Tod’s Topos are topographic maps specifically designed for hiking,
camping and other backcountry use. These maps show:
Terrain using contours enhanced by hill and slope
shading.
Trail distances.
Campgrounds.
Trail heads.
Background
I started making these maps for my own use when I was unable to find
maps that suited my needs for hiking. The USGS 7.5 minute quadrangle
maps (“quads”) I had used for years are dated and don’t show current
conditions. New trails have been constructed, old trails have been
re-routed, etc. The current “US Topo” maps often don’t even show hiking
trails. And other custom map vendors seem to focus on the popular
National Parks not the local and regional county, state and forest areas
I do most of my hiking in.
Once I started making and using my own maps others I hike with and
other trail maintenance volunteers asked for copies. This led me to
think there might be some demand for these maps.
Compared to historical USGS “Quads”
(Drag the slider to compare maps)
US Topo (left) vs Tod’s Topo (right)
Compared to current “US Topos”
(Drag the slider to compare maps)
US Topo (left) vs Tod’s Topo (right)
Questions and Answers
Why do you create Tod’s Topos?
Neither the historical USGS Topographic “Quads” nor the current
“US Topo” maps show the information I want when I am hiking or
camping.
What datum and projection are used?
All maps use WGS84 and the appropriate UTM projection for the
map’s longitude. This means that the “easting” and “northing”
values shown on the Avenza Maps app are in UTM coordinates
suitable for use in communicating locations to SAR (Search and
Rescue) teams. At least the teams I’ve had the honor of
interfacing with in my backcountry volunteer work use WGS84 (or
NAD83) UTM locations for ground work. That might be different in
other parts of the country.
Why isn’t true north up on your map?
My maps are aligned to grid north. On these maps the
difference between grid north and true north is less than the
usual error in using an orienting style compass. The legend at
the bottom of the map gives the difference between grid, true
and magnetic north on each map.
And I’ve notice that many (most?) paper map users are using
UTM grid lines without compensating for the difference between
grid north and true north. So having the map aligned to true
north does not seem to be required by most map users.
Where do you get your data?
Data for Tod’s Topos comes several sources:
Contour and hill shading is created from DEM
(digital elevation model) data from the USGS.
Magnetic declination data is from NOAA.
All other data including but not limited to
trails, roads, buildings, landcover, streams, lakes,
boundaries, etc., are from the OpenStreetMap
project.
Why is OpenStreetMap data used?
The OpenStreetMap
project is basically the Wikipedia of map data: It is
largely maintained by volunteers (though large companies like
Amazon Logistics and Lyft use it and pay mappers to help improve
road data in it).
There appears to be a sufficient number of hikers, mountain
bikers and equestrians who are OpenStreetMap editors that the
trail data in OpenStreetMap is usually the best available.
Licensing makes it very attractive too: You simply need to
acknowledge the OpenStreetMap contributors. It seems that other
hiking apps like Gaia and AllTrails use OpenStreetMap as
well.
Why are there no maps for my area?
Maps are usually for areas I have hiked in since I started
using the Avenza Maps app. Or they are for areas I am
considering hiking in.
More to the point, they are generally areas that I have done
volunteer mapping for OpenStreetMap so I have some confidence
that the trails are reasonably well mapped.
If you would like a map for some other area(s),
the bounds (latitude, longitude), scale and name(s) for map(s)
you would like to have created and I will add them to the build
list and inventory.
Any such new maps would be in areas that I haven’t recently
hiked, so I would be relying on the requestor to assist in
keeping the OpenStreetMap data for the map areas up to date.
Have you hiked all trails shown on these maps?
No. Not even close in some cases. Or it has been so long that
things might have changed. But I have hiked a lot of them and in
a number of cases have worked on trail maintenance projects.
I have had a request to render the trails I’ve mapped
differently trails than mapped by others. The work flow for
doing this is not feasible at this time.
I have found errors in your map, will you fix it?
As noted above, data is largely from OpenStreetMap. If you
find an error on a map you can fix it by fixing the data in
OpenStreetMap. Accounts are free and there are tutorials for how
to get started on editing.
If you don’t wish to edit the OpenStreetMap data, then please
upload your GPS tracks to the OpenStreetMap website. In
addition, upload geo-referenced photos of items that are missing
to projects like Mapillary. Mapillary allows
photos it hosts to be used for mapping in OpenStreetMap. By
uploading your tracks and photos the next map editor that tries
to correct the trails has better data to work with
Finally, if the above is too difficult then information about the
things that need fixing and I will try to work with you to
correct the data.
For myself, I usually review the map before going to an area
and then while hiking I make notes about how the map can be
improved. Once back home I edit the OpenStreetMap data. The next
time Tod’s Topos are generated the fix will be in them.
How do you make your maps?
I have written a number of scripts and programs to create
geo-referenced PDFs. The workflow has evolved and is more
complicated than it seems it should be. You can read about some
of the things I had to deal with:
Maybe. I have found a local printer capable of printing these
large PDFs onto 20 pound paper stock however the cost may not
make it attractive. If interested please
Ignore some boundaries that are not likely to be
of interest to hikers.
New maps for Harding Truck Trail, Riley Wilderness Park,
Echo Mountain, and Whiting Ranch.
Bugs Fixed:
Wrong declination on maps: Updated
generation scripts for newer NOAA API.
Some National Forest boundaries missing:
Revised scripts to load larger OSM data extracts
into database. Fixed broken Los Padres National
Forest Boundary in OSM.
January 2023
Rebuild all maps with latest OpenStreetMap data.
October 2022
Rebuild all maps with latest OpenStreetMap data.
July 2022
Rebuild all maps with latest OpenStreetMap (OSM)
data. Based on a review of locally knowledgable people,
the significant OSM updates have been made in the area
covered by the Laguna Coast map.
Display names for more localities (hamlets,
etc.)
Display ferry routes.
Revise rendering of power lines and fences so
the are not as easily mistaken for trails.
Where available, use newer USGS 3D Elevation Program
(3DEP) data for generating contours and hill/slope shading.
The older SRTM data has roughly 100 foot horizontal
resolution while the 3DEP data has a horizontal resolution
of around 33 feet. In most areas the difference in generated
contours is minor but the additional resolution for
hill/slope shading can show more detail.
April 2022
Rebuild all maps with latest
OpenStreetMap data.
Extend coverage of Laguna Coast map to include
Quail Hill Open Space Preserve.
Extend coverage of O’Neill park map to overlap
with Los Pinos map. Between the two maps this
should cover the various tail heads along Trabuco
Creek Road used for hiking to Holy Jim Falls.
Create new “Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park” map
and add it to the Orange County Hiking
Collection.
Initial implementation to distinguish
unofficial (“social” or “desire”) trails from
official trails. This also starts to label some
access restrictions on the trails. This is a
work in progress (partly because the OpenStreetMap
community has not agreed upon the best way to map
this type of information on trails).
September 2021
Rebuild all maps with latest
OpenStreetMap data.
Add rendering of linear piers.
Add trail route reference to long
distance trails. For example the Pacific
Crest Trail will have “(PCT)” appended to
the trail name.
Create “Woodson Mountain” map covering the
trails to “Potato Chip Rock”.
Increase area covered by Caspers Park map
to overlap with coverage by the Arroyo Trabuco
map.
Increase latitude covered by San Mateo Wilderness
map.
April 2021
Rebuild all maps with latest
OpenStreetMap data.
Create “Los Pinos Peak” and “Santiago Oaks” maps
and add them to the “Orange County hiking
collection”.
January 2021
Rebuild all maps with latest
OpenStreetMap data.
Create Oracle State Park and add it to
Catalina Mountains hiking collection.
Create maps for Arroyo Trabuco, O’Neill
Regional Park, and trails around San
Clemente.
Create new “Orange County hiking
collection” containing above maps Orange
County maps and the Laguna Coast and Caspers
maps.
June 2020
Updated to latest OpenStreetMap data
Increased area covered by the Laguna Coast
map to include the Colinas Ridge Trail.
Adjusted area covered by the San Mateo
Wilderness map to include the Morgan Trail
head.
Add maps for Santa Catalina Mountains of
Southern Arizona.
Better identification of hiking trails within
the OpenStreetMap database.
Better computation of distances between trail
junctions, trail heads, etc.
Better rendering of land boundaries.
Better rendering of lake names.
Added rendering of city parks.
Rendering of trails now indicates how visible
the trail is.
Changed color of UTM grid lines to make them
less obtrusive.
May 2020
Initial release of hiking maps for areas in
Southern California.