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

[Curt, WE7U]

On Tue, 13 Nov 2007, Tom Russo wrote:

> 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.

An option for those wanting Washington topo maps:  I have two sets
of the WA USGS topo maps on CD, and two sets on DVD's.  I've been
lending out one set of each to hams that ask.  The USGS is ok with
this as the data on them was already paid for by we U.S. taxpayers.
See this site for details:

    <http://members.tripod.com/~Swiftcurrent/pnw_drg.html>

Years ago I organized a bunch of people here at work and we formed
our own "DRG Collecting Society".  We joined with the group in the
tripod.com URL above and traded DRG's in order to extend our set.
It looks like the prices went up.  A 1-degree block from the USGS
used to cost us $36 I think and they're claiming $112 now.  They
want $20 per 1-degree block.  Most likely reasonable, but it sure
would cost a lot to get a whole state that way.  Originally we got
into their group by providing some blocks they didn't have, then
could get additional blocks from them at a low price.

So...  If/when people ask for one of my sets, they're welcome to one
for no fee but they need to copy them (to hard disk or CD or DVD) in
a reasonable time so that I can get them back for the next guy.  I
have some of the OR data, plus a bit of HI, MT, and ID as well.
I've not done a graphic to show which ones I have.

If there were a site out there that had LOADS of space, we could put
the data out there for everyone.

Other options:  Look for USGS archives of CD's at libraries near
you.  We have one at University of Washington in Seattle.  Once can
go in there and copy the CD's I'm told, but I don't know if you have
to be a student or an alum there or whether anyone can do it.
Anyway, this option is free.

--
Curt, WE7U: <www.eskimo.com/~archer/>     XASTIR: <www.xastir.org>
  "Lotto:  A tax on people who are bad at math." -- unknown
"Windows:  Microsoft's tax on computer illiterates." -- WE7U
The world DOES revolve around me:  I picked the coordinate system!