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TopoZone Landscapes the Internet

Site offers topographical maps of the entire U.S.--for free.

By Chris Yurko, PCWorld   

TopoZone, a new Web site from Maps a la Carte, presents searchable topographical maps of the entire United States. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, TopoZone's offering could be the first time that seamless topography maps of the entire country have ever been available anywhere--online or off.

"We're not aware of any other seamless presentations," says USGS specialist Beth Duff. "I am aware that there are others in the works."

Typical users of such maps, which show landscape and elevation with colors and contour lines, are outdoor enthusiasts, says Bill Everett, president and chief executive officer of Maps a la Carte. "Hikers, fishermen, snowmobilers, mountain bikers--anybody who cares what the topography is," he adds. "Not only do they have an interest, but they have a need to know."

The maps are searchable by longitude and latitude, or by keywords such as the location or specific point of interest, "Bismark, North Dakota" or "Mount Washington," for example. Maps can be viewed at four different magnifications: 1:25,000; 1:50,000; 1:100,000; 1:200,000.

Potholes in Printing

Viewing the maps doesn't cost anything, but printing them can be a problem. Everett admits the resolution is not great, because pages print from a Web browser.

Within two months, the company will offer a software package called TopoView that will let users print and annotate high-quality topography maps through TopoZone. TopoView will be sold for about $50.

"Traditionally, map vendors have bundled the software and data together," Everett says. "Our model is to separate the data from the value-added component."

Maps a la Carte purchases its data directly from the U.S. Geological Survey, which sells it in 7.5-minute quadrangles, about 20-square-mile segments, that are pieced together into one seamless unit. The TopoZone database is large, about 600GB.

"It's expensive to acquire and expensive to maintain," says Everett.

"Topography mapping presents different problems than street mapping," he continues. "It's a much more complex data management problem. But it doesn't change as often as street maps."