Oregon Hikers

I was more curious about stand-alone software that doesn't require an internet connect. Don't always have service where I'm at

The developer behind CalTopo is Matt Jacobs. If you want to peek behind the curtain, check out his blog: http://caltopo.blogspot.com/

The USGS made high resolution scans of all their paper topos. Matt obtained copies of those scans for the most recently published 'traditional' quads. He then wrote code and did a pile of work to process those scans into 'tiles'. Those tiles are hosted on Amazon's cloud.

Matt invited me to display his tiles in Gmap4. However, to be consistent with my naming convention Gmap4 does not call those tiles 'CalTopo'. Instead, Gmap4 calls them "t4 Topo High".

Hillmap and a few other sites are also displaying Matt's tiles.

I heard via a pm from the USGS that the feds hope next year to make these hi-res scans available via a WMS (Web Mapping Service).

Also, for you NG TOPO! users, please note that you can display your TPO files (and GPX, KML, KMZ, Google MyPlaces) with Gmap4. Here is the recipe:
1. Put your file online - almost anywhere will work.
2. Get the http (or https) link to your file
3. Paste that link over the underline:
http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?t=t4&q=_____________________
4. Paste the completed Gmap4 link into a browser bar and hit enter.

Gmap4 will start and display your data file on the hi-res tiles that Matt made.

Joseph, the Gmap4 guy

updated list to add the most excellent http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4_usfs_maps.html

see first post for complete list.

Is it too late to add to this awesome thread?

I needed topo maps and trails outside of Oregon for my Garmin GPS and found free ones available here:
http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/index.php

Just search for a state and find what you are looking for. Note that some of the options that come up require a fee, but there are many free options.

Brad, its never too late to add to this thread.

Ive seen gpsfiledepot, but most of the content is for a fee, and the few free ones didnt seem of value. I only found 7 random files for Oregon within the "trails" filter. http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/state/or and they linked to external websites anyways.
I'm skeptical.

I've found great free stuff on gpsfiledepot twice. in 2011 I download a topo trails map for the whole of the UK & last year I did the same before my trip to Colorado. Both are great mapsets.

Yeah, we're spoiled rotten here with switchbacks.com! For non-PNW areas, gpsfiledepot can be a good place to look.

sounds good then. I will add both those sites to the list (will be a couple days...)

switchbacks.com is really good at having accurate location of trails.

The good old USGS topo maps often have trails where there were a long time ago, but over time, they gradually get moved around/closed/new ones opened...

retired jerry wrote:switchbacks.com is really good at having accurate location of trails.

Only because people send in updates! He's told me that much of what's local to our area here is still govt-sourced, because he doesn't seem to attract too many contributors from around these parts. I've sent a few tracks, and always try to evaluate new tracks to see if they could lend some more accuracy to the base.