Topo! Interactive Maps on CD-ROM

Topo! is designed to allow you to view and manipulate USGS topographic maps. Included on the CD are the application and all the 7.5 minute maps for the selected region. The region I purchased, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Surrounding Recreational Areas, contains 109 maps. It covers Los Angeles County south of the California Aqueduct, all of Orange County, the southeastern-most corner of Ventura County, the southwest corner of San Bernardino County, the western-most portion of Riverside County and the extreme northwest corner of San Diego County.

When you start Topo! a dialog box is displayed that asks you to choose the region to view. Once you've selected the desired region, the Topo! application opens, displaying an overview of the area selected, the location of the area within the region and the location of the region within the state. The three areas displayed will change as you use the program, always giving you references to the larger areas around the area you have selected. Topo! displays the latitude, longitude and elevation in the status bar as you move around the maps.

A Topo! saved selection with a route overlaid.

The program lets you scroll seamlessly from map to map. All the USGS maps for the region are “tiled” together, giving the appearance in use of one huge map (in fact, all Topo! regions that adjoin one another tile together). You can easily select your area of interest and then zoom in to the desired scale. Once an area of general interest and the desired scale have been chosen, you can establish a specific “selection area” that can be annotated in various ways as well as printed (in color or grayscale) or saved as a graphic in a number of popular file types. Topo! provides tips in the use of a GPS with the maps, but currently does not directly support a connection to a GPS. This feature is in the process of being written at this time and should be available as a 32-bit addition for Windows 95 and NT in the future.

You can also search the entire region you've purchased using a “Gazetteer” which is a list of various features and points of interest depicted on the maps. Topo! includes the following “tools”:

• Magnification - Selects scale
• Centering - Centers a point of interest in the window
• Traveling - Scrolls maps
• Selection - Defines a rectangular selection area
• Symbol - Places annotating symbols on the map
• Text - Places text labels on the map
• Ruler - Measures distances along straight or freehand routes
• Compass - Measures directions and distances along straight routes
• Bookmark - Stores and jumps to stored locations
• Gazetteer - as described above
• File Open - Open a different region or file
• Legend - Opens a reference to USGS symbols displayed on maps
• Help - Open the Topo! help file

One of the features I liked best about Topo! was the ability to define a route. Using a drawing tool, you can trace a route along a map, following roads, trails or any other feature. Topo! calculates the distance along the route created, and you can choose what color its displayed in, as well as which of the various scales of maps on which it will be displayed. Once a route has been created, you can label points along the route, save the information, bookmark it for later use and also create an elevation profile.

A Topo! elevation profile (based on the map above).

The elevation profile for a route is generated based on the scale of map being displayed. It shows a graph of the elevations along the route, distance along the route and total gain or loss in elevation along the route. You can choose points in the elevation profile and the cursor tracks the corresponding points in the route display. At each point Topo! will provide the latitude, longitude, elevation and distance in miles along the route in the profile display and mark the corresponding point in the topographic route display.

While I've found Topo! to be very useful and relatively easy to learn, there are a few things that could stand improving:

• There's no provision for scaling a selected area to the size of the window being used (for example: to display all of a route in the largest possible scale that fits the route), although you can choose to print only the area you've selected.
• The (rather misnamed) ruler (drawing) tool tends to lag your pointer significantly and can therefore make it somewhat difficult to trace a route. Fortunately, it's easy to undo already drawn segments.
• I would also have liked to see the USGS quadrangle name displayed somewhere as you use the maps. As far as I could determine, there was no easy way to see just which map you were on so that you could easily go out and purchase the printed map if desired.
• The current Windows version of Topo! does not support long file names which made naming saved files a bit of a pain.
• A feature to automatically tile and print or save a selection at the largest possible scale would be a great addition.

Topo! is currently available for:

• Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and Surrounding Recreational Areas
• San Diego, San Jacinto Wilderness, and Anza-Borrego Desert Area
• San Francisco Bay Area, Wine Country, and Big Sur
• Sequoia Kings Canyon and Surrounding Wilderness Areas
• Yosemite, Mammoth, and Central Sierra Wilderness Areas
• Lake Tahoe and Surrounding Wilderness and Ski Areas
• Colorado Front Range Cities and Recreational Areas
• Colorado Rocky Mountain Wilderness and Ski Areas
• Seattle, Mount Rainier, and Central Cascades
• Olympic Peninsula, San Juan Islands, and Puget Sound

Available 17 Nov 1997:

• Death Valley, Joshua Tree, and East Mojave Desert
• Boundary Waters, Western Lake Superior, and Twin Cities

I had some trouble finding a place to purchase Topo! after I originally heard about it. Ultimately, I found a copy at REI, at list price. Much to my chagrin, about a month later I spotted it at Fry's at a much lower price.

--Scott Gomez