Topographic Maps Free Online
From LoveToKnow Online
Finding topographic maps free online is almost as easy as finding regular road maps. Most sites offer simple maps with streets, roads or other landmarks, but if you need a topographic map, you may need to visit some of the following websites.
What is a Topographic Map?
A topographic map is a map that showcases land features and surface anomalies or recognizable marks. Some things you can find on topographic maps free online are volcanoes and earthquake fault lines, mountain ranges and deserts. Some maps, depending on what country area of the world you look at will also map vegetation and farm land.
Where to Find Topographic Maps Free Online
TopoQuest
At TopoQuest you can find topographic maps of the United States and some from Canada. When TopoZone was purchased by Trails.com, the free maps of TopoZone were replaced by a paid membership. TopoQuest fills that gap now by providing detailed topographics. If you previously downloaded a map with TopoZone, you received a link to return to the map; TopoQuest now converts those maps to TopoQuest.
Within the maps you can view on this website, you can see the map name as listed in the United States Geological Society database as well as the latitude and longitude. As you zoom the map into specific areas, you can also see a listing of buildings in the area. Clicking on the name of the building will give you further information like what kind it is (a church, for example), the elevation and county it sits in.
TopoQuest has a very intuitive interface and you can either select a detailed map to your specifications or let the program automatically find the map for you as you select location areas.
Google Maps
If you wish to use a site that may be familiar to you, try Google Maps. After getting to the website, you see a regular roadmap. Click on “Terrain” in the upper right corner of the map and a topographic view will appear. Double-click on an area you wish to explore and continue to do so until you get as close as you can, which will give you streets, rivers and other basic information about the area. While not as detailed as TopoQuest, you can get a sense of elevation and what type of terrain is located in a particular area. Like most of the Google Maps, you can add objects as you go like gas stations, businesses and even addresses. Also, you are able to view topographic maps free online for the entire globe.
It’s possible you already have Google Earth downloaded and installed on your computer. If so, then you can download an additional application to add topographic maps to Google Earth. Go to Digital Data Services, Inc to download the application. The program works in conjunction with Google Earth by providing you a link to download a topographic map with data from the United States Geographical Society.
TerraServer
For an intuitive website, try Terraserver. Initially, the site looks bare, but you click on areas of the map you want to investigate. For interesting topographic maps, delve into the “Famous Places” portion of the website by clicking on the link at the top of the screen. The server is new and as of this writing, only the United States is available. You can select views all the way down to areas about 200 feet wide. And since they are actual satellite photographs, you can see exactly what terrain is there. Elevation is a little harder to determine, but the basic terrain is available.
Terraserver allows you to download or email the picture or send it directly to your printer. Selecting "Info" breaks the image into sections to give you exact longitude and latitude coordinates as well as elevation information. If you get to an elevation that you like, then you can order a photo from Terraserver.
Online topographic maps offer a multitude of options for all of your mapping needs.
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This page has been accessed 506 times. This page was last modified 07:05, 30 July 2009.
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