Topozone sold to Trails.com

I just heard that Topozone has been sold to Trails.com and use of the map server will no longer be free.

I would guess that Trails.com will be disappointed if they think they will make money on what was always free. With all the map services out there (MSN, Yahoo, Google, etc) which are driven by advertising, charging for content is becoming a thing of the past. Their business model needs to move forward, not backward. And remember, the USGS maps, although we all love them, are almost all obsolete as for what's on the ground.

My problem will be fixing the hundreds of embedded Topozone links in my reports.

I use Google more and more and I have a version that uses the USGS map tiles so going forward I won't suffer from this. Besides the new "Terrain" map type is pretty good for most purposes.

My opinion: don't join Trails.com - you'll do better learning to use one of the free map services.

Disclaimer: I do not work for or own any stock in Trails.com or any free map service.

Papa Bear said:

I just heard that Topozone has been sold to Trails.com and use of the map server will no longer be free.

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That's a bummer. I agree with your comments 100%.

Mark Schaefer's Catskill Hundred Highest Post on ADKHPs will now be much less useful, as it was chock full of links to topozone.

This policy will generate a firestorm of criticism, I'll bet, as old links will no longer be useful.

Thanks for the heads up. Unless they alter their new policy, it's time to make the switch.

That's too Bad!

For USGS maps, there's still terraserver-usa.com, which I usually use.

A good friend of mine is the founder/owner of topozone. I'll drop him a line and see if the free service will continue.

Tom Rankin said:

..
This policy will generate a firestorm of criticism, I'll bet, as old links will no longer be useful.

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At the moment, the links bring you to a topo map all right (but not the USGS map tiles), but if you change the view in any way (pan, change map size, zoom in) you get another screen selling maps and services. (Try this: Dorset). I'll have to experiment to see what works and what doesn't.

That really is disappointing, especially because now I have to go through all the links on my website and reformat to point at google maps.

For those that don't know: You can access a topo layer on google maps, I've just started implementing this on my website, but sites like www.gmap-pedometer.com already have it working. The pro is that it is still free (although no URL based lat/lon) and you have the google maps API, the con is that the map data can be slow to load most of the time.

That's sucks, I really liked the site for the convenient access to topo maps. However they are crazy if they think I'm going to pay for their site when other sites offer the same thing for free

Papa Bear said:

I would guess that Trails.com will be disappointed if they think they will make money on what was always free.

Click to expand...

Don't know if anybody noticed the annoying popup ads on topozone.com the last couple weeks, wonder if that was a Trails.com idea

And remember, the USGS maps, although we all love them, are almost all obsolete as for what's on the ground.

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So now Trails.com will have old maps to go with their old guidebook pages

My problem will be fixing the hundreds of embedded Topozone links in my reports.

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I've got a few hundred myself

Adam was smarter with the cohp website and put the links in Javascript, once he does some tweaking as to format those few thousand links can point elsewhere simply

bignslow said:

That really is disappointing, especially because now I have to go through all the links on my website and reformat to point at google maps.

For those that don't know: You can access a topo layer on google maps, I've just started implementing this on my website, but sites like like www.gmap-pedometer.com already have it working.

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I do this on my own web site. Here's one for a bench mark report I'm working on: Wachusett

RoySwkr said:

Don't know if anybody noticed the annoying popup ads on topozone.com the last couple weeks, wonder if that was a Trails.com idea

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Just say no to pop-ups! Firefox blocks all pop-ups by default and lets you view selected ones that you allow.

Actually, Hillclimb Media, the parent company of Trails.com, bought Topozone.com months, perhaps almost a year, ago. Thus, I can't say that the recent demise of Topozone is unexpected. The new interface on Trails.com stinks and Canada isn't online yet.

Tom Rankin said:

Mark Schaefer's Catskill Hundred Highest Post on ADKHPs will now be much less useful, as it was chock full of links to topozone.

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As I mentioned in a thread on adkhighpeaks.com; I will also update the list with links to another free map service -- perhaps terraserver, although I am not a fan of their search and navigation functions. I will need to investigate scripting the source.

I had also noticed that my browsers were blocking many pop-ups on topozone for some time now. Although firefox blocked most of them, some still popped through. Pop up technology always seems to stay a bit ahead of the blocking technology. For topozone this is moot now; as it appears to be time to say no to topozone (trails.com).

Trails.com has always been a huge disappointment to me. Only the most popular guidebook series seem to be on it, and I find that summitpost.org almost always has much more recent trail updates (for peaks, at least)

The more we spread the word on free alternatives, the more we can help other users maintain free access to the maps and data produced with OUR tax dollars.

Here's my initial contribution to the effort -- a link to Libre Map Project . Free .tiff and .tfw files for use with your GIS. Or just print the .tiff file, which is a copy of the original quad sheet.

Wazzat you sez? You don't have a GIS or the scratch to buy one? Here's my second contribution -- a link to free GIS software called ArcExplorer from ESRI. There are others out there.

More contributions to follow, when I have time. Yes, I AM steamed tonight.

My site has been linking to http://mapper.acme.com for a while now. It's a Google Maps interface that includes the USGS topo layer (among others).

(If you want to avoid Google Maps for any reason, the old version of Acme Mapper, running directly off Terraserver, is still functioning: http://mapper1.acme.com/
)

I was horrified when I saw the new topozone web page and was ready to post a rant here, but as usual - the topic was already here.

Thanks nartreb and sardog for posting some alternatives. http://mapper.acme.com/ looks like a great alternative to topozone.

I've played with the USATF site for mapping and scouting routes. No trail names are available, but with the appropriate magnification trails do appear on the map and satellite views and a few routes are already in the data base. For those without a GPS or access to other more sophisticated means, it is an easy way include a route map in a trip report. Take the Presi traverse, for example:

http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=201105

I'm not sure where I found this perhaps northwest hikers board but anyway here is a copy of what I posted on ADK forum.



On the top right of the page where it says SEARCH type in the name of the Quad you want. Select USGS MAP NAME in the drop down box titled SEARCH TYPE then click go. It will load up a small map on the left side with those location balloons. Click on the balloon and it will give you a choice of maps to download. You get the whole usgs quad in pdf format.

Now then it is tricky. I put Elizabethtown and it found a map in Ohio. Indian Lake found one someplace else.

It did find Santanoni with no trouble. Here is a something I found that may help. On the left side when the Santanoni balloon came up if you click beside the balloon instead of on it the map shifted and revealed neighboring maps. You could see Kempshall Mt and Ampersand Lake listed on the grid. clicking on those names produces access to those maps. So if you don't happen to know the exact map name or the stupid search can't tell the difference between Elizabethtown NY and Oh you can at least get there.

Hey it's the gvt and it's free what do you expect?usgs maps

Nice to see this discussion (but for the reason).
I used Topozone extensively at work (gov't, environmental) and recommended it to co-workers for quick forward and reverse documentation of geographic coordinates. Was really Shock & Aw-****ted when trails.com appeared instead.
Thanks for the other links.

There is a nice list of free topo sites over on America's Roof: http://www.network54.com/Forum/3897/message/1208463776/Alternate+*FREE*+Topo+Sites

http://mapper.acme.com web maps
http://www.libremap.org/ download USGS quads
http://www.mytopo.com/maps.cfm in beta
http://www.topo.com in beta
http://store.usgs.gov/locator/ download USGS quads

Doug

DougPaul said:

There is a nice list of free topo sites over on America's Roof: ...

Doug

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so far, Acme and Terraserver are both good alternatives for me.

Still not sure which I will settle on.