How to Get FREE Topo Maps

If you're like me, you don't leave home for a trip without a map of the area and a good compass.  I can't help you find your way to getting a cheap or free compass, but there are a bunch of great resources online to get free USGS quads that you can print at home and take with you.

USGS (United States Geological Survey)

The most obvious source of topo maps is the United States Geological Survey.  Most everywhere I go I prefer to take a 7.5 minute map, which is the smallest quadrangle published by the USGS.  The smallest map means it covers the smallest amount of area with the best resolution.  On these 7.5' quads, one mile is represented by 2.64 inches. 

OK, great, but how do you get them?

1.  Follow this link to get to the USGS online topo map site. 
2.  Choose to show the borders for 7.5 and 15 minute quads, and use the search box to narrow in on an area.



Use the search box to narrow down the area

3.  Once you're close, you can put markers on the quads that you want to download.  Click the marker to either download them one at a time, or save them to your "cart" and download all at once. 



Download your topos one at a time or all at once

4.  Once you get the quads you want, save them to your computer.  From there you can print them, mark them up, etc.  The files download as PDF files inside of zip files. 

5.  Note that USGS quads are set up for a goofy page size, so if you want to print them you'll need to use a large format printer or a plotter with a custom page size.  Ensure your paper size settings are set to "100%" or "Actual Size" and not "Scale to Fit" or something like that.  Sometimes what I do is zoom in to the area that I'm interested in, and then print "Current View".  See below, where I've chosen to print the current view at 11"x17" (the largest size my printer will print).  This won't show the whole quad, but it will print the part I'm interested in, and will maintain the scale so I can use my compass and map tools.




Print Carefully to Maintain Proper Scale

6.  That's about it.  If it feels like it leaves something to be desired, that's because it does.  There are a couple of problems with this approach.  First, you can't print the whole quad at a time, unless you have a large format printer.  Second, what if your destination is on the very edge of a quad?  Then you have to manually stitch two maps together, and that can be clunky at best.  What if there were a better solution?  Read on, friends...

CalTopo

Enter CalTopo: the answer to many of the challenges I outlined above.  CalTopo works in much the same way as the USGS site - you pick your map source (including 7.5 minute USGS quads) and search for a destination.  The real magic happens when decide to print, however.  I'll go through in step-by-step below:

1.  From the CalTopo site, ensure that you have selected USGS 7.5 minute quads as the map source (as an aside, play around with the other maps... there's lots of cool stuff you can do here).



Choose your map source as USGS 7.5' Topos

2.  Use the search to find that area that you're interested in mapping.  For my example, I'll use the area around Clingman's Dome.  On the USGS site this would require me to stitch two maps together, since the summit sits just on the edge of two quads.

3.  Once you've focused in on the area, it's time to set up the printout.  Click the print button in the upper right corner, then pick "Geospatial PDF"




Choose "Geospatial PDF"

4.  Now set your Page Size to whatever you want (8.5x11 is standard letter size in the US), Set the Scale to whatever you want (1:24,000 is the example we've been using all day), and then set the orientation (portrait or landscape) to what fits the map area best.  Then, and here's the magic part - drag the red box around (by grabbing the dot in the middle) until it's over the entire area that you want covered by the map.  In the example below I've basically centered it on Clingman's Dome.





Center the red box over the area you want on your map

5.  Now, click "Generate PDF".  It will create your custom map for you.  Note that you can also add multiple pages, UTM grid lines, and all sorts of other neat customizations.  You'll need to use the same print setting (scale "actual size") when you go to print it out, but at least it will be the correct size this time.

That's about it.  One more thing - wondering what that odd symbol is on the map you just created?  All USGS topo maps use the same key, which can be accessed here. 

Happy mapping!

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