
Nearly Every USGS Topo Map Ever Made (2014) - brudgers
http://equipped.outdoors.org/2014/10/nearly-every-usgs-topo-map-ever-made.html?v=1
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handystack
I have mixed feelings about USGS topo maps these days. On the positive side,
they are producing revisions much more frequently than in the past and they
have made available high quality digital images of these maps for free.

The availability of high resolution image files is really nice if you have a
big screen and a powerful computer handy, but not so nice if you are scouting
for berries on logging roads in a pickup and need something that you can stuff
in your pocket. The USGS stopped doing big lithographic print runs of their
maps, and the new inkjet prints are garbage in comparison. Whenever I find a
lithographic print of a quadrangle I am interested in, I buy two or three
because I know I may not be able to find them in the future.

Also, the newer revisions (the ones including satellite images) seem like they
get much less individual attention from the cartographers. Labels and symbols
are less intuitively laid out. The difference between the new and old map
styles is similar to the difference between musical scores generated by a
computer and lightly edited by a copyist, and scores created by a master plate
engraver.

I vastly prefer the maps from the 80's and early 90's.

~~~
davidw
> Whenever I find a lithographic print of a quadrangle I am interested in, I
> buy two or three because I know I may not be able to find them in the
> future.

An opportunity for someone?

~~~
amk_
When NatGeo was still making their Topo software, you could go to REI and
printout fairly high-quality quadrangles of a region you were interested in
for a few bucks. Not sure if they still do that.

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oasisbob
Went hunting for topo maps again recently, and found an interface called
TopoView which is so much better than the USGS store and anything else I've
seen that it's dumbfounding:

[http://ngmdb.usgs.gov/maps/TopoView/viewer/](http://ngmdb.usgs.gov/maps/TopoView/viewer/)

It has historical & regional maps as well as the topographical maps. It's easy
to browse. It has built-in support for pinning maps on Pinterest. Really.

Huge props to whatever unsung team at USGS pulled this together.

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suneilp
This is interesting, now if only they had 3d topography maps.

I'm building a GPS tracker that I can take on hikes and will store coordinates
and altitude to an SD card so I can generate 3d models of the path I take or
overlay with 3d maps.

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jhayward
USGS offers digital elevation maps as rasters [1]. There is also the 10-meter
SRTM data from shuttle SAR [2]. Combining elevation with the USGS topo maps
visually for 3D is an interesting image processing task.

What hardware are you using in your tracker?

[1]
[http://nationalmap.gov/elevation.html](http://nationalmap.gov/elevation.html)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuttle_Radar_Topography_Missi...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuttle_Radar_Topography_Mission)

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bazzargh
The National Library of Scotland has a great online collection of old maps as
well: [http://maps.nls.uk/](http://maps.nls.uk/) \- going back to 1500, with
slippy maps, side by side views, all sorts. It's not just Scotland, but the
whole of the UK. A lot of them are georeferenced so you can easily flip
through time and see how your local area changed.

Licensing isn't as simple as USGS's though.

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davidw
The amount of map data available for free these days is amazing. I remember
saving up to buy those maps in high school.

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jakeogh
Can I import a US Topo map into my geographic information system (GIS)?
[http://www.usgs.gov/faq/categories/9797/3590](http://www.usgs.gov/faq/categories/9797/3590)

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rplst8
As a history buff (mostly civil engineering based, roads, bridges, tunnels,
railroads, etc.) I find these historic maps extremely useful.

~~~
frankydp
[http://historical.northavenue.net/](http://historical.northavenue.net/)

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mindcrime
I don't know about you guys, but I find that old maps are just fascinating in
terms of the history they represent. Perusing old maps and seeing how names of
places have changed over time is something that always intrigues me.

Here's an example: The closest intersection to where I grew up was the corner
of Civietown Road, Shellpoint Road and Holden Beach Road. As long as I can
remember, the whole area was always referred to as "Civietown" and there are a
couple of stores right on the corner, and the fire station for Civietown
Volunteer Fire Department. OK, boring enough, except I always wondered WTF
"civietown" meant.

Then, one day, I got hold of some WWII era USGS maps and started poking around
and noticed that in the 1940's things were subtly different. The intersection
we call "Civietown" now was called "Fulford" back then. Now that's very common
family name in the area, so that part isn't terribly surprising. But
curiously, "Civietown" was about two miles further away, at the intersection
of Mt. Pisgah Road and Empire Road, and was spelled "Sivey Town". Huh, what?
And the area near the end of Shellpoint Road was named "Monogram" for no
apparent reason.[1]

This stuff fascinates me. My grandmother can remember the Monogram business,
but has no idea when exactly, or why, the name went away. And I haven't found
a good explanation yet for why "Sivey Town" became "Civietown" and relocated
itself by two miles. I also still don't know exactly what either "Sivey Town"
or "Civietown" actually means. An older relative told me it has something to
do with a kind of bean called a "Seve bean" that was farmed in the area, but I
can't really find much to back that up.[2]

So yeah... browse around old maps, who knows what kind of mystery you might
stumble upon.

[1]: this post actually inspired me to take the time to download a "historical
survey of unincorporated communities" that was put together a while back.
There's no definitive answer on how "Monogram" got its name, but there is some
interesting history associated with it.
[http://www.brunswickcountync.gov/planning/files/2015/04/plan...](http://www.brunswickcountync.gov/planning/files/2015/04/plan_Final_Report_-
_Brunswick_County_Unincorporated_Communities_and_Cemetery_Survey.pdf)

[2]: To the extent that it's been researched, the "Seve Bean" story is widely
acknowledged as a popular local legend, but that's about the extent of it as
far as I know. [http://www.myreporter.com/2013/01/is-it-spelled-civietown-
an...](http://www.myreporter.com/2013/01/is-it-spelled-civietown-and-where-
did-the-brunswick-county-communitys-name-come-from/)

