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

[Tom Russo]

On Wed, Nov 14, 2007 at 09:03:40AM -0800, we recorded a bogon-computron collision of the <archer at eskimo.com> flavor, containing:
> 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.
> 
> 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.

They discontinued the purchase option for one-degree blocks some time ago,
according to the help on EarthExplorer.

I just committed to README.MAPS a pointer to www.geocomm.com, wher eyou can
by an entire state for $99.95 on DVD (plus shipping).  I orderd New Mexico
(even though I can download it for free) just to see what the disk is like,
but according to what the site says they're USGS DRGs with metadata, and 
USGS points to that site as a data partner.  I'll report back when it shows
up.

The "DRG Collection Society" is pretty much what the geeks up at sar.lanl.gov
did for our state.  

-- 
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