Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Topo Map Makers on the computer

Does anyone have that topo map maker program? I forgot who makes it but i saw it at REI and it looks really helpful. It's about 50 bucks and you load it up on your computer and you supposedly can get a good Topo for anywhere in this country. i am worried about the quality and detail of the maps you get though and do you need a super pro printer to get decent looking results? i think National Geographic makes the program.....

The TOPO map set you are talking about is produced by Wildflower Productions out of San Francisco, CA (415)558-8700 http://www.topo.com I purchased my set of 11 CD's from REI (entire state of California)for $200 two years ago. The map you want of Mt. Whitney is on disc #7 and will print with great detail on any ink jet printer (I use the Epson 880) I hope that helps. Good luck.

I've owned Topo! for years since Wildflower Productions first produced their maps. I believe National Geographic bought them out. Regardless, the latest and most beautiful set of topographical maps is produced by National Geographic, "Powered by Topo!" It is a set of 10 CDs covering all of California. It sells for $99 and can be found in most sporting goods stores that sell software and in book stores that sell maps. I bought mine at REI.

I have used the Topo! California set of 10 CD's for several years now. Amazon is selling them for $80.99. You can print maps that are identical to the USGS 7.5' maps. You can also seamlessly cross map borders. My printer is nothing fancy - just an old Epson that cost less than $100. This package has some great tools. You can trace a route and get distance and an elevation profile. To buy all the paper maps would cost hundreds. I believe that Delorme also publishes topo maps on CD, but I am not familiar with them.

does this program only do California? is there a program for the whole US.........

Vinze - Topo! sells each state separately. I don't know of a whole USA map set. Here is their web site for more info:

http://maps.nationalgeographic.com/topo/

Thought I would resurrect this thread to see if anyone has any new info on topo map software.
Is Topo by National Geographic still considered the best?
DeLorme and MapTech also have software available. Has anyone used their product?

hey i made a few dozen TOPO! maps this season. they're great, fully suitable for backpacking. i would print the maps on the special paper that TOPO! provides though b/c it is water resistant and you can put more map on it as it is longer.

lots of nice features like GPS stuff and elevation gain and you can mark up the maps with your own touches and then print it out. if u do purchase TOPO! buy it online and save about 20 bucks instead of getting it at REI or sport chalet.

Thanks Vinze 3.0.
FYI, the site below has all sorts of good stuff for GPS and Topos.

http://gpsnow.com/topomaps.htm

Contact the webmaster at efgh.com/hike, he went to the FREE source of topo maps (www.klofas.com/topo/) and has made them available to anyone for the price of some blank CD-Roms.

OBS:

Garmin, of gps fame, now has selected areas available in the 24,000 series of topographic mapping. They can be loaded in the garmin mapping units but also the software can run on a desktop. I have not reviewed the topo's at that resolution.

DeLorme (the other big GPS company) also sells topo maps under the name TopoUSA. It's around $100 for the enitre US. It also comes with some pretty useful software that can display 3D dipictions of the climb and download datapoints to any brand of GPS.

More good info. Thanks everyone.

Is anyone else having trouble accessing the zip files from www.klofas.com/topo/? I'm getting a "server not found" error for any map I try to access.

Yeah Roley, I had the same problem.

I have used Topo USA 3.0 by DeLorme and find it lacking detail. For example, I printed out a map of Thor peak at a 1:6400 scale and it shows no detail at all. There are multiple high points in the general area of Thor peak and the DeLorme program shows none of them (even with a 20 foot contour interval). I am not sure where they get their contour data but USGS provides much better data at a larger scale. Would not recommend the program.

For those having trouble at www.klofas.com/topo/ I can only suggest that you contact Phillip at efgh.com and ask him how he did it. I'll be hiking with him tomorow and I'll steer him to this post.

I got the Wildflower TOPO! program and have found it extremely useful and worth the money. In addition to just the maps you get route measurement and profiling capabilities,and it you are into it, GPS stuff that you can download to your GPS receiver. I tried the DeLorme program a couple of years ago, but found the quality of maps it printed was quite inferior to TOPO!, so I returned it to REI for a refund. Perhaps it's been improved in the mean time, but I don't think REI handles it any more. Since I have access to a B-size (11 x 17) color laser printer at work, I have taken to printing my maps on it, double-sided, which saves some weight and bulk and doesn't have a problem with getting a little water on it.

Mike