CompuServe Messages

Wisconsin is one of the states that's had paper DeLorme maps for some time. They're quite popular. They are a lot like the USGS 1:150,000 maps, except they're bound into a tabloid size book. Same color, etc. I'd guess they are directly derived from USGS data, either DLG (digital line graph) maps or the topo maps. The paper version does include topo markings. I'm sure they've done immense amounts of data reduction to get the USA on a single CDROM, so adding topo info would require even more CD space. Lots more – there are more squiggly topo lines than roads. Once I was out hiking and tripped over a topo line and took a nasty spill, but that's a story for another time… 😉 Just across the street, my city hall (Jefferson, WI, pop 6,000) has detailed topo maps of the city in electronic form, as well as all the city plat maps. I could stretch an Ethernet cable out the window and connect to their network. I'm sure the USGS is working on (or already has) these maps in electronic form. I remember seeing my state maps at the local USGS office on a computer CAD screen, I'm not sure if it was land-use or resource maps, I don't think it was topo. As for the DeLorme/USGS maps, I've tried to track down the "quarries" in my area, as marked on the maps. Some are marked, but I can't see them in real life. I've found some "quarries" that were as large as my living room, overgrown with trees, no less.