Santa has delivered a new topo map to the server, just in time for Christmas!
When looking at the current lineup on boydsmaps.com, I decided it really needed a new traditional-style topo map. My original idea was just to do a "light" version of the 2020 dark topo and that would have been a pretty straightforward one-week project (just changing colors and styles). But the more I thought about it, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to go beyond that and do a project I've been thinking about for a long time - a new topo map that adheres closely to the classic USGS 24k topo style. Figured that might take two or three weeks. I ended up spending about 4 months!
It really turned into a huge project, Globalmapper just can't create some of the feature styles used in the classic topos. Ended up writing my own software to make that happen. Another thing I wanted to do was distinguish the unpaved roads on the USGS topo maps from the other roads Ive traced from various sources. That became the biggest challenge and took nearly two months, resulting in re-tracing half or more of the roads from the old topos and discarding a lot of my old ones that just didn't make the cut.
Anyway, this could have gone on forever, but I had to wrap it up - so here it is. As with all my projects, there are plenty of errors and omissions but they'll have to wait for a another day.
If you'd like to compare the new topo with the original USGS map, use Map Sync at level 15 zoom. Notice that I've also included the same spot elevations shown on the original 24k topo maps, but I used the LIDAR elevation data so there are some differences.
https://boydsmaps.com/sync/#15/39.762997/-74.456453/pines2023/0/0/legacy24k/15/0/0
For a data-rich experience, use the PinesXT app:
https://boydsmaps.com/pines/#17/39.750757/-74.584458/pines2023/0/0/
I've used a purple(ish) color for roads and trails that aren't on the 24k USGS topo - this is the color that the USGS used for map revisions. So, in this example, you can see that "Bulldozed Road" is not on the original 24k topo. The thin purple dashed lines are "trails" that weren't on the original topos. I've tried to be thorough about this, but am sure there will be errors, so caveat emptor. But since there's this concept of only allowing vehicle use on roads from the original topos, you may find this interesting.
https://boydsmaps.com/#17.00/39.736174/-74.643744/pines2023/0.00/0.00
I used current high-resolution LIDAR data to generate the contour lines - that turned into a bigger challenge than expected. It's hard to get something that looks like a contour line from that data - I tried this on my old 2017 topo and was never happy with it. This data has been massaged a lot and still has some oddities, but I'm pretty happy with it.
https://boydsmaps.com/#17.00/39.847700/-74.289300/pines2023/0.00/0.00
One other note, unlike my other maps where I used green shading to designate public land, I've used the same style as the traditional 24k topos - boundary lines. These can be rather confusing - just like they are on the original 24k maps. This also was a big project that took a couple weeks because there really isn't any boundary data in the appropriate format to create this kind of feature. Would be better if I labelled the lines, but that was just too big a project for now. You can use the sync app to help identify the boundaries.
https://boydsmaps.com/pines/#16/39.604654/-74.565783/pines2023/0/0/
There's plenty more to discuss, but I've been glued to the screen all day finishing this up and need a break, so I'll just leave things here for now. I also have a couple "stocking stuffers" - maps that were re-processed from older NJGIN aerials. Will try to put those online soon, probably tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy - and Merry Christmas!
(Sorry - as usual, these changes may cause some issues accessing the site. Clear your cache if you have problems.)
When looking at the current lineup on boydsmaps.com, I decided it really needed a new traditional-style topo map. My original idea was just to do a "light" version of the 2020 dark topo and that would have been a pretty straightforward one-week project (just changing colors and styles). But the more I thought about it, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to go beyond that and do a project I've been thinking about for a long time - a new topo map that adheres closely to the classic USGS 24k topo style. Figured that might take two or three weeks. I ended up spending about 4 months!
It really turned into a huge project, Globalmapper just can't create some of the feature styles used in the classic topos. Ended up writing my own software to make that happen. Another thing I wanted to do was distinguish the unpaved roads on the USGS topo maps from the other roads Ive traced from various sources. That became the biggest challenge and took nearly two months, resulting in re-tracing half or more of the roads from the old topos and discarding a lot of my old ones that just didn't make the cut.
Anyway, this could have gone on forever, but I had to wrap it up - so here it is. As with all my projects, there are plenty of errors and omissions but they'll have to wait for a another day.
If you'd like to compare the new topo with the original USGS map, use Map Sync at level 15 zoom. Notice that I've also included the same spot elevations shown on the original 24k topo maps, but I used the LIDAR elevation data so there are some differences.
https://boydsmaps.com/sync/#15/39.762997/-74.456453/pines2023/0/0/legacy24k/15/0/0
For a data-rich experience, use the PinesXT app:
https://boydsmaps.com/pines/#17/39.750757/-74.584458/pines2023/0/0/
I've used a purple(ish) color for roads and trails that aren't on the 24k USGS topo - this is the color that the USGS used for map revisions. So, in this example, you can see that "Bulldozed Road" is not on the original 24k topo. The thin purple dashed lines are "trails" that weren't on the original topos. I've tried to be thorough about this, but am sure there will be errors, so caveat emptor. But since there's this concept of only allowing vehicle use on roads from the original topos, you may find this interesting.
https://boydsmaps.com/#17.00/39.736174/-74.643744/pines2023/0.00/0.00
I used current high-resolution LIDAR data to generate the contour lines - that turned into a bigger challenge than expected. It's hard to get something that looks like a contour line from that data - I tried this on my old 2017 topo and was never happy with it. This data has been massaged a lot and still has some oddities, but I'm pretty happy with it.
https://boydsmaps.com/#17.00/39.847700/-74.289300/pines2023/0.00/0.00
One other note, unlike my other maps where I used green shading to designate public land, I've used the same style as the traditional 24k topos - boundary lines. These can be rather confusing - just like they are on the original 24k maps. This also was a big project that took a couple weeks because there really isn't any boundary data in the appropriate format to create this kind of feature. Would be better if I labelled the lines, but that was just too big a project for now. You can use the sync app to help identify the boundaries.
https://boydsmaps.com/pines/#16/39.604654/-74.565783/pines2023/0/0/
There's plenty more to discuss, but I've been glued to the screen all day finishing this up and need a break, so I'll just leave things here for now. I also have a couple "stocking stuffers" - maps that were re-processed from older NJGIN aerials. Will try to put those online soon, probably tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy - and Merry Christmas!
(Sorry - as usual, these changes may cause some issues accessing the site. Clear your cache if you have problems.)
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The idea was to provide a core of basic pine barrens topos and aerials that load faster than the NJGIN versions since they're installed on the boydsmaps server. They're all available at 4-foot resolution (level 17) with coverage limited to Southern New Jersey.
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