Uintas Mega Map

Nick

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Aug 9, 2007
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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. :D

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.

Screen Shot 2012-07-14 at 1.36.31 PM.png

A view of the stitching at a 4-way seam. This is only at 33% zoom. :)
Screen Shot 2012-07-14 at 1.45.17 PM.png


Screen Shot 2012-07-14 at 1.33.36 PM.png
 
you need to use mytopo, life would be so much more simple.

how are you going to carry a map like that anyways?
 
you need to use mytopo, life would be so much more simple.

how are you going to carry a map like that anyways?

Printed front and back on 12x18 sheets. Just the sections I need so probably 3 of them. I didn't know MyTopo was a print thing, thought it was just online maps. Better than Nat Geo Topo?
 
mytopo is a print service, yes. it is integrated with Trimble Outdoors webapp - so you build your map, then you can have it custom printed and sent straight to your house.

also, why don't you like TOPO!? you can do exactly what you did right there in about 2 minutes just using their save to disk function. plus draw in your custom routes and such. then, when you print it to multiple sheets, you can just slide your print area over it and print the sections you need.

am i missing something here.
 
Yes, you're missing something. I find layering things in photoshop to be easier than dealing with crappy software.

I signed up for MyTopo today. It took me about as long to bust out the five 11x17's for the highline as it took me to stitch that mega map. Overall it's ok but total pain in the ass to actually figure out what's going to show up on the 11x17 output and the UI is a complete joke. That's my biggest complaint with NG Topo too I guess. I've always had access to large format printers so it would be nice to just be able to set my size ratio and then grab what I want very precisely and also slide the scale up/down as necessary. I'm not interested in paying them to print me a big map and send it, I want to print my own big maps on custom sizes.
 
huh. i've never heard anyone complain about the TOPO! software being a pain. i can't really think of anything easier to use. most people complain that it is TOO simple. not enough options. you can easily pick 11x17 inch pieces off TOPO!, and then print them on a large format printer. i used to do it all the time... very simple.

export them to disk first if you want. i can't imagine stitching them together individually in photoshop could be anything but a tedious task, especially when you can get seamless maps so easily.

i agree about the mytopo stuff, it takes a little while to get used to it, but it's still a bit cumbersome.
 
I would agree, topo is too simple. That's the problem. That and the clunky, buggy UI. I'm not alone, read reviews.
 
it's not perfect, for sure. but for what you are doing here, it does that much well. i'm just telling you instead of cutting tons of tiles of maps and stacking them together in photoshop, you can simply export the seamless map from TOPO! in one step. you can do it with mytopo too (you take the preview file and save it as a pdf, it's free.)

then you can take that into photoshop and manipulate it to your hearts content, and print whatever size you want. all i need my mapping software to do is print custom areas, be seamless, and let me grab a couple of waypoints, and draw tracks. TOPO does that, so does the mytopo app. it's really easy to print custom size content straight from TOPO too. can't do any of that in photoshop, so there must be additional steps somewhere.

ah, anyways, just thinking there's gotta be a more simple way. building seamless maps in photoshop seems pretty brutal.
 
Meh. Usually it involves putting two maps side by side. Sometimes 4 at most. This time with 18 is a first. But you're right, there should be a more simple way. I just don't like the existing options for anything larger than 11x17 which is what I prefer to print on.
 
Boom. Pick the size of your print, pick your map area, print. You can change the scale easily too.

30 seconds. :twothumbs:
 

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Ok. 8 more seconds.
 

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Asshole.

In my defense, my copy quit working about 3 years ago. :mad:

And I still like my PSDs. It's still a buggy and crappy UI.
 
Have you ever tried DeLorme Topo North America? It uses DeLorme maps rather than the USGS maps, and the interface has a learning curve, but now that I've gotten used to it, I prefer the maps to the USGS maps. If you can't let go of the USGS maps, though, you can download those into the software, too.

I use it the same way you describe to print maps for my long trips. It also helps me see elevation profiles, and it lets me map out cross country trips. I'm a Mac guy, too, but DeLorme doesn't have a Mac version, so I run it from inside Virtual Box.
 
I wish Topo had a routing tool like delorme's. Then it would be the bomb!
 
what is a routing tool?
In Delorme, you can pick your staring and ending points and the software will auto route a path between the two points following the trail. You can also route roads, rivers, etc.
 
interesting. can anyone post a screen grab of what the topo maps actually look like?
 
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