Maps are cool. These maps are Double Plus Extra Cool.

[Colophon]

I am something of a map geek. I can spend hours poring over maps. Occasionally I'll even grab a map and actually go outside and use it too.

Hence I am extra chuffed with Anquet Maps. For an admittedly large sum of money, you can get the whole country on detailed topo maps, and - here's the cool bit - turn them into a 3-D landscape. Check out the screenshots on the link.

In fact, that's not the coolest bit - they now have aerial photo coverage of most of Britain too, so you can drape the photos over the 3-D landscape instead of the map, and "fly" around the whole damn country. It's like having your own private jet They don't seem to have updated the screenshots to reflect this though, but it's mind-bogglingly cool.

Er, that's it.

[Colophon]

Oh - by "the whole country" I obviously meant Britain. The whole of the USA might need quite a bit of disk space at this kind of scale...

[NurseCarmen]

Dammit! You draw me in, show me something fancy, the TAUNT ME FROM ENGLAND!

Gimme a call when they have a Minnesota map.

[Colophon]

Originally Posted by NurseCarmen

Dammit! You draw me in, show me something fancy, the TAUNT ME FROM ENGLAND!

Gimme a call when they have a Minnesota map.

Yeah, but, if I'm not mistaken, USGS maps are FREE to the great American taxpayer. We have to pay for our government maps, despite our taxes having been used to draw the damn things in the first place.

[carnivorousplant]

Originally Posted by Colophon

USGS maps are FREE to the great American taxpayer.

Yeah, but can we turn them into 3-D landscapes?

Dang Brits. Dang Lend-lease destroyers.
Dang BBC America. Dang toad in a hole and all that Brit stuff.

[An Arky]

USGS maps aren't free, that I know of. I've bought quads at USGS HQ for about 3 USD. Pretty reasonable, though.

TOPO! makes the 3D digital topos for each state in the US, but at 100 USD a pop, I'm not likely to indulge. But I'm the opposite of an early adopter, I'm the guy who waits till it's at the point-of-purchase display for a buck...

[mack]

Hey, if you want to have a real 3D mapping hootenanny and have broadband go to Keyhole.com and download their demo. It's incredible.

[picunurse]

Originally Posted by Colophon

I am something of a map geek. I can spend hours poring over maps. Occasionally I'll even grab a map and actually go outside and use it too.

Hence I am extra chuffed with Anquet Maps. For an admittedly large sum of money, you can get the whole country on detailed topo maps, and - here's the cool bit - turn them into a 3-D landscape. Check out the screenshots on the link.

In fact, that's not the coolest bit - they now have aerial photo coverage of most of Britain too, so you can drape the photos over the 3-D landscape instead of the map, and "fly" around the whole damn country. It's like having your own private jet They don't seem to have updated the screenshots to reflect this though, but it's mind-bogglingly cool.

Er, that's it.

We have a topo of the bottom of Lake Washington on the ceiling in my glass studio.

[Zebra]

Excellent.

This should make my invasion of England exceedingly easy.

Thank you and have a nice day.

[Colophon]

Originally Posted by Zebra

Excellent.

This should make my invasion of England exceedingly easy.

Thank you and have a nice day.

Well, I for one welcome our stripey equine overlords.

[Kymodoce]

Speaking as one who has the whole Anquet map collection on my work PC, I would just like to say... ha!

I shan't be letting Zebras buy it off me, but I welcome bids from..oh...mutant mice for instance .

[ioioio]

Originally Posted by Zebra

This should make my invasion of England exceedingly easy.

Not as easy as you might think. Your invading hordes could easily be felled by the flu, having been unable to get their flu shots this year.
It's all a big Limey plot.
Best friends indeed.

[Omphaloskeptic]

I have the National Geographic TOPO! US series (1:100000 scale, covering the whole US, on 17 CDs), which is pretty nice but not quite detailed enough for hiking. I wish their 1:24000 series weren't so expensive.

Can anyone recommend other mapping programs for US topo maps? DeLorme has a version (Topo USA) that does the 3d projections, but I don't know what map scale comes on the CD.

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

I get to help make maps every day.
I work for the Tennessee Department of Transportation.




I hear your teeth grinding in envy, as I type.

[Celyn]

Originally Posted by Zebra

Excellent.

This should make my invasion of England exceedingly easy.

Thank you and have a nice day.

Nah - there was always a cunning plan to get round that - merely turn the road signposts round the wrong way.

ANyway - they'd make Zebras lie down on busy streets and be walked upon.

[Shirley Ujest]

Originally Posted by laina_f

Not as easy as you might think. Your invading hordes could easily be felled by the flu, having been unable to get their flu shots this year.
It's all a big Limey plot.
Best friends indeed.

Flu shot shortage on account of some limey plot? M16 been a little busy, huh?

Well, we shall fight fire with fire......:::loading trebuchet::::Sending over TACO BELL and Pauly Shore!



HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! Take That Tony Blair!

[Danalan]

NASA's World Wind system looks pretty cool.

[Colophon]

I ordered another chunk of maps and they arrived yesterday. Very cool. The Virtual Landscape thing works really well - you can find pictures taken in the hills on Google Images and work out exactly where they were taken by setting the viewpoint on the ground and moving around. They match incredibly well.

[Tripler]

Hey An Arky, the US Forest Service publishes awesome maps for about $4.00 a pop. I left mine at work, but there better'n the USGS topo maps. They update 'em about every couple of years or so, and have BLM and Nat'l Forest land colored so you can tell the difference.

I don't know if they have any for Minnesota, but I'll check on the way back from work today.

Tripler
Trust me, for $4.00, they're an absolute steal!

[Colophon]

Originally Posted by An Arky

USGS maps aren't free, that I know of. I've bought quads at USGS HQ for about 3 USD. Pretty reasonable, though.

Hmm, maybe I had it wrong, but I thought that the actual map information was free, even if you have to pay for the printed map (which is fair enough). Here in the UK, though, the Ordnace Survey (who make the maps) jump exceedingly hard and fast on any perceived copyright violation. Even people who post hand-drawn sketch maps on their websites get asked (firmly) to take them down if the OS believes that they were based on their maps.

Of course, there are ways to get round this... either by basing your maps on maps older than 50 years, which are out of copyright, or, if you're really hardcore, walking the paths and roads with a GPS unit and using the tracklogs to create your map...

[Zebra]

But seriously, couldn't I practice low level bombing runs using this?

Let us imagine that I'm the King of Belgium. I don't have any spy satellites. But with this, I can have my air force train to attack GB. I can work out where to drop my Paratroopers and what key positions (hilltops, bridges, roads etc) they must take and hold. And all the terrain information would be most helpful.

If I was the King of Denmark, you would all so be my bitches.

I think I've played either too much or too little Diplomacy.

[Tansu]

I have Memory Map http://www.memory-map.co.uk/ which is similar.

I wish that aerial photography were available for Scotland. It was supposed to be finished a year or so ago, but no such luck.

[Colophon]

Originally Posted by Zebra

But seriously, couldn't I practice low level bombing runs using this?

Ah yes, but Her Majesty's Government are clever than that - they leave some bits off the maps... Fortunately, people like this guy have realised that the aerial photography shows up all the bits that the maps don't want you to know about (Interesting page linked above)

[Edward The Head]

Originally Posted by Colophon

Hmm, maybe I had it wrong, but I thought that the actual map information was free, even if you have to pay for the printed map (which is fair enough). Here in the UK, though, the Ordnace Survey (who make the maps) jump exceedingly hard and fast on any perceived copyright violation. Even people who post hand-drawn sketch maps on their websites get asked (firmly) to take them down if the OS believes that they were based on their maps.

You're right, all information the US gov produces, maps, charts, quads, you pay for the printing basically. You could if you really wanted to, and people do, buy a map, put a company name on them and print them again and charge more for them.

I used to work for NOAA making the nautical charts and would see this from time to time. The funny thing is that they would use older charts and then include a disclaimer saying the charts might not be 100% accurate. I now work for the FAA and people do the same thing.

[Balle_M]

Originally Posted by Shirley Ujest

Flu shot shortage on account of some limey plot? M16 been a little busy, huh?

Well, we shall fight fire with fire......:::loading trebuchet::::Sending over TACO BELL and Pauly Shore!

OK...I have no problem with carpet bombing hospitals and orphanages, poisoning drinking water, or using weapons-grade anthrax on unsuspecting civilian areas but using Pauley Shore is just wrong.

[Balle_M]

And spelled incorrectly...

[carnivorousplant]

Originally Posted by Edward The Head

..older charts ... disclaimer saying the charts might not be 100% accurate. ... FAA .... do the same thing.

Wait a minute.
Are you saying that if RADAR beacons and GPS fail, the guy driving the airplane I'm on is looking out the window with a map that says it may not be accurate?

[Ravenman]

I have a map somewhere around my desk here of Kabul, Afghanistan, printed by NIMA -- those spooks who work for the military and know a lot about maps.

The cool thing about it is that it is printed so that if you put on your red-and-green 3-D glasses, suddenly Kabul jumps out at you. It's very neat. Apparently Special Forces find them quite useful.

[carnivorousplant]

Originally Posted by Ravenman

Apparently Special Forces find them quite useful.

What, they look for a teeny little Osama with magnifying glasses and tweezers?

[Edward The Head]

Originally Posted by carnivorousplant

Wait a minute.
Are you saying that if RADAR beacons and GPS fail, the guy driving the airplane I'm on is looking out the window with a map that says it may not be accurate?

Basically yes. Though I don't know for sure what the flight charts say as I've never seen one. I have seen the nautical charts and it was pretty funny to see stuff that I had worked on except for it was 10 years old and done by hand. So you should be ok on a plane, just don't get on a boat!