-Oz- Posted September 20, 2008 Posted September 20, 2008 (edited) I've just released my next topo map... New Mexico. New Mexico Custom Topo Page This one has a bit more detail in the national forest/parks than my Arizona map because someone found the Forest Service clearinghouse website so I got a lot of POIs and quite a few trails for the forests. Good news for all the hikers. Topo map features: * Roads - Interstates, highways, roads, limited unpaved roads (Tiger 2007) * Railroads * High resolution water data - lakes, rivers, streams, marshes, and washes * Federal Land Usage - Wilderness area, national parks, and military bases/ranges, native american reservations, some state parks * Borders - County and state boundary lines * Elevation contours - 40ft intervals (equivalent to 24k) * GNIS Points of Interest - summits, mines, falls, dams, cemeteries, towers, populated places, etc. * Trails - trail coverage inside of the national parks/forests * Parks POI - trailheads, camping sites, forest service huts within the national parks/forests * ~100k Grid Segments - no segment larger than 6.5mb means most older GPSr's can use this mapset Screenshots A few screenshots so you can see the quality: And a comparison: Any issues or questions let me know. New Mexico Topo Map Download Also, I have released two new tutorials: How To Install MapSource If It Didn't Come With Your GPS and How To Load Maps On My Garmin GPS Unit. Also, this map works great with Arizona Any questions, suggestions, errors, etc just post them here. Edited September 20, 2008 by -Oz- Quote
jmedlock Posted September 20, 2008 Posted September 20, 2008 Awesome! I'll give it a try later today and will let you know! Quote
jmedlock Posted September 21, 2008 Posted September 21, 2008 I loaded it on a 60CSx today (along with Garmin Topo 2008), and went out and played with it in the forest in Southern New Mexico. I was quite impressed with the topo you generated: 40' vs 50' contours doesn't seem like a big difference, but it really is. Also the updated road data was nice to see. I need to play with it more this week. Otherwise great job!!! Regards... Quote
-Oz- Posted September 22, 2008 Author Posted September 22, 2008 I loaded it on a 60CSx today (along with Garmin Topo 2008), and went out and played with it in the forest in Southern New Mexico. I was quite impressed with the topo you generated: 40' vs 50' contours doesn't seem like a big difference, but it really is. Also the updated road data was nice to see. I need to play with it more this week. Otherwise great job!!! Regards... Yea, I had made it with 20ft contours but cgpsmapper kept crashing. I am trying to get a hold of Stan to find out why but that isn't going so well. Hawaii should have finished but its having the same error I was having with New Mexico (cgpsmapper again)... Quote
+myotis Posted September 22, 2008 Posted September 22, 2008 Darn! I just got back from a week in NM! Quote
n2stitch Posted September 22, 2008 Posted September 22, 2008 Any plans of doing a Missouri topo map? If so, I have quite a bit of trail data I can share for inclusion. Thanks! Quote
+myotis Posted September 23, 2008 Posted September 23, 2008 Any plans of doing a Missouri topo map? If so, I have quite a bit of trail data I can share for inclusion. Thanks! I have lots of transparnet topos in the STL area and a trail map for the entire state: http://webpages.charter.net/jbensman/Maps.htm Can you give me your trail data to include in the state trail map? Thanks Quote
+Kohavis Posted September 23, 2008 Posted September 23, 2008 I'll give it a try. Hoofing it around the Rio Grande bosque can be dicey without a good topo map. Thanks, -Oz-! Quote
n2stitch Posted September 23, 2008 Posted September 23, 2008 I have lots of transparnet topos in the STL area and a trail map for the entire state: http://webpages.charter.net/jbensman/Maps.htm Can you give me your trail data to include in the state trail map? Thanks Sure, in what format would you like to receive it? Lalita Quote
+coggins Posted September 23, 2008 Posted September 23, 2008 "Whoa, slow down there maestro. There's a NEW Mexico?" - Mr. Burns, The Simpsons Maps look nice Oz. Good job as always. Quote
-Oz- Posted September 23, 2008 Author Posted September 23, 2008 Glad for everyone's approval Missouri is relatively low on my list for now. The current list is: Idaho, Oregon... I want to start working on Alaska but its HUGE! so we'll see. May just do transparent trail overlays or something. Quote
+Kohavis Posted September 23, 2008 Posted September 23, 2008 D/L-ed your map and installed after updating Mapsource to 6.14. Then loaded into Garmin. I must say it has some nice touches. The detail in the handheld is improved a little over Topo 2008, but now the state and national parks and monuments are green shaded. Nice to see where the boundaries are for geocaching. The detail in Mapsource is considerably better Beautiful work, and thanks again for the superb topo map, -Oz-! Quote
+myotis Posted September 24, 2008 Posted September 24, 2008 Glad for everyone's approval Missouri is relatively low on my list for now. The current list is: Idaho, Oregon... I want to start working on Alaska but its HUGE! so we'll see. May just do transparent trail overlays or something. There is a project called NW Trails that has transparent trails for the NorthWest Including AK. I am a fan of having a seperate transparent trail map for the state instead of including it in the topo. If it is a seperate file, you can update it in a few minutes if you get new or better trail info. As I mentioned above, I went to NM a couple of week ago. Before I went I gathered all the trail data I could find and made a transparent trail file: http://mapcenter.cgpsmapper.com/maplist.php?id=10901 I have some stuff you don't (for example, Santa Fe sent me a shap file with thier trails) and I GPSed some stuff when I was there if you want to use it. Quote
-Oz- Posted September 24, 2008 Author Posted September 24, 2008 There is a project called NW Trails that has transparent trails for the NorthWest Including AK. I am a fan of having a seperate transparent trail map for the state instead of including it in the topo. If it is a seperate file, you can update it in a few minutes if you get new or better trail info. As I mentioned above, I went to NM a couple of week ago. Before I went I gathered all the trail data I could find and made a transparent trail file: http://mapcenter.cgpsmapper.com/maplist.php?id=10901 I have some stuff you don't (for example, Santa Fe sent me a shap file with thier trails) and I GPSed some stuff when I was there if you want to use it. With your permission when I rerender the map I would like to include your trails. And I actually have that NW Trails map; forgot to load it when I went out hiking over the weekend. Having a transparent map is great for overlay but I honestly don't think many of the people who download my maps know how to layer them and such. I "may" be able to include the transparent overlay though and make it so when you select it you get two layers; that would be interesting... and experiment for sure. Quote
inomad Posted September 24, 2008 Posted September 24, 2008 can ya do nj,ny,and pa. please. thanks Quote
jholly Posted September 24, 2008 Posted September 24, 2008 can ya do nj,ny,and pa. please. thanks I would find WA, ID, and OR much more useful. Jim Quote
-Oz- Posted September 25, 2008 Author Posted September 25, 2008 Idaho is next. With a fix for Hawaii coming too. I am 50% done with the dem data for Idaho and have the borders, Quote
+myotis Posted September 26, 2008 Posted September 26, 2008 There is a project called NW Trails that has transparent trails for the NorthWest Including AK. I am a fan of having a seperate transparent trail map for the state instead of including it in the topo. If it is a seperate file, you can update it in a few minutes if you get new or better trail info. As I mentioned above, I went to NM a couple of week ago. Before I went I gathered all the trail data I could find and made a transparent trail file: http://mapcenter.cgpsmapper.com/maplist.php?id=10901 I have some stuff you don't (for example, Santa Fe sent me a shap file with thier trails) and I GPSed some stuff when I was there if you want to use it. With your permission when I rerender the map I would like to include your trails. And I actually have that NW Trails map; forgot to load it when I went out hiking over the weekend. Having a transparent map is great for overlay but I honestly don't think many of the people who download my maps know how to layer them and such. I "may" be able to include the transparent overlay though and make it so when you select it you get two layers; that would be interesting... and experiment for sure. Sure, do you need me to send you anything or can you get it from the mp file? Also on your ID map, perhaps you should leave off the trails and refer them to NW trails. Quote
+Team Chinook Posted September 26, 2008 Posted September 26, 2008 Why wouldn't one just build the trails into the map? When new trail data comes available then you build a new map? Isn't it much more complicated for the average Joe to get a base map and then layer trails on? It's clearly the antithisis of what your promoting, but the vast majority of us are newb's to map making and just want an opensource, or low cost, high res map to use. Maybe it's super easy, but it sounds like it requires more steps...I'd rather get a map w/ the trails built than having to figure out how to get a map and then go get trails and figure out how to layer that and then figure out how to get it onto my gps... Quote
jholly Posted September 26, 2008 Posted September 26, 2008 Why wouldn't one just build the trails into the map? When new trail data comes available then you build a new map? Isn't it much more complicated for the average Joe to get a base map and then layer trails on? It's clearly the antithisis of what your promoting, but the vast majority of us are newb's to map making and just want an opensource, or low cost, high res map to use. Maybe it's super easy, but it sounds like it requires more steps...I'd rather get a map w/ the trails built than having to figure out how to get a map and then go get trails and figure out how to layer that and then figure out how to get it onto my gps... 1. Load topo 2008 2. load NW trails - it goes into mapsource 3. select maps you want on your unit, along with NW trails 4. click transfer to unit 5. Go get a cup of coffee while the computer hums Doesn't sound hard or complicated. Oh, yes, the part about open source. You got to pay for topo 2008. And NW trails is constantly evolving. As folks send in data it is incorporated into the releases. If it was built into the maps you would have to wait for the next release of the topo map. I like it the way it is. Jim Quote
-Oz- Posted September 26, 2008 Author Posted September 26, 2008 Sure, do you need me to send you anything or can you get it from the mp file? Also on your ID map, perhaps you should leave off the trails and refer them to NW trails. Thanks, i can get everything I need from the mp file. See below for the reason its probably best to include the trails. Why wouldn't one just build the trails into the map? When new trail data comes available then you build a new map? Isn't it much more complicated for the average Joe to get a base map and then layer trails on? It's clearly the antithisis of what your promoting, but the vast majority of us are newb's to map making and just want an opensource, or low cost, high res map to use. Maybe it's super easy, but it sounds like it requires more steps...I'd rather get a map w/ the trails built than having to figure out how to get a map and then go get trails and figure out how to layer that and then figure out how to get it onto my gps... I actually agree with you that the average joe doesn't know how to load multiple maps. I even wrote a tutorial on how to load maps at all because I got asked quite a few times. Keeping the trails with the maps is probably the way to go. The only flaw to keeping the trails is because of the topo data it takes quite some time to recompile the maps. Once I move in to a final location I can stop using just my laptop and that'll help. Quote
+Corey Posted September 26, 2008 Posted September 26, 2008 Any plans of doing a Missouri topo map? If so, I have quite a bit of trail data I can share for inclusion. Thanks! can ya do nj,ny,and pa. please. thanks Hm. Do MO, NJ, NY and PA have much real topography...? Quote
n2stitch Posted September 26, 2008 Posted September 26, 2008 Hm. Do MO, NJ, NY and PA have much real topography...? No, just fake topography apparently. (Although nothing like the larger mountain ranges, southern MO actually isn't flat at all. It's the northern half of the state that makes good farmland.) Lalita Quote
+Redwoods Mtn Biker Posted September 26, 2008 Posted September 26, 2008 Speaking of real topography, NC has the highest mountain, highest sheer rock face and highest waterfall in eastern North America. Hint, hint. Quote
rickzman Posted September 26, 2008 Posted September 26, 2008 Glad for everyone's approval Missouri is relatively low on my list for now. The current list is: Idaho, Oregon... I want to start working on Alaska but its HUGE! so we'll see. May just do transparent trail overlays or something. Oz, what about Washington? I know that there is "for charge" topo map, but my finances are tight and I'm always looking for a less expensive alternative. Quote
inomad Posted September 26, 2008 Posted September 26, 2008 (edited) can ya do nj,ny,and pa. please. thanks I would find WA, ID, and OR much more useful. Jim well i find ,nj,ny and pa more useful because i live there! lol Edited September 26, 2008 by inomad Quote
+JSWilson64 Posted September 26, 2008 Posted September 26, 2008 Awesome work! I'm sending a link to your page to a Scoutmaster who is taking a group to Philmont next summer. Free maps are good! Quote
+myotis Posted September 26, 2008 Posted September 26, 2008 Oz, The disadvantage of the way you do them (other than all the time to make a change for a new trail) is they are not routable so you have to swith back and forth between City Navigator and these maps. In a perfect world I would like a map in MapSource that has roads, topos, and trails to plan things. I like City Navigator with transparent topos, trails, and POIs on the GPS. That way you get street navigation and are able to see everything. I wish Garmin would modify MapSource so you could see more than one mapset at the same time. Here is a posibily better way to deal with trails: Could you make an img with transparent trails for the entire state and include it in your mapset? Then in mapsource everything can be selected in the same mapset. When there is an update to trails, you only have to change the img file for the trails and people would not also have to install an entirely new mapset, you could have an update that just changes the trail img. I am not sure how it would effect selecting different img files in mapsource. Perhaps it would just add anotber selection area around the state that you select to get the trails selected. And I do not know if you can have transparent and non transparent maps in the same mapset. Am I making sense? Actually what would be really great would be an effort like they have for NW trails for the entire county or US and Canada). Hey while I am dreaming, how about this: Could there be some generic mapset called something like Free USA TOPOS. First you would install this generic mapset. Then you could download like you NM and AZ maps and instead of being added as NM and AZ Topos, they would add the files to the Free USA Topos mapset. That way you would avoid all these various mapsets and could see things across boarders, Quote
+Team Chinook Posted September 28, 2008 Posted September 28, 2008 Jim; Since I have Colorado 400T do I just skip #1 and load NW Trails? Or if I were to want to load NW Trails and HI, NM, CO, etc go ahead and do that all at once? How does NW Trails interact with the Topo 24K West map I have loaded on the SD Card? (CA/NV so might not work at all) P.S. I am in awe at the work the opensource and mico-payments community is doing w/ caching/gps/mapping. Thank you so much folks! Thanks -cjd Team Chinook Why wouldn't one just build the trails into the map? When new trail data comes available then you build a new map? Isn't it much more complicated for the average Joe to get a base map and then layer trails on? It's clearly the antithisis of what your promoting, but the vast majority of us are newb's to map making and just want an opensource, or low cost, high res map to use. Maybe it's super easy, but it sounds like it requires more steps...I'd rather get a map w/ the trails built than having to figure out how to get a map and then go get trails and figure out how to layer that and then figure out how to get it onto my gps... 1. Load topo 2008 2. load NW trails - it goes into mapsource 3. select maps you want on your unit, along with NW trails 4. click transfer to unit 5. Go get a cup of coffee while the computer hums Doesn't sound hard or complicated. Oh, yes, the part about open source. You got to pay for topo 2008. And NW trails is constantly evolving. As folks send in data it is incorporated into the releases. If it was built into the maps you would have to wait for the next release of the topo map. I like it the way it is. Jim Quote
-Oz- Posted September 28, 2008 Author Posted September 28, 2008 Jim; Since I have Colorado 400T do I just skip #1 and load NW Trails? Or if I were to want to load NW Trails and HI, NM, CO, etc go ahead and do that all at once? How does NW Trails interact with the Topo 24K West map I have loaded on the SD Card? (CA/NV so might not work at all) P.S. I am in awe at the work the opensource and mico-payments community is doing w/ caching/gps/mapping. Thank you so much folks! Thanks -cjd Team Chinook You load the NW Trails, HI, NM, CO, etc all at once and load them. The NW Trails will be transparent on top of any maps you have installed. You cannot write anything to the topo 24k west sd card but the colorado has some internal memory so you should be okay. Quote
-Oz- Posted September 28, 2008 Author Posted September 28, 2008 Oz, The disadvantage of the way you do them (other than all the time to make a change for a new trail) is they are not routable so you have to swith back and forth between City Navigator and these maps. In a perfect world I would like a map in MapSource that has roads, topos, and trails to plan things. I like City Navigator with transparent topos, trails, and POIs on the GPS. That way you get street navigation and are able to see everything. I wish Garmin would modify MapSource so you could see more than one mapset at the same time. Here is a posibily better way to deal with trails: Could you make an img with transparent trails for the entire state and include it in your mapset? Then in mapsource everything can be selected in the same mapset. When there is an update to trails, you only have to change the img file for the trails and people would not also have to install an entirely new mapset, you could have an update that just changes the trail img. I am not sure how it would effect selecting different img files in mapsource. Perhaps it would just add anotber selection area around the state that you select to get the trails selected. And I do not know if you can have transparent and non transparent maps in the same mapset. Am I making sense? I was thinking of this; putting the transparent images in with the maps. The only issue I see with that is that there will literally be twice as many segments so over time that would add up a lot especially since GPSs have segment limits (including my 60csx). In a perfect world routing would be much much easier. Also, even if the topo is showing it will still route with City Nav (at least on my unit). Actually what would be really great would be an effort like they have for NW trails for the entire county or US and Canada). Yea, the issue is there are so many websites out there with trails and stuff; Arizona has an amazing one but they won't distribute all the files electronically so I can't use them. It just seems too cuthroat. Heck, people can host there maps at my site but they still have them hosted everywhere. Hey while I am dreaming, how about this: Could there be some generic mapset called something like Free USA TOPOS. First you would install this generic mapset. Then you could download like you NM and AZ maps and instead of being added as NM and AZ Topos, they would add the files to the Free USA Topos mapset. That way you would avoid all these various mapsets and could see things across boarders, That would be an awesome idea. I will look into this heavily. The old city select (and maybe still with citynav) used to only install the segments that were you wanted but the whole map showed up. If I could do that it would be very nice. This is a really good idea. I was gonna make a US topo (or at least region topo once a region was done). But this would be easier. Idaho is going well; I am trying to figure out how to cut things off at the border since Idaho has the weirdest shape I've worked with yet. Quote
+cougarox Posted September 30, 2008 Posted September 30, 2008 (edited) I've just released my next topo map... New Mexico. New Mexico Custom Topo Page [snip] WoW! Thanks you, thank you, thank you - these are awesome and a wonderful replacement for the map on my 60CS [] Edited September 30, 2008 by cougarox Quote
+GEO*Trailblazer 1 Posted October 6, 2008 Posted October 6, 2008 Since I was raised in New Mexico these are awesome and just what I was looking for. So far so good. I did look into doing my own and finally got my 1 brain cell working. I have just created my first set of TOPO's for Missouri. I live in the SW corner and there is little written as of yet but there is also some great one's for up north. The whole county of Barry where I live is now a great TOPO map. I am also working on Table Rock lake at the present time. I use a little different program for the final right now and it works great. I am able to use the .shp files and save some steps. As soon as I can figure out my program and get it written down I will try to add it. Thanks for all the great how to's from all OZ. Quote
-Oz- Posted October 7, 2008 Author Posted October 7, 2008 Since I was raised in New Mexico these are awesome and just what I was looking for. So far so good. I did look into doing my own and finally got my 1 brain cell working. I have just created my first set of TOPO's for Missouri. I live in the SW corner and there is little written as of yet but there is also some great one's for up north. The whole county of Barry where I live is now a great TOPO map. I am also working on Table Rock lake at the present time. I use a little different program for the final right now and it works great. I am able to use the .shp files and save some steps. As soon as I can figure out my program and get it written down I will try to add it. Thanks for all the great how to's from all OZ. What do you mean by figure out your program. It'd be awesome if you add it to the site when its all done so other people can use it. If you only have the img type files just zip them and load that up and I can make an install for it. I know a couple of other people wanted Missouri. Quote
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