Mapping Software for Making Map and Cue Sheets - Recommendations?

Quoted message said:

Someone is bound to suggest Topo - stay as FAR away from that crappy program
as possible. Although the core of the program isn't bad, the user interface
is the most useless and frustrating piece of work I have seen in my 35 years
of working with computers.

Careful, you're talking about "Topo USA" (http://tinyurl.com/mur4w), a
product I gave up on 3 versions ago.

Not to be confused with National Geographics line of "Topo!" mapping
products (http://maps.nationalgeographic.com/topo/), which I think are
pretty good at what they are designed to do.

Chris Neary
[email hidden]

"Science, freedom, beauty, adventure: what more could
you ask of life? Bicycling combined all the elements I
loved" - Adapted from a quotation by Charles Lindbergh

Chris Neary <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Careful, you're talking about "Topo USA" (http://tinyurl.com/mur4w), a
product I gave up on 3 versions ago.

Not to be confused with National Geographics line of "Topo!" mapping
products (http://maps.nationalgeographic.com/topo/), which I think are
pretty good at what they are designed to do.

A few questions:

1. Can you create a route as easily as Topo USA with turns, mileages, etc.?

2. Is it based solely on USGS data (too old to be that useful)? Is the data
better and more current than Topo USA (e.g., Topo USA doesn't show bike
trails)?

3. Does it have the same cumulative elevation problems that Topo USA has?

Personally, I've not had any real issues with the user interface of Topo
USA, and would not use that as a reason to move to a different product
unless that product offered something substantially better.

--
Mike DeMicco <[email hidden]>

Try http://www.jdmcox.com a free mapping program. Works for me.
Cheers,
Dave
http://www.noweldrecumbent.com

"Chris Neary" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Careful, you're talking about "Topo USA" (http://tinyurl.com/mur4w), a
product I gave up on 3 versions ago.

Not to be confused with National Geographics line of "Topo!" mapping
products (http://maps.nationalgeographic.com/topo/), which I think are
pretty good at what they are designed to do.

A few questions:

1. Can you create a route as easily as Topo USA with turns, mileages,

etc.?

Quoted message said:

I use MS Streets for any route mapping I need to do.

Quoted message said:

2. Is it based solely on USGS data (too old to be that useful)? Is the

data

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

better and more current than Topo USA (e.g., Topo USA doesn't show bike
trails)?

For what I'm using it for, the age of the USGS data is little or no
handicap. Even if a road isn't shown, I can hand draw a route for profile
info (and damn few of the roads in my area have changed much since the
topo's were last updated!)

My biggest turn-off with Topo USA was the ugly and inaccurate presentation
of the topo lines. Pretty useless for truly visualizing the lay of the

land

Quoted message said:

in comparision to Topo!

Quoted message said:

3. Does it have the same cumulative elevation problems that Topo USA has?

I'm never concerned with cumulative elevations, more typically I'm looking
at differences in elevation between a number of reference points. Topo!
works plenty fine for this.

Quoted message said:

Personally, I've not had any real issues with the user interface of Topo
USA, and would not use that as a reason to move to a different product
unless that product offered something substantially better.

As stated above, the user interface wasn't my reason for ditching Topo USA
(though it did suck), the poor presentation of the actual map data turned

me

Quoted message said:

into a ex-owner.

Chris Neary
[email hidden]

"Science, freedom, beauty, adventure: what more could
you ask of life? Bicycling combined all the elements I
loved" - Adapted from a quotation by Charles Lindbergh

I've been using DeLorme and have found it quite useful (I copy paste the
route data into a special Word doc that I've developed).

However be warned, the total elevation gain is usually off by a
considerable amount (I multiply what DeLorme claims by 0.6) and the
mileage accuracy suffers on really twisty roads, like those in the
mountains because (I assume) the "roads" are measured by vector points,
not their true course.

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