MAPS - Appalachian Trail

imported
#1

Here Trailblazer, I’ll start the thread up… It may be a big pain deleting forum posts (I know somebody who has got it down to a science though)… Anyway, http://www.mapquest.com is great. I just checked it out. Leif, all the 14ers are there. No more expensive map CDs. I was wondering about the Delorme USA topo CD set though. The 3D feature looks pretty neat. Got any experience with this? How would you rate the TPGS maps to the deLormes. What really ticked me off was that my family recently invested in the deLorme CA maps (my sis just moved out there–CA 14ers looking good). The problem is that deLorme is making the switch from feet to meters. I prefer feet. Who the hell wants to measure in kilometers? How long would the AT be then? I don’t even know…

Sweeper

#2

I can’t find it right now, since it is several months old, but I questioned Topozone.com regarding comparison between the Survey maps and Delorme. They pointed out that topozone has many times the number of points. When I checked it, they were right. the survey maps have far more detail. However, Delorme is good, and I like the 3-D feature. Now with the MapQuest, I probably would not buy anything on CD again. The Delorme use with GPS appeals to me. I’ll let you know.

Trailblazer75

#3

We just got the Southeast region Delorme topos with the 3D feature. If you know how to read a map, these are strictly for shits and giggles. Personally, I find it much harder to tell what direction I’m looking at, and you can read none of the points they’re all distorted. The program itself is poorly programed. There are stoopid blunders in it. I’ll give it about 5 more years before I invest in a set. Don’t get me wrong, I love them. But in 5 years, they will, undoubtedly, be much nicer and user friendly. This topozone thing that you guys are talkin about sounds neat.

Hungry Howie GA-ME 2000

Hungry Howie

#4

Trailblazer, I just put up links to the maps of the 14ers in my journal. Thanks again for the link. These maps are great and they are free. I noticed you set up a journal account. I know to look forward to map links in your entries! -Sweeper

Sweeper

#5

I will make several, or even more, postings about maps and orienteering. I think this one will be of interest.
www.MapQuest.com now has topographic maps. From the way they load, I would guess that the merger of maps with Topozone.com has taken place. It takes a little practice to work MapQuest efficiently and effectively, but once done you can switch between road maps and topo maps quite easily. The topo maps print quite clearly, and have almost all of the major and even minor landmarks such as mountains, parks, etc. identified. You can look at and print in several scales down to about 2-3 inches to the mile. When printing, look for the printer friendly button. This will give you a map without all the ads, etc. In general, the AT shows on the maps, but it is sometimes difficult to locate because they show many other trails. You might want to print out the maps at Trailplace’s AT map site, and use them in conjunction with the Mapquest maps to locate the AT and mark it with a highlighter.

Trailplace’s maps of the AT can be found at

www.trailplace.com/maps/maps_index.html

They are to a small scale, and the background map and place names do not print very clearly, although the AT is shown prominently. Let me know what you think. Any map questions? Ask and I’ll try to answer. They are a hobby with me.

Just got DeLorme’s Street Atlas which integrates topo maps with GPS. Haven’t evaluated completely yet, but looks to be very good

Trailblazer75