End of an Era - Geoscience Paper Maps

Hi Stephen,

I have hundred's of them in different editions.
One trip I bought 17 lineal metres of the 1:100 series where 1cm = 1km.

I like the way they align the nomenclature with the direction of some features.

Cheers
Alan

Nomenclature alignment follows a pretty standard set of cartographic "rules" Alan. If you enjoy the look of some Aussie topo maps you'd be knocked out by the detail and cartographic skills of some of the European topo maps (esp German), and even more impressed by the old hand-drawn maps. Works of great skill (and art even).

By way of hand drawn maps, when I first started work for the CSIRO Division of Soils I was intrigued to watch the first 'draft' of soil maps being created by hand. They were coloured by transferring colouring pencil to blotting paper and rubbed onto the map.

Hi Greg

I agree with you. Printed topo maps will be available through alternative sources. Printing on the correct paper, to guarantee longevity of the map, will be the key.

I remember when working in the land survey industry, the office being filled with huge vertiplan cabinets, full of maps. Sometime around 2005 they had all gone and the maps were held in digital form. When a map was required in paper form they were printed on one of the A0 format HP printers.

It always bring back fond memories when I think of my time in the field working with paper maps. Having a cup of tea, laying the map out on the bonnet of the truck, and planning the next steps. Annotating the map with the red pencil, then refolding it so the area of interest is best displayed. It was often the case that the area of interest was covered by more than one map. That was a PITA that no longer occurs in today’s seamless digital map world.

Cheers John

Yeah...It's not really the end of paper maps - its just one government department bailing out. I went on a 8 day hike the other day - purchased a 1:63,000 scale paper map produced by a private company specifically for hikers (tearproof/waterproof paper) - plenty of coffees and map gazing undertaken while in the wilderness.

Cheers
Greg

Hi Vince

Federal Government Legislation exists to ensure public access to geospatial data. The following exerpts are from an Auditor Generals report into GA. So unless a future federal government changes the law free downloads will continue from GA.

Cheers John


“The Australian Spatial Data Pricing and Access Policy 2001 (SDAP) specifies what spatial data is to be publicly available and the price to be charged for this information.The principle underlying this policy is to maximise the benefits to the community from increased access to spatial data. In addition, there are government initiatives to increase the availability of non-sensitive information to the public.”

“Spatial Data Access and Pricing policy (SDAP) specifies the price range that Australian Government agencies should charge for all standard datasets listed on the policy schedule. The policy states that fundamental geospatial data should be priced at the marginal cost of transfer and should be free when accessed over the internet.”

"They have said that the electronic version can be downloaded for free so you can print, how long this last is anybody’s guess"

During my Oz trip this year, I downloaded several topo maps from a GA site. But the link stopped working at the end of September.

When I visited The Map Shop in Adelaide, I was told that the site was shut down. So I'm not sure where you can download the GA maps now.

Hi Candace,

Try this link:

1 : 250 000 Topographic Maps

Cheers
Alan