Customer Reviews

TOPO! National Geographic USGS Topographic Maps (California)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

UPDATE 1/1/08: I just got a Mac after always previously using Windows. Great news--when I installed this 4.0 software, not only did it work fine, but it also corrected the two most serious objections I previously had with it. I now have no problems importing waypoints from my Garmin GPSmap 60CSx, and the software is now compatible with all the states I own from the previous Version 3 software. I don't know whether this is unique to Mac or whether it now works just as well with Windows, but when I did the installation, it automatically went to the National Geographic web site and downloaded a software update. I still give it 4 stars because of some of the other non-standard user interface choices, but these are easy enough to get used to. I didn't change the rest of the review, so keep this update in mind as you read it.

National Geographic topo maps are great if your understand their strengths and limitations (I have the Nevada version but they all work the same). First, don't expect to import the actual maps into a GPS receiver. These maps are raster-scanned directly from USGS 7.5' topos; GPS receivers use vector-graphic maps that are only available from your receiver's manufacturer (and they are much less detailed than NG maps). But you should never expect your GPS receiver's display to completely replace a paper map anyway. It's too small to show much detail, and if your receiver fails, you'd be out of luck. NOTE: Magellan has just introduced the Triton series, which is the first product designed to import maps from Topo!. This is a great advancement, but I haven't yet evaluated it to see how well it works.

Since these are based on USGS maps, they have the same high quality including tons of detail, but since many USGS maps are more than 10 years old, you won't necessarily get up-to-date information. Since topographic features don't ordinarily change as frequently as man-made features, you're usually OK, but keep this in mind.

These maps allow you do a lot of other things with your GPS. You can create waypoints on the computer, either by placing a marker on the map or by entering in the latitudes and longitudes of your points, then transferring them to the GPS. This is much easier than manually entering the info through your GPS user interface. You can also download tracks from your GPS receiver onto the map to see where you've been. And you can draw intended journeys directly on the map screen, then measure the distance and elevation profile of the route. The elevation profile is a bit noisy, but you get a pretty good idea of how much elevation change you'll experience on a hike. The tool you use to draw the route on the screen could benefit from an improved user interface, but with a little practice you can get pretty good at it. If you make a mistake, hold down the right mouse button to erase the error. One thing I like is that you can print out a custom paper map, and if you print using your inkjet on NG's waterproof paper, you can get a custom color map that really is waterproof. This latest edition is designed to work with USB receivers like the Garmin GPSMap 60-series. This is a tremendous advantage compared to the previous edition. BUT please note that it isn't completely compatible with the new GPSMap60CSx. It doesn't import waypoint names properly, they end up being simple numbers starting at 001. For some reason this isn't a problem with the older GPSMap60Cs.

The main objection I have is that it isn't easily compatible with the previous edition. In my case, I had the prior edition for California, and expected the California CDs to work with the new software. But for some reason they don't. So I have to leave the old edition installed for the California maps and the new one for Nevada maps. Fortunately I can use the USB capability of the Nevada software to download the California waypoints and tracks from my 60CSx. I then have to save the .tpo file, launch the old edition software and pull up the California map, then import the .tpo file. Very inconvenient, but at least there is a way to make it work. I guess they would prefer I buy a new edition of the California maps.

The only other thing to note is that they still haven't completely adopted Windows user interface conventions. For example, there are no scroll bars on the side and bottom of the map to allow you to move the map on your screen. You have to move your cursor to the edge of the map, watch for the cursor to change to an arrow, and hold down the mouse button. The direction of scroll depends on exactly where on the screen your cursor is. Another observation is that there is no EDIT menu, so I can't easily cut and paste data into other applications. But these are relatively small concerns that you can quickly adapt to. All in all this is a very valuable tool that I highly recommend.

I have not used this product extensively but it had proven to be very useful for my needs. I am very pleased with it and only have a couple of comments. It has an excellent search tool and has found almost every location that I have searched on, even some very little and very remote campgrounds. This is what I was mainly interested in as the other software's I have used are very (VERY) limited in this. The only two things that I have noticed is that it does have fixed zoom ratios and the wildlife areas that I am interested in are shaded dark grey when zoomed in which is somewhat maddening. They could have used a lighter grey as it is very hard to see the mapping in these shaded areas. That is the only reason I am dropping my rating down to a 4. This product is very user friendly and I would highly recommend it, so far it has been the best bang for the buck!. Digitizing the trails and creating profiles along with flyovers is as slick and easy as can be. The same goes with plotting GPS points from ASCII onto my TOPO maps or from them.

If you are going to just mark your route on their maps, look at the elevation profile, print it, etc then the product is pretty good.

The problem comes when you realize that the underlying USGS quadrangles are often badly out of date with man-made things, such as trails and park boundaries. There is no support for updating the maps in the style of the original. Still, you can make passable updates -- just invent your own conventions.

You can merge in someone else's updates -- the problem comes if you then get a revised version of those updates. There is no supported way to do the second merge (i.e. replace the first merge with the newer one), or to back out the first merge (i.e. to remove what the first merge put in without also removing any updates you yourself may have added) so that the newer merge can go cleanly.

Overall a decent product. Plain vanilla out-of-the-box stuff works fine. Trying to upgrade the maps to be truly useful for your area can be pretty frustrating, though.

One thing to beware of: National Geographic is trying to migrate folks to their newer product, TOPO!Explorer. Take a look at *that* product's reviews -- it only gets one star (5 reviews).

This is a good program with many useful features. I use it primarily for hiking and backpacking in the Sierra Nevadas. The excellent quality maps that I can print out are perfect to use in conjunction with my GPS receiver. You can't download the topo maps into the GPSr, but that's okay since the GPSr has such a small screen (and I prefer having a paper map in hand when hiking). The program also lets me plot courses along trails and calculate hiking distances. The elevation profile tool has been very handy and there is an option to include the profile at the bottom of a map print out. My only complaint is that the USGS maps used by the program do not have all of the trails that other paper maps include (but then again, I've found a few trails in this program that aren't on some of my other paper maps). I also save waypoints and courses to a ".gpx" file which I can then import into Google Earth to get a better feel for terrain and vegetation. I give it 4/5 Star because it is not perfect (see above complaint) but it is close. Overall, I highly recommend this program for anyone who enjoys hiking in California's mountains.

This program does have some good features - but the interface is awkward and it crashes frequently. Also, the USGS web site provides free downloads of all 1:24,000 quadrangle maps. With a little trim and paste work you can get custom areas and you don't have to spend good money and not good software.

I've been using this software for 3 years. I use it to plan backpacking trips, primarily along the Pacific Crest Trail in California. Overall pretty good and I've found the software very useful. However it is disconcerting when I find inaccuracies in the course of the trail in certain parts of California. Perhaps the course has changed over time. I also don't like the fact that even though I set the software to display the altitude in feet, in certain areas it will only display the altitude in meters. The map did not show the course of the trail in the San Felipe Mountains in Southern California, so a 23 mile segment of a National Scenic Trail was missing. In addition, as others have pointed out, the maps are not able to be downloaded onto your Garmin GPS. As a result, I simply print out the maps on both sides of the paper and take them with me. Other pet peeves: sometimes it's hard to distinguish the dotted lines depicting the trail and say, a jeep road. Sometimes I've found it hard to distinguish between a stream and a topo line at times.
I've noticed on occasion a side trail will be visible at a lower resolution, but when you get down to a higher resolution, the trail disappears. One example of this is the side trail down to the Florence Lake Trail (near the Muir Trail Ranch). As one descends past Sallie Keyes Lake (traveling south on the Pacific Crest Trail) there is a spur trail that switchbacks down to the Florence Lake Trail. One crosses the outlet stream of Sallie Keyes Lake to get to this trail. This is visible a a lower resolution, but disappears by Level 5.

I've only hiked several sections of the Pacific Crest Trail, so there are probably other inaccuracies/quirks. Notwithstanding, the software still is useful. The elevation readings at trail junctions and at stream crossings are surprisingly accurate, or rather consistent with both Google Earth's altitude readings and my own GPS and altimeter watch measurements.

Good product and fairly easy to use. The software allows you create straightforward topo maps at whatever scale you desire. I am an archaeologist and most mapping software is extremely expensive. TOPO! is reasonable priced and produces quality results.

The only reason I did not give 5-stars is because the waypoint labeling information is cumbersome and difficult to edit.

I had high hopes that this software would be very helpful in mapping out weekend hikes. Much to my regret, it falls far short. I can overlook the poor interface. I knew going into this that I could not download the maps to my Garmin. I wanted only to be able to plot out hikes, print out the paper maps, and transfer the route to the Garmin. All this works to a degree, with the map quality limiting the plotting. Unfortunately the quality of the maps falls short of usable. The map data is too small to use until blown up past level 5. At this point it starts getting fuzzy and blurs badly. I guess that I should have realized that a raster map when blown up too far, starts degrading badly.
The worst part was that when I asked for assistance on this problem, I traded a few emails with a support person at the product website, and then when my questions got specific and I supplied him with samples, I no longer heard from him. He just quit replying.
I will be asking for an RMA. Too bad - It sounded like a great product, but did not live up to expectations.

UPDATE: In the end they send me a brand new version (not an update anymore) and it all worked out. I'm still using TOPO. :)

I now have their latest TOPO! 4.5, but cannot use it with my California State series maps. I've been exchanging e-mails with their customer support and they basically just recycle cut and paste's from their web site. At first I took their instructions (often contradictory) seriously and did everything they said, but none of it works. To make sure I tried it on a different computer. No go. The software often hangs up for long time, so anything you try kills a lot of time. I think it is just a very badly written code with no backward compatibility. I'm going to start looking for another product.

TOPO! has the worst user interface ever created. It doesn't follow the standard user interface designed by Apple, Adobe, and Microsoft.
- There's no hand tool to move around the map--rather you have to move your cursor to the edge of the screen and click to push the map around. Hard to control and creates lots of cursor movement
- The tool to draw routes is hard to control