National Geographic Map Software

“I finally get to do something fun that has to do with our wedding. I finally talked my fiance into letting me register with REI.

I was looking at the Nat. Geographic map software and was wondering if anyone's used it. I'm just wondering because I bought some mapping software a few years ago and couldn't really get the hang of how to use it, plus it didn't have trails on it. I'm assuming the National Geographic software does have trails?”

“Yeah, depending on which of the National Geographic Topo! software you get.

You can get whole states... you can get some national parks.

I really like it, however, have had broken CD/DVD players forever, so haven't used it lately.”

“I think I'm gonna ask for the tn/ky and nc/sc sets. That's where I hike most and we're planning to move to nc in 2 years.

this is fun. im looking at gps now.”

“The National Geographic software has whatever information is on the most current USGS maps. I have the software for the Northeast and not all of the trails or on it, and it also shows trails that no longer exist. This is because the USGS maps never updated the trail data the last time they made their maps in some areas.”

“"Sierra Trading Post" has a few select Topo CDs on sale. Some of the National Parks and other areas. A good chance to try them out for a low price.”

“The old trails and roads can be fun.

I have the Badlands Park map. Shows old farm roads in the Sage Creek Wilderness. Just mark a point or points on these, get GPS coordinates from the map/software, go there with your GPS and hike the former roads to old, long gone homesteads. fun!

There's also a grave marked. I asked the rangers at the park and got more info on it. A baby died. The grave area has been kept up by Scouts. So you can hike to it. Ya don't find that on the park's map today!”

“I bought DeLorme's TOPO USA 5.0 for the western U.S. It's great and cost 49.95. Has lots of neat features too like 3D mapping.”

“I use the topo software for my GPS..it can be pretty cool with you are in the middle of nowhere.”

“I use the National Geographic TOPO software a lot. All of the hiking topographical maps on my website (http://www.pahikes.com) are made with the National Geographic software. As lumberzac mentioned, the trails marked on these maps are what you will see on the USGS paper maps. What I found out is that some of the current trails will follow these old trails, especially on flat areas such as valleys and ridgetops. However, since most of these older trails will typically go straight up or down the side of a mountain, the trails that exist today have been rerouted to minimize environmental impact.

Typically whay I'll do is take my GPS on a hike and then when I get back, I'll connect it to my PC and download the data into the NG TOPO program. Or, as lizs mentions, you can pick waypoints and draw routes in the software and then send the data to your GPS unit. The latest version of TOPO supports almost all GPS units including the newer USB types.

My suggestion to you: if you are going to by the TOPO software then you'll definitely need the GPS to go along with it.”

“I have the National Parks Topo software from NG and it works great. Used it to plan my Rocky Mountain trip last summer. Plus you can do elevation profiles. Also I think you can get map paper and print off water/tear proof maps on your printer to take with you on hikes.

So how do you guy/gals transfer you NG maps to your Garmin GPS?”

“Another trick with TOPO is to export maps to use as overlays with Google Earth for areas of the country with low-res satellite imagery (like the Southern Sierras?!) so you can follow elevations and conveniently "fly" your routes (which helps for the Mac version of TOPO).”

“Here's a link to what's available;

http://www.sierratradingpost.com/eui/Controller.aspx?N=0&Ntk=All&Ntt=Topo%20Map&Nty=1&D=Topo%20Map&Ntx=mode+matchallany&track=true&sid=10A8EF402DC7

As I said, a cheap way to find out.”

“I love the National Geographic Topo Software for mapping out my hiking and backpacking trips - I also have the De Lorme Topo USA and I don't much like that for hiking.”

“I do a lot of xcountry hiking and I like to hike in the snow and the GPS waypoints I get off the National Geographic software are right on target.”