This new map is now available and is sort of the opposite of my 24k Legacy Topo which used the newest available paper maps. The 62k Historic Topo consists of the oldest paper topographic maps from the USGS archives.
https://boydsmaps.com/#15.00/39.643571/-74.649638/historic62k/0.00/0.00
These old maps were drawn at the scale of 1:62,500, with a coverage of 15 minutes (1/4 degree). About a third of the quadrangles were created before 1900 with the earliest dating from 1884 - here's a breakdown by decade
This map replaces my smaller 1899 pines topo and any links to that old map will re-direct to the new one. If you had the old topo in your favorite maps list, you will get an alert and have to add the new map. I have not deleted the NJGIN or PASDA historic topo maps however, since they may offer something different (even though this new map has full coverage).
With the default settings, this map should be the second one on the menu (if you're inside the coverage area)
I did color correction on my old pines topo to match the different quads, but that just wasn't practical on a map this large. However, I think the new map is an upgrade because almost all the quads are older, with most of them dating before 1890. Have been so busy making the map, I have not studied it very closely. However I did note that it says "Whitings" where the old one was "Whiting" and the new map also has "Shamong" where the old map showed "Chatsworth".
There are a total of 712 historic quadrangles (about a million map tiles) with full coverage of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachussets and partial coverage of New York, Virginia and West Virginia. This map is also a work-in-progress that will be expanded to a larger coverage in the future.
Since these are lower-resolution maps, they were processed at level 15 or 4.8-meters/pixel which is more than adequate to capture the full detail of the USGS 300dpi scans. Virginia turned out to be the difficult area to process, about 30 quads were (apparently) never mapped at 62500 scale and I needed to crop them from old 1:125,000 scale maps. You will notice the rather crude level of detail when you zoom into these areas.
As you zoom out, the view switches to the oldest 1:250,000 scale maps that I could find - mostly from the 1940's and 1950's. Some of these old maps are pretty cool, with shaded terrain, for example
https://boydsmaps.com/#12.00/40.518125/-78.373314/historic62k/0.00/0.00
Zoom farther out and you will see my own simple basemap. Just for fun, I tried to create a similar shaded terrain effect.
(edit 10/23) The basemap has been changed in the recent update and now only shows when you zoom out to level 8.
Unfortunately you may have problems accessing this new map if you're a frequent user of the site due to old data cached by your web browser, as discussed with @bobpbx earlier. Try reloading/refreshing the site to see if that helps. Otherwise you may need to clear your browser cache. On a phone you might need to delete the boydsmaps app from your home screen and re-install (you'll find instructions for this in the help menu). Or you could just wait awhile, eventually it will start working all by itself although that might take a few days.
https://boydsmaps.com/#15.00/39.643571/-74.649638/historic62k/0.00/0.00
These old maps were drawn at the scale of 1:62,500, with a coverage of 15 minutes (1/4 degree). About a third of the quadrangles were created before 1900 with the earliest dating from 1884 - here's a breakdown by decade
This map replaces my smaller 1899 pines topo and any links to that old map will re-direct to the new one. If you had the old topo in your favorite maps list, you will get an alert and have to add the new map. I have not deleted the NJGIN or PASDA historic topo maps however, since they may offer something different (even though this new map has full coverage).
With the default settings, this map should be the second one on the menu (if you're inside the coverage area)
I did color correction on my old pines topo to match the different quads, but that just wasn't practical on a map this large. However, I think the new map is an upgrade because almost all the quads are older, with most of them dating before 1890. Have been so busy making the map, I have not studied it very closely. However I did note that it says "Whitings" where the old one was "Whiting" and the new map also has "Shamong" where the old map showed "Chatsworth".
There are a total of 712 historic quadrangles (about a million map tiles) with full coverage of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachussets and partial coverage of New York, Virginia and West Virginia. This map is also a work-in-progress that will be expanded to a larger coverage in the future.
Since these are lower-resolution maps, they were processed at level 15 or 4.8-meters/pixel which is more than adequate to capture the full detail of the USGS 300dpi scans. Virginia turned out to be the difficult area to process, about 30 quads were (apparently) never mapped at 62500 scale and I needed to crop them from old 1:125,000 scale maps. You will notice the rather crude level of detail when you zoom into these areas.
As you zoom out, the view switches to the oldest 1:250,000 scale maps that I could find - mostly from the 1940's and 1950's. Some of these old maps are pretty cool, with shaded terrain, for example
https://boydsmaps.com/#12.00/40.518125/-78.373314/historic62k/0.00/0.00
(edit 10/23) The basemap has been changed in the recent update and now only shows when you zoom out to level 8.
Unfortunately you may have problems accessing this new map if you're a frequent user of the site due to old data cached by your web browser, as discussed with @bobpbx earlier. Try reloading/refreshing the site to see if that helps. Otherwise you may need to clear your browser cache. On a phone you might need to delete the boydsmaps app from your home screen and re-install (you'll find instructions for this in the help menu). Or you could just wait awhile, eventually it will start working all by itself although that might take a few days.
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