# Contour maps **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 9, 2002, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contour-maps/107992 "2002-05-09T01:07:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dono](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e0b2c6/32.png) [@dono](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dono)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2002, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contour-maps/107992/21 "2002-05-17T13:31:21Z")
**Miss Gretchen** , I second **Ringo** that familiarity with ESRI products, such as ARCView, will be of benefit to you. Especially if you were ever to find yourself looking for a government job. And alond those lines, another hint: learn Visual BASIC. If I’m reading the tea leaves from ESRI correctly, their proprietary language, Avenue, will eventually go away completely and everything will be done with VB. \ All that time learning Avenue, shot to Hell. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2002, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contour-maps/107992/22 "2002-05-17T14:23:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dono \* > \*\ ***Miss Gretchen** , I second **Ringo** that familiarity with ESRI products, such as ARCView, will be of benefit to you. Especially if you were ever to find yourself looking for a government job. > > And alond those lines, another hint: learn Visual BASIC. If I’m reading the tea leaves from ESRI correctly, their proprietary language, Avenue, will eventually go away completely and everything will be done with VB. > > \ All that time learning Avenue, shot to Hell. \*\* Yep, ESRI is the way to go. And say goodbye to Avenue. VB is the way to customize new ESRI products. But, I have also heard that JAVA may be on the way. It would be nice to be able to use a new programming language for more than a couple applications before I have to learn another one.:mad: ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2002, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contour-maps/107992/23 "2002-05-17T14:45:34Z")
Cartophile checking in… I dont make topo maps, and don’t use them to often (except aero charts when flying), but I love to look at them. Any map. I like Delorme’s gazeteers also (which I gues are topo maps of a sort) I do however work for a GISish company that mosty ties utility companies data with thier maps (often from ESRI). So I deal with maps on a daily basis, which is kinda cool. Brian ---
**Author:** ![OldBroad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@OldBroad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldBroad)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2002, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contour-maps/107992/24 "2002-05-17T15:08:15Z")
I love maps! ---
**Author:** ![Phobos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Phobos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phobos)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2002, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contour-maps/107992/25 "2002-05-17T17:02:58Z")
As an environmental engineer, I frequently use contour maps (topographic, groundwater contamination plumes, etc.) As others said, ArcView GIS is becoming a standard tool for visually representing a database of information. ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2002, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contour-maps/107992/26 "2002-05-17T21:01:31Z")
Look at all the CartoDopers! Yay! I love maps…I’ve had a National Geographic membership since I was 2. After a breif flirtation with one of Geography’s sister disciplines (Astronomy), I switched majors and learned all about the wonderful world of GIS. I’ve never actually had occasion to make a topo map (or any isoline map for that matter) professionally, but I make lots of basic cartography for our firm…with NGS-style shading when I can get away with it. And I do pore over the occasional topomap that strays into my hands…I have one of Big Bend hanging in my “Map Room” (an unused bedroom cavewoman and I converted into a computer room/study). That said, I’ve always wanted to learn orienteering, if only for the opportunity to really use a topomap… ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contour-maps/107992/27 "2002-05-18T03:34:04Z")
My primary software app is Seismic Micro Technology’s Kingdom Suite, which you’re not likely to use unless you’re in my corner of the mapping world. But possibly of more general interest, I use Golden Software’s Surfer for surface mapping, pretty 3D pictures and, significantly, data manipulation. While a powerful program, it takes me back to DOS days because you cannot directly edit a contour map - you have to go all the way back to the input data set to make changes. And then run through several steps to see if you got to where you’re going. It is my digitizing package. DesignCAD is my other true global coordinates data manipulator - a hell of a lot cheaper than AutoCad, and it lets me manipulate \*.dxf and \*.dwg files. For final output that needs additions for illustrative purposes, CorelDRAW beats the heck out of CAD, but it cannot handle true global coordinates. But it easily outdistances the CAD programs for illustrative capabilities and ease of use. And, I’ve found that with a little practice, I can reacquire true global cordinates in Surfer. Another that y’all might find useful is Seissoft’s shareware Coordinate Conversion. Its help files will teach you most of what you’ll ever need to know about global projections. John Banta deserves a kudo for that one. And, of course, you’ve got all the wonderful cartographic, hydrographic, cultural and digital elevation data downloadable from the USGS EROS Data Center. You need to get comfy with things like sdts2dxf.exe to use the data, but my word(!), there _is_ a gold mine there. I’m just not up to plugging in all the links, as I usually do. If any of you want 'em, let me know in this thread; I can probabaly supply a link to any of the above. All of that being said, let me reiterate that I _still_ use a _lot_ of pencils, colored and otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![dono](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e0b2c6/32.png) [@dono](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dono)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contour-maps/107992/28 "2002-05-18T13:21:25Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by enipla_ > I have also heard that JAVA may be on the way Cool - I’m currently learing Java, too. No sense having all your eggs in one basket. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contour-maps/107992/29 "2002-05-18T14:14:11Z")
Contour maps? No. But I do use very large scale street maps to plan and design CATV systems (1"=100’ when plotted from either AutoCAD or Microstation). We’re doing some preliminary work right now, the ultimate goal of which is to combine all of a particular client’s independent grids onto a single reference plane (NAD 83). We’re starting with the state of Michigan and possibly expanding it nationwide. This is essential to linking their myriad stand-alone cable systems with fiberoptics. I’m also a member of [Imagin](http://www.imagin.org/) Here’s a kinda fun little mapping thing to play with: [http://nationalatlas.gov/help1.html](http://nationalatlas.gov/help1.html) [http://nationalatlas.gov/natlas/natlasstart.asp](http://nationalatlas.gov/natlas/natlasstart.asp) And a pretty good on-line topo resource: > **[Free USGS Topographic Maps Online - Topo Zone](https://www.topozone.com/)** > > FREE topographic maps online 24/7. View all of our high-quality shaded relief USGS topo maps, Forest Service maps, satellite images, and custom map layers for free. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contour-maps/107992/30 "2002-05-18T14:22:16Z")
> [@](#): > > Now, let’s find the creeks from the aerial photos. Oh yeah, aerial images. Anybody else use the MrSid viewer from [www.lizardtech.com](http://www.lizardtech.com) ? You can view some samples here: [http://cs.lizardtech.com/](http://cs.lizardtech.com/) ---
**Author:** ![dono](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e0b2c6/32.png) [@dono](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dono)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contour-maps/107992/31 "2002-05-18T21:04:20Z")
Some of our offices are using MrSid but it’s not Bureau-standard - _yet_. It’s compatible with ESRI products. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2002, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contour-maps/107992/32 "2002-05-20T15:21:28Z")
I mine for data with OpenExplorer sitting on top of ARCView. My horizons in time I’ll map with SeisWorks and then depth convert and move to StratWorks for quick maps to refine picks. Usually I’ll do the intense mapping in ZMap+ because of it’s more robust algorithms and the macros. Obviously, we’re in large part a Landmark shop. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contour-maps/107992.md?page=1)