time to show your current position on the aerial photo or the Topo map, or by downloading tracks or waypoints from the GPS unit into the program.

A complementary product called TerraFetcher can download Topo and aerial photography data outside of USA Photomaps - greatly speeding up the process.

Either way you download the data, it is stored on your hard drive so that you only need to download it once. Thus you can get all the data for a trip while you're connected to the internet and then go offline.

Advantages:

Inexpensive program, free data, reasonable suite of features, program takes little space.

Disadvantages:

Documentation limited to a free-form help file (its all there but hard to find), program works within UTM zones (6 degree chunks of longitude) but not across them (if you scroll across a UTM zone boundary you jump to the next zone but you can't see areas in two zones at once). Downloading data takes some time, but there is no post download processing required.

I have several mapping programs that I use - ArcView (expensive GIS software), Delorme Topo USA, OziExplorer (I've only recently started with it) and USAPhotomaps. For simple route planning and recording I find myself using USAPhotomaps a lot.

Good Luck!

Howard L. Snell

 

[BigAl]

Howard- thanks for the detailed response. I should have been more clear, I'm looking for a product in box, I don't want to download anything unless absolutely necessary. Embarrassingly, I'm still a dial-up nerd. I'm not sure I want aerial photos either, what I'm hoping to find is a map on a cd that looks just like a 7.5 paper map. Thanks for your patience.

Scott- You say the NG state disks go to 7.5. Is it a true 7.5 or does it just zoom in on a 1:100K map. I've been using topozone at 1:24K but the resolution is terrible. I think they use the same map for the 24k and 100K.
I found a 7.5 product from Delorme but it was $1800:Wow1: Any chance you could post a screen shot of a NG 7.5 map?

 

[FusoFG]

Additional data such as United States Geological Service Points of Interest (bascially anything labeled on a USGS Topo map) can also be downloaded for free.

Where can you down load the points of interest data?

I'm looking for ALL the national forest campgrounds.

Delorme has a lot of them, but they are missing enough of the ones that I am familiar with to make me doubt their completeness.

 

[FortyMileDesert]

My AZ (I think the NV one I have does too) NG Topo does go to 7.5. Ozi explorer is also a great solution.

For a simple solution, the NG solution is the best I have used. Ozi is a little less expensive on the front end, but requires a lot more work.

I have Nat'l Geographic Nevada and California. Both go to 7.5 degrees.

 

[Tucson T4R]

Any chance you could post a screen shot of a NG 7.5 map?

Here ya go. This a screen shot from NG Topo. True 7.5 and loaded with function. I highly recommend the product.

 

[Howard70]

POI Download for USAPhotoMaps

Where can you down load the points of interest data?

I'm looking for ALL the national forest campgrounds.

Delorme has a lot of them, but they are missing enough of the ones that I am familiar with to make me doubt their completeness.

The USAPhotomaps USGS POI data are downloaded from www.jdmcox.com from within the program itself. I don't know if the data are exportable to other formats, but I think not. I also don't think that it is possible to search within classes (campgrounds for example) so I'm not sure they would help you.

It is possible to get the USGS points from the USGS websites as a "gazetteer" (http://geonames.usgs.gov/domestic/download_data.htm). However the format might require converting through a GIS program before it would be transferable to something like Delorme. If you'd like more info or want to give this a try, let me know where you want to take the data (into a mapping program or into a spreadsheet like Excel) and I'll see if I can help.

Howard L. Snell

 

[BigAl]

Here ya go. This a screen shot from NG Topo. True 7.5 and loaded with function. I highly recommend the product.

Sold! thanks, that's the picture quality I was looking for,