- Joined
- Aug 9, 2007
- Messages
- 12,949
When I head out on a trip, I usually download the necessary topos, manually stitch them, then overlay a translucent scale and any other pertinent information I want on it. Yeah, I could use the Nat Geo Topo! software I own but I don't care for it much. Once I've stitched together a few maps, I then take the section(s) I need and print them out on a plotter, 12x18 or something else big and often double-sided.
So for my Uinta Highline trip coming up, I needed a set of maps going from the east end of the trail to the west end. That's a lot of topos! I ended up stitching together 18 full USGS quad maps to make this. The file is nearly 40,000 pixels wide and 13,000 pixels high and is 1.26GB in size! I tried to do this a couple years back and it crashed the computer I was doing on before I even got close. I guess that's what a 3.4Ghz i7 with 16GB RAM and 2GB VRAM can do for you.
I left all the layers separated and named. For me it will be useful for nearly every other Uintas trip I ever take as I'll just save a new copy and crop it down to what I need, print and done. If anyone could use a copy of this behemoth, let me know. Keep in mind, you'll need Photoshop CS5 or later to use this. Or if I give you the half size file at 20k pixels wide, earlier versions will also work.
A view of the stitching at a 4-way seam. This is only at 33% zoom.
So for my Uinta Highline trip coming up, I needed a set of maps going from the east end of the trail to the west end. That's a lot of topos! I ended up stitching together 18 full USGS quad maps to make this. The file is nearly 40,000 pixels wide and 13,000 pixels high and is 1.26GB in size! I tried to do this a couple years back and it crashed the computer I was doing on before I even got close. I guess that's what a 3.4Ghz i7 with 16GB RAM and 2GB VRAM can do for you.
I left all the layers separated and named. For me it will be useful for nearly every other Uintas trip I ever take as I'll just save a new copy and crop it down to what I need, print and done. If anyone could use a copy of this behemoth, let me know. Keep in mind, you'll need Photoshop CS5 or later to use this. Or if I give you the half size file at 20k pixels wide, earlier versions will also work.
A view of the stitching at a 4-way seam. This is only at 33% zoom.