What free online topo map site do you use...?

[Scenic WonderRunner]

I've been using "TopoZone" for several years now.

I just now tried to pull it up and it looks like they are now a part of "Trails.com".

The good news is .............you get a 14 day free trial. The bad news is.........now it's gonna cost you! I hate it when this happens!

What free site do you use for your topo map info?

http://www.topozone.com/

http://www.trails.com/





.

 

[DaveM]

if I know the name of the topo I am looking for I search for that, a lot of colleges and universities have online clearing houses for local topo's. I know I have downloaded directly from USGS in the past as well.

I just downloaded this plugin for Google Earth, but have not used it yet:
http://www.usgsquads.com/mapfinder.html

search around, there's no reason to pay for a topo file service.

 

[1leglance]

http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov/

every kind of map you could ever want and all free...I typically download by county as it is easier...I go on google earth to play and note the counties I need then download the topo and doq (aerial photo)

 

[redbeard]

try USGS.gov

go to http://www.USGS.gov
-->Maps, Imagery and Publications
-->Download digital scans of topo maps
I typically use the map locator. The downloads are free, even though you are in the usgs "store".

http://www.geodata.gov also has access to topo maps.

There's several more, topo.com has a new free/paid service that will roll out next month (or so). Looks like they will have the line-data on top of the photo's.

http://www.archive.org/details/maps_usgs also has a bunch (if not all) of the topo's. The alternate search page works for all states(that I tried) except alaska.

There is a lot more out there (dozens of more locations), but these are what came to my mind.

-Mike

 

[tdesanto]

GeoPDF topo maps

http://store.usgs.gov/locator/

 

[crawler#976]

I use :

http://jdmcox.com/

USAPhotoMaps

# USAPhotoMaps downloads USGS aerial photo and topo map data from Microsoft's free TerraServer Web site, saves it on your hard drive, and creates maps with GPS accuracy. You can: Scroll and zoom
# See latitude/longitude
# See USGS Landmarks
# See TIGER/Line streets
# See elevation and contour lines
# Add waypoints, routes, and text
# Go to any address, populated place, USGS landmark, or lat/lon in the U.S.A.
# Transfer waypoints, tracks, and routes to and from most GPS receivers
# Receive/Transmit/Show ham radio APRS data
# See your GPS location

The program is free, work great, and downloads huge chunks of data pretty quickly.

 

[nvprospector]

I've been using "TopoZone" for several years now.

I just now tried to pull it up and it looks like they are now a part of "Trails.com".

The good news is .............you get a 14 day free trial. The bad news is.........now it's gonna cost you! I hate it when this happens!

What free site do you use for your topo map info?

http://www.topozone.com/

http://www.trails.com/

.

You can still get to the free maps on trails.com (i.e. topozone). Goto http://www.topozone.com/viewmaps.asp and you still have access to the maps and now they are shaded. It will still be the new trails.com website, but a old url mapping. I don't know how long this will be around until trails.com finds out about the loop hole.

 

[Digger Dave]

I found this site off another board.

It has all the topos for the US in .tiff.

http://libremap.org/data/

I started printing them on 11x17 (50% scale) and collecting them in a binder. The half scale works well enough with a UTM plotter and a GPS.

The half scale is easier to manage on the trail too.

 

[Travelmore]

If you want a quick idea of the terrain Google maps added Topo lines to the "Terrain" view.