For my most recent wip which is set in the States, I was wondering what there is out there to buy ? Currently I'm using google earth which is good but tiresome on my very slow connection. In the UK we have the excellent Ordnance Survey landranger and explorer maps, and I was wondering what the American equivalent is ? To be clear i'm looking for more than road maps. OS maps show terrain, contours, footpaths, woods , even field boundaries on the 25k:1 version all help appreciated
After a bit of searching, I found this on another forum where someone else asked the same thing: "It's the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in the USA. This link takes you to their recently renovated online server, you can download maps (pdf) and data from there for free: http://viewer.nationalmap.gov/viewer/ There are other agencies that make good topographic maps of the States (e.g., DeLorme, Raven, even online ones like Esri's), but USGS is the official government source." -P.Raposo from the other forum (I don't know if I'm allowed to name it and I'm too lazy to look it up). NOTE: I clicked on the link provided, and on the top it said that that particular page was going to retire at the end of May, and then it gave a link to the new one. According to a travel website, one person says, "However these seem to be lacking in detail in terms of paths, landmarks, facilities, vegetation etc." about the USGS. Hope this helps!
Definitely the USGS maps if you want topographical. Here in the US I can get them all at the university library, and for hiking, our REI stores carry them. Sometimes you need that paper map in your hands.
