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Good maps for midwest?

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rec.bicycles.rides archive
Published
30 January 2003
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1 February 2003
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Joe Nordic
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  1. When I ride in upstate NY, I use the excellent Jimapco regional maps, which show all the back roads
    for a multi-county region.

    Are there similar printed maps available for Ohio, Indiana, Illinois?

    The only ones I am aware of are the DeLorme atlases.

    Thanks.

    Joe

  2. dot.state.oh.usbike

    This site has some links for Ohio routes.

    "Joe Nordic" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
    "]news:[email hidden]...

    Quoted message said:

    When I ride in upstate NY, I use the excellent Jimapco regional maps, which show all the back
    roads for a multi-county region.

    Are there similar printed maps available for Ohio, Indiana, Illinois?

    The only ones I am aware of are the DeLorme atlases.

    Thanks.

    Joe

  3. Joe Nordic said:

    When I ride in upstate NY, I use the excellent Jimapco regional maps, which show all the back
    roads for a multi-county region.

    Are there similar printed maps available for Ohio, Indiana, Illinois?

    Riding in Michigan I like UniversalMap maps - sound like the same as your Jimapco maps - cost about
    $5.00 at lots o'stores everywhere, cover 5-6 counties.

    Can't seem to get into their website (www.universalmap.com) to check if they cover those states,
    though....

    J.W.

  4. j walen said:
    Joe Nordic said:

    When I ride in upstate NY, I use the excellent Jimapco regional maps, which show all the back
    roads for a multi-county region.

    Are there similar printed maps available for Ohio, Indiana, Illinois?

    Riding in Michigan I like UniversalMap maps - sound like the same as your Jimapco maps - cost
    about $5.00 at lots o'stores everywhere, cover 5-6 counties.

    The UniversalMaps for other states are not like those for Michigan. I've used the Ohio and Indiana
    ones for riding, but they do not show the level of detail that the Michigan ones do. They aren't at
    the same scale, and they don't distinguish paved from gravel roads.

    I'm glad to hear about the Jimapco maps. It was timely informaiton -- I was just starting to explore
    the map possibilities for riding in New York and Vermont.

    John Gorentz

  5. --------------83C1AA702CFE8F485AE8B7DC Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
    Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

    John Gorentz said:


    The UniversalMaps for other states are not like those for Michigan. I've used the Ohio and Indiana
    ones for riding, but they do not show the level of detail that the Michigan ones do.

    Odd - you'd think when they got a useful format (as I said - they're sold everywhere in Mich) they'd
    standardize it. Oh well.

    J.W.

    --------------83C1AA702CFE8F485AE8B7DC Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
    Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

    <!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html> John Gorentz wrote:
    <blockquote TYPE=CITE> <br>The UniversalMaps for other states are not like those for
    Michigan. I've <br>used the Ohio and Indiana ones for riding, but they do not show the level
    <br>of detail that the Michigan ones do. <br> </blockquote>

    <K><br>Odd - you'd think when they got a useful format (as I said - they're sold <i>everywhere</i>
    in Mich) they'd standardize it. Oh well.
    <K>A.A.</html>

    --------------83C1AA702CFE8F485AE8B7DC--

  6. j walen said:
    John Gorentz said:


    The UniversalMaps for other states are not like those for Michigan. I've used the Ohio and
    Indiana ones for riding, but they do not show the level of detail that the Michigan ones do.

    Odd - you'd think when they got a useful format (as I said - they're sold everywhere in Mich)
    they'd standardize it. Oh well.

    It's not just a matter of format. It's also the information content. I'm sure it costs a lot more to
    gather the kind of information they put in the Michigan maps.

    Even the Michigan maps are of uneven quality. The maps for some parts of the state have more
    information (and a more aesthetically pleasing format) than others.

    I think I even know what part of the state their main cartographer comes from, but the UniversalMap
    people won't help me confirm it. I was once amazed at the level of historical detail that was shown
    on one of the maps. I was on a bike tour to do some history research, had forgotten my road maps at
    home, so ended up picking up one of the Universal Maps, which were just then (AFAIK) starting to
    appear in gas stations. I sat in a restaurant looking at it with my wife. It became apparent that
    this guy knew about historical sites that I didn't think anyone else but me cared about.

    Afterwards I e-mailed to the UniversalMap people, commenting on the level of historical detail,
    wanting to find out who it was who knew and cared about all these places. They wouldn't tell me,
    just saying that it was done under contract, and something to the effect that it was proprietary
    information. As I've studied these maps more closely since then, I've concluded that one part of
    the state has a lot more of this level of detail than any of the others do, so I'm now slightly
    less impressed. I figure the person must know his/her home area very well. I still wish I could
    meet him/her.

    I agree. It would be wonderful if UniversalMap could make the same types of maps for other states.

    John Gorentz

  7. "Joe Nordic" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
    "]news:[email hidden]...

    Quoted message said:

    When I ride in upstate NY, I use the excellent Jimapco regional maps, which show all the back
    roads for a multi-county region.

    Are there similar printed maps available for Ohio, Indiana, Illinois?

    In Illinois, there is an excellent map for the Chicago metro area available from the Chicagoland
    Bicycle Federation: chibikefed.orgcbfmap.htm

    The state of Illinois has divided the state into regional areas, and publishes free bicycle maps for
    each region. These are available from the Illinois Department of Transportation. Some like them;
    personally I've found them to be (a) inaccurate on info like whether a shoulder is present,
    (b) very conservative: looking at the map you'd never think bicycling was possible in the Chicago
    area, and (c) of limited use in the rural areas, since they don't have street names, and the
    roads are marked only with street names.

  8. John Gorentz wrote: ...

    Quoted message said:

    I think I even know what part of the state their main cartographer comes from, but the
    UniversalMap people won't help me confirm it. I was once amazed at the level of historical detail
    that was shown on one of the maps. I was on a bike tour to do some history research, had forgotten
    my road maps at home, so ended up picking up one of the Universal Maps, which were just then
    (AFAIK) starting to appear in gas stations. I sat in a restaurant looking at it with my wife. It
    became apparent that this guy knew about historical sites that I didn't think anyone else but me
    cared about.

    Afterwards I e-mailed to the UniversalMap people, commenting on the level of historical detail,
    wanting to find out who it was who knew and cared about all these places. They wouldn't tell me,
    just saying that it was done under contract, and something to the effect that it was proprietary
    information. As I've studied these maps more closely since then, I've concluded that one part of
    the state has a lot more of this level of detail than any of the others do, so I'm now slightly
    less impressed. I figure the person must know his/her home area very well. I still wish I could
    meet him/her.

    You might carefully check the town names; perhaps the map author threw in a Lake Wobegon type of
    thing. (Remember a few years back when someone added the towns "goblu" and "beatosu"?) Greg
    Siple, for many years the cartographer for Bikecentennial, put his house on the local Missoula
    maps. And so forth. Or send it to Neal Rubin at the DetSnooze; this might be right up his alley
    and the freelancer will step forward. HTH --Karen M.

  9. for the area of Ohio that I live in (Troy) I use the Southwest Ohio map ( I think there is only one
    published). It covers Cincinatti Columbus, Dayton and North to around Minster. It's very good for
    cycling(this is the only map I use) and I suppose there are Northwest etc. versions.

    Frank

    "Joe Nordic" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
    "]news:[email hidden]...

    Quoted message said:

    When I ride in upstate NY, I use the excellent Jimapco regional maps, which show all the back
    roads for a multi-county region.

    Are there similar printed maps available for Ohio, Indiana, Illinois?

    The only ones I am aware of are the DeLorme atlases.

    Thanks.

    Joe

  10. Do you happen to know which company publishes that map?

    Thanks.

    Joe

    "Frank Cooley" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
    "]news:[email hidden]...

    Quoted message said:

    for the area of Ohio that I live in (Troy) I use the Southwest Ohio map


    ( I

    Quoted message said:

    think there is only one published). It covers Cincinatti Columbus, Dayton and North to around
    Minster. It's very good for cycling(this is the only map I use) and I suppose there are Northwest
    etc. versions.

    Frank

  11. "John Gorentz" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

    Quoted message said:

    The [Universal] maps for some parts of the state have more information (and a more aesthetically
    pleasing format) than others.

    I think I even know what part of the state their main cartographer comes from, but the
    UniversalMap people won't help me confirm it. I was once amazed at the level of historical detail
    that was shown on one of the maps. ... Afterwards I e-mailed to the UniversalMap people,
    commenting on the level of historical detail, wanting to find out who it was who knew and cared
    about all these places. They wouldn't tell me, just saying that it was done under contract, and
    something to the effect that it was proprietary information. As I've studied these maps more
    closely since then, I've concluded that one part of the state has a lot more of this level of
    detail than any of the others do, so I'm now slightly less impressed. I figure the person must
    know his/her home area very well. I still wish I could meet him/her.

    If you ever find this phantom Universal cartographer, pass along my compliments as well. I've
    only used the ones on the west side of the lower peninsula, but I have found them great for
    bicycle touring.

    They contain street names, they contain paving information, there are little ridge lines showing
    hills, they show little roads, they have detail for towns of any size, and you can tell paved from
    gravel (and those wonderful dirt "seasonal roads" in northwest Michigan).

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