Free Topographic Maps

[Drew Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Drew]

I thought I might share with other PradoPointers my experiences with digital topographic maps.

1:250k maps of all of Australia are available from Geoscience Australia's website at www.ga.gov.au Click Free Downloads.

The tedious thing is that it can be hard to dig up the right info, and you have to click through a licence agreement for each map.

Thankfully I managed to automate this process and have downloaded all of Australia's 1:250k maps. These maps are the same as the NatMap series you can buy, I'm annoyed I wasted the money buying them now that the same data is freely available on the web. I should mention the licence conditions are that the maps are for private non-commercial use only.

All up there are 514 maps covering all of Australia at 1:250k resolution, all as geo-referenced .ecw files. I have imported them to OziExplorer as .map files and I've converted them all the .ozf for use in OziCE. In total there is 4.5GB of data, so it will fit on a DVD.

If you would like a copy, please let me know and I will PM details, either you send me a blank DVD and a return paid postpack, or I can supply the DVD and postage for a small deposit in my account.

Here's a sample of the maps:



There are other topo maps available free on the web of varying quality, more on those later.

Cheers,

Drew.

[Indy Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Indy]

Well done Drew!

I would love a copy if you could PM me your bank account details and I will let you know my postal address.

Many thanks.

Indy

[kiwiwizz Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close kiwiwizz]

Have been looking for maps lately too.
you will have saved me a lot of time if i can get a copy too.
If you can p.m me bank details and cost i will be more than happy to make a deposit and will send postal address.
Cheers Kiwiwizz

[dirttracker Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dirttracker]

maps

I am interested also. Please PM me and I will send the DVD and return envelope.

[Drew Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Drew]

From PM:

Hi Drew,
Can you just print out each map from the DVD?
Or do you need a gps or something to use the maps.
signed
ToTaLLy ClUeLeSs

The .ecw files are fairly standard image files and they can be read by Irfanview with a free plugin. Irfanview is is a free image viewer worth having.

You can then view, crop, resize and print what you need.

Hope this helps,

Drew.

[Mike Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mike]

Great work Drew. PM sent

[Drew Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Drew]

Wow, fast response everyone! :-)

I need to work out the cost of a quality blank DVD (less than $1) a jewel case ($0.30ish) a post pack (?) and postage(?). Might be $5 to $8 or so. I'll figure these prices out soon and start from there.

I won't be sending any this week - not enough time left.

Drew.

[Drew Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Drew]

DVD List

Ok. Here's the list, so I don't have to check them off in my PM inbox.
**Last updated 15 Feb 2008**

• MTpockets[/*:m:bfefspv4]
• borgy[/*:m:bfefspv4]
• Mike[/*:m:bfefspv4]
• Chippy[/*:m:bfefspv4]
• michaelweare[/*:m:bfefspv4]
• joedan[/*:m:bfefspv4]
• Firey[/*:m:bfefspv4]
• kiwiwizz[/*:m:bfefspv4]
• Indy[/*:m:bfefspv4]
• dirttracker[/*:m:bfefspv4]
• jonny[/*:m:bfefspv4]
• D4D30[/*:m:bfefspv4]
• lc120_man[/*:m:bfefspv4]
• Chuck[/*:m:bfefspv4]
• steve61[/*:m:bfefspv4]
• stephen61[/*:m:bfefspv4]
• StormyKnight[/*:m:bfefspv4]
• Squeaky[/*:m:bfefspv4]
• rvdm1[/*:m:bfefspv4]
• davidb[/*:m:bfefspv4]
• gwatts21[/*:m:bfefspv4]
• spara[/*:m:bfefspv4]
• wayne clark[/*:m:bfefspv4]
• KMKPrado[/*:m:bfefspv4]
• emptyman[/*:m:bfefspv4]
• judas1001[/*:m:bfefspv4]
• D4D-GXL[/*:m:bfefspv4]
• jasonh[/*:m:bfefspv4]

Bold=payment received. Underline=DVD sent.

I had a brain snap and forgot to include those people who have replied in the thread! :roll: ops:

I'll get the job started next Monday (or the weekend if I get time). I'll sus out the prices tomorrow.

Drew.

[Drew Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Drew]

Ok, the process is underway.

I forgot to ask at the Post Office today about the prices, so that will have to wait until Monday. :roll: :lol:

Here's a copy of the info text file from the disk, to give you all a bit of a preview.

Drew - pp.com
Topographic Maps DVD
====================

Geoscience Australia
====================

1:250,000 Topographic Maps of all of Australia. As freely available from Geoscience Australia's website. Similar as can be purchased as Natmap Raster (better in my opinion).

All maps are georeferenced .ecw files, with accompanying OziExplorer .map files. I have also converted all maps to .ozf3 format ready for use in OziExplorerCE.

So far all map calibrations seem to be spot on, difficult to spot fine calibration errors at such a relatively large scale.

NRMA
====

Very handy touring maps.

GPSau
=====

NSW 1:25,000 and 1:50,000 maps as compiled by Festy @ [url]www.gpsaustralia.com[/url] using freely available data from Lands NSW.

--NOTE-- Due to the available data from the Lands NSW GIS server, these maps are somewhat lacking in fine details. Contours, natural features, roads, rivers and such are all there, but there is very little in the way of place names and cadastral (property boundary) data, or cultural features (lookouts, places of interest). I've been working on building better maps from the free data but I haven't the spare time to perfect the process.

--WARNING-- Some of the calibration and map quality may be questionable on these maps. I have found a couple of maps that are wrong so use with care.

OziExplorer
===========

Useful (but not very easy to use) mapping application.

Enjoy,

Drew.

Mick gets the first DVD hot off the press when I see him tomorrow. I might chuck one together for Chippy too.

I will finalise the details on Monday and get in touch with you all.

The DVD only took 7 minutes to burn over 4.5GB of data! :shock: Wow!

Cheers,

Drew.

[Mike Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mike]

I picked up my DVD from Drew on Saturday at the Lithgow meet-up. Always good to put a face to a name. The wide variety of maps work well with OziExplorer so I am happy. Thanks again Drew.

[Drew Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Drew]

Okay - I've sussed out the costs involved in getting these DVDs to everyone including the DVD media, jewel case, postpak and postage. $5 will cover it.

I'll PM everyone with the account details - please reply with your postal address.

Thanks,

Drew.

[MTpockets Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close MTpockets]

Thanks Drew. 8)
Recieved mine in the mail today3/9/07. :wink:

[Paluka126 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Paluka126]

Drew,

What is your address, so as I can send you a post pack with a dvd.

Regards,


Paluka126

[Drew Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Drew]

Ok - things are a bit hectic at the moment, mid semester exams and preparing for a new job, so I'm a bit behind sending a few disks out. The next batch should leave on Friday.

Thanks for your patience,

Drew.

[Indy Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Indy]

Got mine - many thanks again Drew!