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National Geographic TOPO! Outdoor Recreation Mapping Software - California
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National Geographic TOPO! Outdoor Recreation Mapping Software - California

Item # 737657

$99.95

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TOPO! Outdoor Recreation mapping software for PC and Mac now includes updated 3-D map rendering with fly-throughs and live map updating.

  • Software package contains both PC and Mac versions for full compatibility across platforms making it easier than ever to plan, print and play!
  • 3-D rendering technology creates virtual relief maps that you can fly-through or view alongside 2-D maps, letting you preview your hike and views
  • Overlay roads and highways on any topographic map for confident navigation to the trailhead
  • Live map update feature downloads the latest information for your defined area, ensuring you are always armed with the most up-to-date data
  • TOPO!'s traveling tool allows you to zoom in, zoom out and scroll the map in any direction
  • TOPO! determines the exact latitude/longitude and elevation of any point on the map
  • Enhanced 3-D digital shading emphasizes changes in elevation, making the maps easier to read and use; shading toggles on and off
  • Add routes, symbols and text to customize your map; attach note boxes, web links and photos to the objects you place on the map
  • Select the exact area you need and print a photo-quality custom map on any ink-jet or laser printer or plotter
  • Transfer your custom waypoint and route information directly to or from most handheld GPS units
  • Link photos and export maps to Palm and Pocket PC handhelds with TOPO! Sync USA (sold separately)
  • Contains scanned images of actual 1:24,000 and 1:100,000 scale USGS maps with over 2800 seamless map images
  • Print waterproof trail maps on National Geographic Adventure Paper (sold separately) to take along on your trips
  • Visualize elevation gain with elevation profiling--simply trace a route anywhere on the map and the software will generate an elevation profile
  • Powerful search function finds trails, camps and campgrounds, lakes and ponds, parks, cities and towns, USGS 7.5' quad names and much more
  • Export images in standard raster formats like JPG, GIF, and so on for use in other applications
  • Share trail files with other TOPO! users on National Geographic's mapXchange website, letting you find new and exciting routes

System requirements: PC - Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000 or XP; 486 DX/66 MHz or higher; 64 MB RAM + 8 MB video memory; CDROM drive; Mac - OS 10.2 or higher; 350 MHz G3 or better; 128 MB RAM + 16 MB video memory; CDROM drive; works with all color and black-and-white printers supported by Windows and Macintosh; works with most popular handheld receivers manufactured by Garmin, Magellan, Suunto, Eagle, and Lowrance. Direct link requires input and output capabilities and a PC cable (all sold separately).

Made in USA.

Item 737657

National Geographic TOPO! Outdoor Recreation Mapping Software - California Customer Reviews

REVIEW SNAPSHOT®

by PowerReviews
National Geographic TOPO! Outdoor Recreation Mapping Software - California
 
2.8

(based on 8 reviews)

50%

of respondents would recommend this to a friend.

Pros

    Cons

      Best Uses

      • Hiking (3)
      • Reviewer Profile:
      • Casual adventurer (4), Quality oriented (3)
      • Primary use:
      • Personal (3)

      Reviewed by 8 customers

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      Displaying reviews 1-8

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      Sep

      23

      2007

      (5 of 5 customers found this review helpful)

       
      3.0

      Lots of detail, but not that useful

      By BAoutdoors

      from San Francisco, CA

      About Me Casual/ Recreational

      Site Member

      Pros

        Cons

          Best Uses

          • Hiking

          Comments about National Geographic TOPO! Outdoor Recreation Mapping Software - California:

          This is good if you want to have one product that serves as a map for all of california, including urban areas. It is detailed and functional. There are two problems. 1) Besides heading to Kinkos, you can only print maps that are 8x11. You end up with a lot of sheets of paper. 2) You only carry with you what you print. This seems obvious, but when improvising on trail it leaves you limited. After buying this software I still find myself gravitating towards old fashion maps and books for an entire park.

          Bottom Line No, I would not recommend this to a friend

          (5 of 5 customers found this review helpful)

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          Apr

          14

          2008

          (4 of 11 customers found this review helpful)

           
          1.0

          NOT compatible with GPSs

          By QAPro

          from California

          About Me Casual/ Recreational

          Pros

          • None

          Cons

          • Won't load map to GPS

          Best Uses

          • None

          Comments about National Geographic TOPO! Outdoor Recreation Mapping Software - California:

          Although National Geographic and REI claim that this software is "compatible" with GPSs such as Garmin, you need to read the fine print. You can't download the maps to your GPS! AFTER your trip, you can download waypoints and overlay them on the maps. In other words, if you don't make it back alive because you got lost because you couldn't read the map on your GPS, then your heirs can download your last steps before your demise and view them on a lovely 3-D map on your home computer.

          This is a complete ripoff.

          Bottom Line No, I would not recommend this to a friend

          (4 of 11 customers found this review helpful)

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          Oct

          29

          2007

          (4 of 6 customers found this review helpful)

           
          4.0

          Actual USGS Maps at Home!

          By Steven, Amy

          from Eureka, CA

          About Me Backpacker, Camper, Casual/ Recreational, Hiker, Kayaker

          Site Member

          Pros

          • Actual USGS maps
          • Compute milage
          • Easy to read
          • Map your route
          • Print waterproof maps
          • Search for campgrounds
          • Search for trails
          • See elevations

          Cons

            Best Uses

            • Backpacking
            • Camping
            • Hiking
            • Trip planning

            Comments about National Geographic TOPO! Outdoor Recreation Mapping Software - California:

            These topo map programs are great to map out your routes and print your maps at home. I've used this program to map out tips for several years. It's easy to find trails, survery the area, see elevations, and search for features like campgrounds, established trails, and mountains. These are the same maps you get from local dealers and that the forest service uses but you have them on your own computer to use all the time. We have recently even started to use them to map walking distances for my wife in town as well as my trips. It's nice to know the terrain of a hike whether it's a hike to a secluded spot on the river with the dogs or a backpacking trip. They have been invaluable on trips along with our GPS. In case the GPS can't find satelites you should always have printed maps. They are easy to read. I always print mine on the waterproof adventure paper so they will stand up to our trips. That paper is thick, won't tear, and is waterproof. Depending on your printer the ink may bleed through the back of the adventure paper but that's only an issue if you print double sided. With our printer I can print on both sides so I have an overview map of the area on one side and a close-up view with details on the other. I highly recommend both the map program and the adventure paper.

            Bottom Line Yes, I would recommend this to a friend

            (4 of 6 customers found this review helpful)

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            Sep

            15

            2008

            (3 of 3 customers found this review helpful)

             
            1.0

            Mac version is full of bugs

            By Methyl Ester

            from Northern california

            About Me Quality Oriented

            Pros

              Cons

              • Crashes or Freezes

              Best Uses

                Comments about National Geographic TOPO! Outdoor Recreation Mapping Software - California:

                Full of bugs.
                Data transfer:
                Both the GPS upload and download buttons take you to a download only page.
                Find:
                If you want to "find" a place by name go to "edit". If you want to find the same place by coordinate go to "view". Defies common sense.
                The Find window highlights the wrong (dead) buttons (FIND is highlighted instead of GO).
                The "Find within X miles of anchor" does not work.
                Print:
                Unable to print waypoint list (this is a very basic flaw that Topo addresses by telling you to take a screenshot!). Incompatible with X printer list is vast.
                Finally, customer support is only by email and the emails are computer generated responses that rarely if ever understand your issue.
                With so many other great mapping solutions out there, I wouldn't consider Topo for the Mac.

                • Primary use:
                • Business

                Bottom Line No, I would not recommend this to a friend

                (3 of 3 customers found this review helpful)

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                Sep

                4

                2007

                (3 of 5 customers found this review helpful)

                 
                4.0

                Plays well with Mac

                By kca

                from Sacramento, CA

                About Me Casual/ Recreational

                Site Member

                Pros

                • Easy to use
                • Free updates

                Cons

                • Crashes once in a while

                Best Uses

                • Hiking

                Comments about National Geographic TOPO! Outdoor Recreation Mapping Software - California:

                The latest update now plays very nicely with Macs and GPSes. Could be a bit more intuitive, but after spending 5 minutes with the manual, it's very easy to use.

                Bottom Line Yes, I would recommend this to a friend

                (3 of 5 customers found this review helpful)

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                Sep

                30

                2008

                (1 of 1 customers found this review helpful)

                 
                4.0

                The cost may be worth your time

                By jmbrowning

                from San Gabriel Front Range

                About Me Value Oriented

                Site Member

                Pros

                • Annotated maps offline
                • Lots Of Information
                • No reliance on Internet
                • Updated by NatGeoMaps

                Cons

                • GeoTiff discontinued
                • Sharing annotated maps

                Best Uses

                • Documenting trips
                • GeoTiff export to Ozi
                • Raster map source
                • Sharing travel directions

                Comments about National Geographic TOPO! Outdoor Recreation Mapping Software - California:

                I have been using Topo back when it was a Wildflower Productions product in the early 90's.

                I use it primarily for:
                -creating geotiff raster maps for shareware GPS mapping applications
                -documenting my travels (used to be hiking/backpacking, but now that I have kids and more money, Jeeping, dry carcamping, and rock art hunting)
                -sharing travel instructions and highlights with my friends and family members who wish to follow a similar route

                This is a GREAT product if you can get a boxed set of XportPro (now discontinued) to go with it to export GeoTiff maps for use in other GPS mapping programs, such as OziExplorer. This in turn can let you create maps for WinCE GPS devices running NoniGPSPlot. NatGeoMaps used to be able to unlock this functionality by calling customer service, but they have recently quietly killed off their entire TopoPro line of products (including for ArcGIS).

                Admittedly, geotiff, mrsid, and other georeferenced raster maps can be downloaded for free from most states, but it will take quite a while to do so and you will miss out on the ability to annotate your maps with pictures and comments as most shareware programs do not have this functionality.

                Similar mapping functionality can be had from Google Earth, but this forces you to rely on "cloud computing" which isn't practical in the field when Internet access isn't available.

                Sharing annotated maps is much easier using Google Earth, but once again, you need to feel comfortable keeping your data on a remote server (Google Map data is only secured by obscurity and is publically viewable by anyone who has the right URL).

                Since my entire family is running Topo, it is no big deal to share .tpo files instead. I also have the confidence of knowing that this data will be available to them on their laptop regardless of where they are traveling.

                If I didn't have the ability to pull out GeoTiff from the State Series, I'd give this product a 3 star rating.

                • Gift:
                • No
                • Primary use:
                • Personal

                Bottom Line Yes, I would recommend this to a friend

                (1 of 1 customers found this review helpful)

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                May

                20

                2009

                 
                2.0

                Good maps, but read the details!!

                By Ed

                from Berkeley, CA

                About Me Quality Oriented

                Pros

                • Lots Of Information

                Cons

                • No map downloads

                Best Uses

                • Printing paper maps

                Comments about National Geographic TOPO! Outdoor Recreation Mapping Software - California:

                This is good PC mapping software that prints quality maps and has many features, but read the product capabilities closely.
                Being mapping software when it said compatible with and would down load to my eTrex Vista C I thought that I could get those nice map on to my GPS to enjoy in the wilds. NO, the maps do not down load.
                A second issue is, if you use the Tracking on feature with the eTrex as you hike it keeps track of where you went. Then come in and up load the track the map on the PC is covered with waypoints not the track. Found a way to turn a track made in this software in to Waypoints, I am still looking at how to turn the waypoints in to a track.
                This was a 90% miss on what I intended to use it for. If you want maps on your GPS do not buy this.

                • Gift:
                • No
                • Primary use:
                • Personal

                Bottom Line No, I would not recommend this to a friend

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                Apr

                24

                2009

                 
                3.0

                Great maps; poor performance

                By Mr. Natural

                from Pacific Grove, California

                About Me Quality Oriented

                Site Member

                Pros

                • Good maps and mileages

                Cons

                • Crashes or Freezes

                Best Uses

                  Comments about National Geographic TOPO! Outdoor Recreation Mapping Software - California:

                  I bought the March, 2008 version of this software. I do a lot of backpacking in California, i.e., at least 4x/year, so I needed a good source for maps since the better free on-line maps no longer exist. I bought this primarily for the fly over and 3D features of the mapping. The problem was that every time I tried to load these utilities, the entire program crashed. Despite the most heroic efforts by their service department, including the extreme measure of having me modify the executable code in the program controlling the 3D mode, the latter only worked one time and then crashed. This was with a state of the art NVIDIA graphics chip on my brand new laptop.

                  The one time the 3D feature did work, the 3D graphics were extremely crude.

                  The printing is also awkward. When you click on the button to print a map, it won't just print what is on the computer screen. Instead, a big red rectangle appears on the screen with two diagonals through it connecting the corners. This rectangle is superimposed over the map. What is within this rectangle is what will be printed, about 75% of what is showing on your screen. You can move the rectangle and expand it although expanding it will not necessarily print the portions of the map in the newly expanded rectangle area. What is really frustrating is that once you have this big red rectangle superimposed over your map, you cannot get rid of it. You have to close the map and reopen it again.

                  The route finding tool works well. When you build an elevation profile it will calculate mileages, presumably making accomodations for changes in terrain elevation, at least as shown on the map. That is a useful tool and the only advantage this program has over a commercially printed 7.5' map.

                  In short, this program provides good basic topo maps, printing is adequate within its limitations, and mileages given after building a route elevation profile are the best feature of this software.

                  • Gift:
                  • No
                  • Primary use:
                  • Personal

                  Bottom Line Yes, I would recommend this to a friend

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