[russo at bogodyn.org: Re: [Xastir] TOPOS with Xastir]

[Tom Russo]

On Tue, Nov 13, 2007 at 02:11:02PM -0700, we recorded a bogon-computron collision of the <russo at bogodyn.org> flavor, containing:
> On Tue, Nov 13, 2007 at 02:11:31PM -0500, we recorded a bogon-computron collision of the <ewdavenport at certin.com> flavor, containing:
> > Hi Tom,
> > 
> > Yup your readme was the one that got me started down this path.  I was 
> > hoping you would say go here it is done for you....haha...
> > 
> > I also read a lot of other emails where I figured out that others had been 
> > down this path.
> > 
> > When the EC brought out a stack of CD's and said this is what I want to use 
> > make it happen I said it will take work.
> > 
> > I recalled that you had said in a email that New Mexico was one of the only 
> > states that made this information available for free.
> 
> Well, not exactly.  The state doesn't make any of it available.
> 
> USGS sells the DRGs for $1 each (or at least they used to) with a $30 set
> up fee for an order.  Once you purchase them, you are free to redistribute 
> them.  Some volunteers bought the whole state's worth (thousands of bucks,
> but not so much that a team couldn't afford them from its coffers), and 
> put the entire batch up on a web site.  Those files are freely downloadable
> for as long as Los Alamos National Labs is willing to host the site they 
> live on (http://sar.lanl.gov/)
> 
> Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, the USGS is no longer making the
> GeoTIFF files available for download. You can download "GeoPDF" versions of
> the DRGs for free, but this is a proprietary PDF extension with only free
> viewer software.  I'm having some trouble finding how to convert them
> to GeoTIFF --- I've found references on the web that suggest it can be done,
> but have not yet found an easy way, and it appears to only be possible by
> using a non-free extension to the GeoPDF software.

I'm wrong.  It is still possible to buy these things in GeoTIFF format, but
the price is higher than it was the last time I did it.  

The set-up fee is stated in one place as $45 now, and each map costs $3.00.  
But if you buy them directly from the USGS Earth Explorer you can redistribute 
them the same way that the SAR geeks who live in Los Alamos did.  In another
place it's implied that the only extra fee beyond the $3.00 is $5 if you 
select FTP delivery instead of physical media.

See http://edcsns17.cr.usgs.gov/EarthExplorer/ for details.

It looks like it would take a fair number of mouse clicks to get all the 
7.5 minute quads you want ordered, but you can do it.  Note that by default
the search engine only returns the first ten it finds, so you want to change
that *and* refine your search.  I was able to list off 100 1:24k quads of
North Carolina in a few seconds.  That'd run you a pretty penny right
off the bat --- but if you can get a little county money, or donations, or
pool personal funds, you can probably make a resource for the whole county
without too much bother.  

You can order them on CD, DVD, or FTP download.  Do a query on the data you
want, use the "Advanced search" to narrow it down so it only shows you
the "Recommended Version" of 1:24k, 7.5 minute quadrangles (instead of the
recommended version and all available historical versions), then you can just 
click "Add all retrieved results to shopping basket."


-- 
Tom Russo    KM5VY   SAR502   DM64ux          http://www.swcp.com/~russo/
Tijeras, NM  QRPL#1592 K2#398  SOC#236 AHTB#1 http://kevan.org/brain.cgi?DDTNM
"And, isn't sanity really just a one-trick pony anyway? I mean all you get is
 one trick, rational thinking, but when you're good and crazy, oooh, oooh,
 oooh, the sky is the limit!"  --- The Tick