+Team FUBAR Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 Is there a web site that I can enter lat / lon or an address and get free topo maps for that area. kindof like using mapquest? cache you on the trail Quote Link to comment
+The Leprechauns Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 http://www.topozone.com Every cache page in the U.S. has a link to the Topozone map. For challenging long hikes when having a map is essential, I print out the print-friendly version of the Topozone map on a color printer and then laminate it with a home laminator machine. Darn close to buying a real map at a sporting goods store! Quote Link to comment
+Markwell Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 Keystone and a few others have pointed me toward this little nifty one... http://www.geocachingadmin.com/maps/terra.php Quote Link to comment
WH Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 lostoutdoors is a nifty site too. Quote Link to comment
Tahosa and Sons Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 www.maptech. com is a real nice also. Quote Link to comment
dfib Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 Try Nasa Worldwind It's a free program from NASA that lets you zoom in on any area, If you use the USGS ortho button you can get 3 meter resolution which is pretty good. Quote Link to comment
+welch Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 Keystone and a few others have pointed me toward this little nifty one... http://www.geocachingadmin.com/maps/terra.php wow thats a cool one is there a stored map for each gc numer?? Quote Link to comment
+Markwell Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 I think it spiders the site. Quote Link to comment
+welch Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 I think it spiders the site. and then displays parking coords and locations suggested by the logs? thats nice Quote Link to comment
+Markwell Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 I think only by the recent logs... I'm not sure if it spiders the coords for all of the logs unless you specifiy that in the URL. Quote Link to comment
+Ky Hunter Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 Is there a web site that I can enter lat / lon or an address and get free topo maps for that area. kindof like using mapquest? cache you on the trail I have used "www.terraserverusa.com" for quite some time when hunting. Takes some getting used to to see what you are looking at but it is an awesome site. It has topo as well as satelite photos for just about every inch of the USA. overseas leaves a lot to be desired. It does not cost for the basic service, but the basic has always had more than enough info for me. There is more than 1 terraserver site so you may see some that cost a medium to large fortune to use. Quote Link to comment
+Jamie Z Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 I print out the print-friendly version of the Topozone map on a color printer and then laminate it with a home laminator machine. I often print out maps with the caches marked on them.. and occasionally if the situation warrants, I'll pay a few bucks to have it laminated. How much are one of these home-laminators, and how is the quality compared to professional? What's the per-use cost? Jamie Quote Link to comment
+Ky Hunter Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 How much are one of these home-laminators, and how is the quality compared to professional? What's the per-use cost? Jamie The one my wife has was less than $200.00 E-Bay would be a good place to find one. Gotta luv e-bay Quote Link to comment
+The Leprechauns Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 Jamie, I didn't want a fancy office laminator, which sell for prices north of $100. But when I heard that others had purchased electric laminators in the $30 price range, I decided to take a chance on one, since that was a price range suitable to a hobby use. I went to Wal-Mart and bought a 9" electric heat laminator, I believe it was Duck brand. The plastic packets come in all different sizes and I bought wallet size up through document size. I found that I could trim down the plastic sleeves with scissors to custom sizes, like to match the container I was using for one of my multicache clue containers. I've used my laminator for everything from waterproof clue cards for multicaches, goal tags for travel bugs, stash notes for ammo box caches and protecting topo maps for long hikes. I've been very happy with the results so far. I will recover my investment once the cost of the laminator and blank plastic sheets exceeds what I would have paid to go somewhere like Office Max or Kinko's to pay them to laminate the same quantity of items. I've used the machine a dozen times or so; thus I am about a third of the way there. The convenience is also worth something. When I am putting together a multicache, it is nice to be able to come back home, type up the coordinates and other field information on a clue sheet, laminate it and then drive back to the cache location. And when I am getting ready for a big long hike and I print off a topo map, it's nice to laminate it right then and there, then it goes into my pack. Like many geocachers, I do my planning and preparation for cache hiding and hunting at the last minute, so I am finding it very nice to not have to stop off at Kinko's on the way. Truth be told, I never used to go to Kinko's at all! In my older caches I used things that weren't waterproof, so I am also increasing the quality of my caches. I have already gone back to one of my existing caches to replace the water-damaged first stage film canister clue with a brand new laminated card inside of a more waterproof match container. Quote Link to comment
+welch Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 How much are one of these home-laminators, and how is the quality compared to professional? What's the per-use cost? Jamie The one my wife has was less than $200.00 E-Bay would be a good place to find one. Gotta luv e-bay I hope you mean $20, cuz you can get new ones at wally world for like 35bucks. The home ones can do a max of nine inch wide, quality looks good (but I don't have somtime from a pro to compare. It also depends on the thickness of the shelve/pouch/film you buy). Cost per use? mostly whatever you've paid for paper and the lamination shelves (which of course varies, $10-$30 per 100 for one example) Quote Link to comment
+Ky Hunter Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 How much are one of these home-laminators, and how is the quality compared to professional? What's the per-use cost? Jamie The one my wife has was less than $200.00 E-Bay would be a good place to find one. Gotta luv e-bay I hope you mean $20, cuz you can get new ones at wally world for like 35bucks. The home ones can do a max of nine inch wide, quality looks good (but I don't have somtime from a pro to compare. It also depends on the thickness of the shelve/pouch/film you buy). Cost per use? mostly whatever you've paid for paper and the lamination shelves (which of course varies, $10-$30 per 100 for one example) hers is one for her job, up to 11" Not too sure of exact cost but was well over $100.00 new Quote Link to comment
+welch Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 hers is one for her job, up to 11" Not too sure of exact cost but was well over $100.00 new oh thats a bigger capablitly than what I was thinking of now I understand Quote Link to comment
+Alan2 Posted June 29, 2005 Share Posted June 29, 2005 Regarding terraserverusa, I notice that the icon is off on the topo map. It appears there's no conversion from WGS84 datum to NAD27. This conversion is automatically done on the geocaching cache page when you click on the Topozone URL. I didn't try the photo maps or Hi Res. SOmeone else will have to check them. Instead of laminating, I have found National Geographic Adventure paper very good. It's 8 1/2 x 11" waterproof for ink jet printers. Color won't run. It will fold but not crease and it doesn't tear. The printing is very sharp. Costs about 75 cents a sheet but you can print on both sides. Quote Link to comment
+backinthesaddle Posted June 29, 2005 Share Posted June 29, 2005 An inexpensive option for protecting maps is to use the clear laminate used for cabinet shelves. It can be written on with pen or grease pencil and is very waterproof. The only drawback is that after repeatedly unfolding and refolding over many cycles, it will crack. But with a 7.5 minute quad topo, the area of the actual map you will be using on even a long cache is not that large, and can be seen without refolding. Quote Link to comment
+Ky Hunter Posted June 29, 2005 Share Posted June 29, 2005 I didn't try the photo maps or Hi Res. SOmeone else will have to check them. I use the photos a lot. You can see the burn barrel in my yard, streams, and even some game trails. My barrel appears about 1/2 the size of a regular pencils eraser. It does take some time for a beginner to see, and recognize, what they are looking at, but not a real long time. Quote Link to comment
+Sputnik 57 Posted June 30, 2005 Share Posted June 30, 2005 Just because Poindexter went to so much trouble, I'll offer up this site which links to free DRG 1:24000 maps for all 50 states Quote Link to comment
+Recdiver Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 Anyone ever use Garmin's Mapsource US TOPO or the US TOPO 24k National Parks West? Do they have auto routing like City Select? And thanks for the ideas for printing and laminating maps. Quote Link to comment
+welch Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 Anyone ever use Garmin's Mapsource US TOPO or the US TOPO 24k National Parks West?Do they have auto routing like City Select? And thanks for the ideas for printing and laminating maps. yes sometimes and no i don't think so. Quote Link to comment
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