Topo Maps 1.0


Category: Navigation
Price: $3.99 (iTunes)

Description:

Topo Maps is a viewer for USGS topographical maps. These maps cover virtually the whole of the United States at a scale of 1:24,000 and provide detailed contour lines and other information that's especially useful for hikers and other backcountry users. With this app you can now download these maps onto your iPhone or iPod touch for use when you're out or to browse at home. No network connection is needed once the maps have been installed.

The app first shows a satellite image of the United States; when you zoom in the outlines of the individual maps become visible. Touch a map to install it; when installation is complete, touch it again to view the map. Note that to distinguish between touches and pan/zoom gestures it's necessary to touch the map for about half a second.

A "current location" button will use the device's location system (GPS or Skyhook) to show your position on the map, or to indicate which map covers your current position. It's also possible to go to Google Maps' coverage for your currently-viewed area. Topo Maps also integrates with the Panoramascope, another app by the same author, that computes the skyline as seen from any viewpoint.

These maps are scans of paper maps typically at about 250 dots per inch. The quality of the result is generally excellent. To get an idea of what to expect I suggest visiting www.topoquest.com which uses the same data as this app.

Be aware that downloading and installing a map will take around five minutes or more: the downloaded file is a very large image that must be cut up into many smaller "tiles" for use. Once installed, however, operation is significantly faster and smoother than map apps that fetch data as required over the network.

Maps can be downloaded over both WiFi and mobile networks, but reports suggest that WiFi may be more reliable in some cases and we therefore recommend using WiFi when it is available.

As U.S. government publications these maps are in the public domain. This app currently downloads them from archive.org. Nearly all of the approximately 60,000 maps are available but there are a few exceptions. Please get in touch before purchase if there are particular sheets that are vital to you.

This is the first release of this app; we have many ideas for additional features to add to future versions and you may find a few rough edges. If you have ideas or other comments, contact details can be found on the website, http://chezphil.org/topomaps/. The website also has more screenshots and other information.

Please be aware that we often can't even read comments posted in reviews, let alone reply to them.
Topo Maps



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