Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

GPS topo map downloads

+1
−0

I know the USGS and many others offer free downloadable raster topo maps for almost anywhere.

But what if I want vector maps using GPS coords? I'm new to GIS but I would assume there is a de facto free file format that works well for trail and topo maps for backpacking. What are some places I can download such files for free or for pay? I basically want a file that I can easily print or load into a GPS handheld device. Do libraries of such files exist that are as comprehensive as for example the USGS topo map download library or is there just not that much trail data that has been converted to these formats yet? I know there are many sites and apps that show trails but I want a general solution (like a standard file format) that doesn't rely on proprietary services and their particularities.

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/q/3865. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

0 comment threads

1 answer

+0
−0

Below are some resources for US vector data.

The links do provide gdb format downloads that will drop into a garmin for example.

The format that you are looking for is a shapefile though. Those are the most standardized format for vector data sets but are very clumsy to work with.

http://fsgeodata.fs.fed.us/vector/index.php

http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r5/landmanagement/gis/?cid=STELPRDB5327840

http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/r5/landmanagement/gis

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/3922. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

0 comment threads

Sign up to answer this question »