JRhetts
Adventurer
After opening a few of the USFS 1:24,000 FSTopo maps, I was sruck with how clean and readable they were. Indeed they were so attractive that I was drawn to dig into them more deeply. I am camped in the Sonoral Desert; it has been raining for 18 hrs so it is impassibly muddy where I'd like to be out riding; and I have 4 bars of 4G data cell signal. So I spent the day playing.
It turns out that the USFS offers these maps free for most of the National Forests throughout the US. The general site to access them is: http://fsgeodata.fs.fed.us/rastergateway/states-regions/states.php
The USFS maps appear to be either vector maps or extremely high-resolution raster [bit mapped] maps, which means that they zoom in and out much more smoothly and clearly than the raster topo maps we usually see. In addition, I would guess that some of the very noticeably increased clarity is due to the USFS cartographers using newer-better graphics design techniques. Below is a side-by-side comparison of the two types:
At first I was stymied about what apps(s) would work on my Mac and/or iPad to open and make use of them.
ON THE MACINTOSH
crawler#976 suggested OziExplorer, but this was a non-starter for me as it would have required creating a partition on my hard drive to install something like Parallels and then a copy of a Windows operating system. Too complicated and costly.
Then I remembered that MacGPSPro can open multiple file formats; after a little investigation I found that indeed that app can import the pre-georeferenced USFS maps using the FILE>IMPORT RASTER MAP… command. The USFS site offers the maps in two formats PDF and TIFF. As they describe on the site:
So I downloaded several GeoTiff files. Each comes in its own labled folder. Inside are both the .tif and the _geo.tif file. I imported and saved a copy of the _geo.tif files with MacGPSPro and then they opened and functioned exactly as any other map in that app. I can zoom in and out to levels not possible with ordinary raster maps. I can mark and upload to my GPS: waypoints, tracks, and routes. Likewise I can download all the same from my GPS and display them on the saved USFS maps.
Given that I already have ordinary raster USGS topos for all of the western US, what are the advantages and/or disadvantages of these maps over what I [and perhaps you] already have? For me, the answer is:
The USFS maps are very much clearer to look at than the USGS maps. This is a striking advantage. I can pick out features and follow roads and tracks much more easily.
They are free. [If you don't count the tax dollars sunk into them; if you do, then you are taking full advantage of something you paid for.]
They take a bit of time to import and open in my MacGPSPro app, but you can select a whole set of them and have them import and be stored as a batch in a specified folder. This cuts that time way down.
They only cover to the National Forest boundaries. The USFS stops dead at their forest boundaries, so if you want the maps, for example, for bounding BLM land you have to use conventional maps. However, according to my tests the two types of maps sets seem to edge match very well.
FOR THE iPAD
PDF Maps
Thanks to agavelvr I got onto the iPad app named “PDF Maps”. I found that I could import the .pdf files from USFS using iTunes; it took three steps: first import the file into the PDF Maps file sharing window in iTunes under the “apps” tab; second, synch the device; third, import the file into the PDF Maps maps window by clicking of the ‘+' button, click the “From iTunes File Sharing” button and select the file in the “Select a File to Import” box.
This gives you a fully georeferenced map that displays in the PDF Maps app. The display is, as with the Mac, extremely clear and clean and zooms in and out with incredible clarity.
Scrolling the map under the centered cursor gives the lat/lon for any point.
In PDF Maps one can drop a pushpin [called a “Placemark” in PDF Maps-speak] at a point under the centered cursor [including photosites]. These seem to be analogous to marking waypoints. One can search the map for a location by its coordinates. You can also measure straight-line distances [reading out also the bearing from the first point at the center of the screen to the second].
However, I cannot find any way to mark a track or route, nor to import waypoints, tracks or routes from another source [for example as .gpx files].
Nor does the app seem to be able to record a track as one is traveling.
And after a few hours of use I have not found a way to display real-time position on the USFS maps.
Long story short: PDF Maps seems to display the USFS maps very nicely and allows one to determine the position of any point on the georeferenced map. But not much else if you want to do ordinary navigation tasks.
iHikeGPS [from the same Larry James as MacGPSPro]
I tried importing the MacGPSPro-converted .PICT files into iHikeGPS. But it seems that James has limited the importation of map files to the free ordinary raster USGS topos he provides; I can't seem to get any other map files into iHikeGPS. However, you can import data as .gpx files, for example of waypoints, tracks, and routes — just no ‘alien' maps.
I had a good time playing:
It turns out that the USFS offers these maps free for most of the National Forests throughout the US. The general site to access them is: http://fsgeodata.fs.fed.us/rastergateway/states-regions/states.php
The USFS maps appear to be either vector maps or extremely high-resolution raster [bit mapped] maps, which means that they zoom in and out much more smoothly and clearly than the raster topo maps we usually see. In addition, I would guess that some of the very noticeably increased clarity is due to the USFS cartographers using newer-better graphics design techniques. Below is a side-by-side comparison of the two types:
At first I was stymied about what apps(s) would work on my Mac and/or iPad to open and make use of them.
ON THE MACINTOSH
crawler#976 suggested OziExplorer, but this was a non-starter for me as it would have required creating a partition on my hard drive to install something like Parallels and then a copy of a Windows operating system. Too complicated and costly.
Then I remembered that MacGPSPro can open multiple file formats; after a little investigation I found that indeed that app can import the pre-georeferenced USFS maps using the FILE>IMPORT RASTER MAP… command. The USFS site offers the maps in two formats PDF and TIFF. As they describe on the site:
FSTopo or Primary Base Series are 1:24,000 scale topographic maps. They are available in two formats; a Geo-enabled PDF [file#.pdf] file and a GeoTiff. The GeoTiff zip files obtained from the clearinghouse contain the original GeoTIFF in UTM coordinates [file#.tif] and a second file in geographics coordinates [file#_geo.tif]. The geographics files will edge match more readily when creating a mosaic of several maps.
So I downloaded several GeoTiff files. Each comes in its own labled folder. Inside are both the .tif and the _geo.tif file. I imported and saved a copy of the _geo.tif files with MacGPSPro and then they opened and functioned exactly as any other map in that app. I can zoom in and out to levels not possible with ordinary raster maps. I can mark and upload to my GPS: waypoints, tracks, and routes. Likewise I can download all the same from my GPS and display them on the saved USFS maps.
Given that I already have ordinary raster USGS topos for all of the western US, what are the advantages and/or disadvantages of these maps over what I [and perhaps you] already have? For me, the answer is:
The USFS maps are very much clearer to look at than the USGS maps. This is a striking advantage. I can pick out features and follow roads and tracks much more easily.
They are free. [If you don't count the tax dollars sunk into them; if you do, then you are taking full advantage of something you paid for.]
They take a bit of time to import and open in my MacGPSPro app, but you can select a whole set of them and have them import and be stored as a batch in a specified folder. This cuts that time way down.
They only cover to the National Forest boundaries. The USFS stops dead at their forest boundaries, so if you want the maps, for example, for bounding BLM land you have to use conventional maps. However, according to my tests the two types of maps sets seem to edge match very well.
FOR THE iPAD
PDF Maps
Thanks to agavelvr I got onto the iPad app named “PDF Maps”. I found that I could import the .pdf files from USFS using iTunes; it took three steps: first import the file into the PDF Maps file sharing window in iTunes under the “apps” tab; second, synch the device; third, import the file into the PDF Maps maps window by clicking of the ‘+' button, click the “From iTunes File Sharing” button and select the file in the “Select a File to Import” box.
This gives you a fully georeferenced map that displays in the PDF Maps app. The display is, as with the Mac, extremely clear and clean and zooms in and out with incredible clarity.
Scrolling the map under the centered cursor gives the lat/lon for any point.
[I cross checked the readout on the PDF Maps version of USFS maps on the iPad with the MacGPSPro display of USGS maps on the Mac. They could not reasonably be more correlated! Mac: 34.01966, -112.33.766; iPad 34.01972, -112.33760. This amounts to a matter of inches.]
However, I cannot find any way to mark a track or route, nor to import waypoints, tracks or routes from another source [for example as .gpx files].
Nor does the app seem to be able to record a track as one is traveling.
And after a few hours of use I have not found a way to display real-time position on the USFS maps.
[I think — but I cannot be sure — that one's current GPS location is shown inside the state image in the bottom margin after clicking on the GPS icon in the lower left corner of the screen.]
Long story short: PDF Maps seems to display the USFS maps very nicely and allows one to determine the position of any point on the georeferenced map. But not much else if you want to do ordinary navigation tasks.
iHikeGPS [from the same Larry James as MacGPSPro]
I tried importing the MacGPSPro-converted .PICT files into iHikeGPS. But it seems that James has limited the importation of map files to the free ordinary raster USGS topos he provides; I can't seem to get any other map files into iHikeGPS. However, you can import data as .gpx files, for example of waypoints, tracks, and routes — just no ‘alien' maps.
I had a good time playing:
- I found that I can import from the USFS site significantly clearer topo maps for areas within the National Forest areas I like to explore.
- I can use these on my Mac to create and display tracks I want to ride.
- I can display on my iPad these clearer maps, but can't use them to create and review tracks and waypoints.
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