---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 07 Sep 1999 14:27:09 -0400
From: Fred Schaff <[log in to unmask]>
To: Maps and Air Photo Systems Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: digital topo products (fwd)

At 11:22 AM 09/07/1999 -0400, you wrote:
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Fri, 3 Sep 1999 09:44:03 -0400 (EDT)
>From: Ken Grabach <[log in to unmask]>
>To: Maps and Air Photo Systems Forum <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: digital topo products (fwd)
>
>
>If someone wants mapping for a hike, would not a small set of topographic
>quadrangles, at $4.00 per sheet do the trick more quickly and easily?
>Here's where this question comes from.
>
>1. a map to use for hiking will need to be a map one can carry.
>2. however one can customize a map from a digital source, it is necessary
>to print it out to use it in the field.
>3. to print out a map from a digital source requires not just your average
>laser printer (if that's what the patron has), but one that can handle the
>lines in sufficiently fine detail to be accurate and to handle the various
>colors for the meanings they convey.  In black and white printing a stream
>can appear awfully like a road, and that's about as basic as map
>interpretation gets!  sometimes in black and white printing a (blue)
>stream won't show up at all, and you can wind up following what you
>thought was a good trail but with wet feet!
>4. assuming the patron has access to a printer of high enough quality and
>standard to do the job, he will need access to paper that is large enough
>and strong enough to hold up to a hiking trip with a scout troop.
>5. to buy that equipment and the supplies (large size durable and
>permanent paper, color toner or color plotting inks) and equipment
>(printer or plotter to handle the right size of paper) as well as the
>CD-ROM set, however reasonably priced, to become his own map print shop,
>requires quite a capital outlay in cash or credit.
>
>I can think of a better deal...
>
>6. the Geological Survey has that capability and prints maps in color and
>sells them at $4.00 per sheet.  They are available from a number of local
>suppliers and can be ordered from USGS itself or from some other vendors.
________
>Ken Grabach         <[log in to unmask]>
>Documents and Maps Librarian
>Miami University Libraries
>Oxford, Ohio  45056  USA

        I'm currently using DeLorme's TOPO-2 and find it much superior to USGS
TOPO maps for several reasons.

1: At $4/sheet, that can quickly add up to the $70-100, (depending on how
one orders it), cost of DeLorme's access to the entire USA 50-states.
2: The USGS does not always have all of their topo maps in stock at any one
time and, moreover, it takes time to order and receive those that they do
have.
3: I can take the DeLorme image to exactly the size and area that I wish.
4: Printing out can be done in superb details by almost any current inkjet
printer with more resolution and color than is in the USGS topo maps as
delivered. I use an HP-890C at 600x1200dpi at about $400 but that price was
paid for speed of printing, not resolution, so that the same 600x1200 can
be obtained on many brands of inkjet printers at costs under $200.
5: Print-out are on either 8.5x11 or 8.5x14 legal which are easier to carry
than large USGS topo maps even when one needs multiple sheets to cover the
entire area of interest.
6: Better yet, if there are mulitple hikers separated by miles but
connected by E-mail, then copies can be sent to any and all.

NOW, THREE DRAWBACKS:
1: DeLorme's TOPO-2 has 20-foot contours at best. If one needs 10-foot
contours then USGS is the only in-expensive choice.
2: DeLorme's software decides when to go from 50-foot to 20-foot contours
in the area which one is viewing. This can be a nusiance but can usually
have a work-around.
3: DeLorme's TOPO-2 "saves" scene being shown as a *.GIF. I find that
recovery of the "Saved" image produces an image much inferior to what was
seen on the screen. Currently, when I want to "save" an image or prepare it
for sending as attachment to an E-mail, I first print it out, then scan it
with my scanner, (also 600x1200dpi), and store that image as either a *.TIF
for maximum resolution or as a *.JPG for reduced BYTES for attachments to
E-mail.

Fred Schaff