topo maps

[snowymtn]

I do not have GPS, but would like to view topo maps. does anyone have recommendations on software? Has anyone tried the National Geographic Topo Synch?

http://maps.nationalgeographic.com/topo/sync.cfm

[ClieTT]

http://www.maptech.com/

They have demo versions that you can try. $99 Outdoor Navigator for 1 yr. unlimited download doesn't seem too bad.

[exiii]

Before you spend ANY money, check with your state to see if they are available for free.

Utah is very proactive about making this stuff available for free. I can find nearly every Utah topo map and/or aerial photo (as either a jpg or a tiff) at this web site (http://nrwrt1.nr.state.ut.us/quads/). from there, it's just a matter of cropping and exporting an image of the area I need.

Utah also has links to hundreds of other map types at maps.utah.gov.

For the rest of the country and much of the world, I go to www.geocomm.com, where topos and air photos are available for cheap (starting at 150MB worth of downloads for ~$25)

I also just found a bunch of handheld mapping software on the site at http://software.geocomm.com/handheld/.

Cool stuff.

[oneeyesquare]

Spent the last coupla hours dinking around with Maptech.
*Pros: Support for Bluetooth GPS, lots of maps
* Cons: Low res, 320x320, no way to zoom on the handheld (accomplished webside before download)
Also I had 3 downloads hang on me. Kinda of a pain when you're 30 secs off of a 9 min download. Speeds coming out seemd slow too. Could be my desktop.
Delorme is blurbing a new Hires xmap version. Not out yet, but I'm curious...http://www.delorme.com/professional/xmaphandheld/

[snowymtn]

thanks for the input! perhaps will wait for the hires, its already hard enough to view a map the size of a credit card......