profdant139 wrote:
For those of us who rely on topo maps when looking for boondocking, I just stumbled across another forest service resource -- if you zoom in on a given area, the USGS topo maps appear. Just click on the relevant square to download it. You can choose PDF or geo tiff -- I chose PDF, since I don't know what I would do with the other format! (Yes, I am technologically ignorant. Sorry.)
I am old enough to remember having to buy each hard copy quadrangle -- and they were not cheap -- in order to get decent topo maps. Life in the age of the internet is (in some ways) better than the old days.
Link to mapping resource
What would really be nice - but is probably never going to happen - is for topo maps to be available in csv format so I could install them on the Garmin navigator unit we use in our RV for off-highway exploring and camping.
Our Garmin Nuvi model is a high end one in which I have added the largest Micro SD card size allowed. I want to completely cut the need for Internet access when out and about in the RV, which means satellite communication and control. We already carry along a satellite based search and rescue device, but I'd like to combine it with as comprehensive as possible satellite based detailed navigation capability ... which means both topo map and road map capability in the navigator unit.
