TOPO! Software

Does anyone use the National Geographic TOPO! software and have an opinion on it's ease of use, especially as to how easy it is to develop your own maps set based off of a file with GPS waypoints and then have the maps printed?

I'm debating whether or not to buy the California one. I want to do Roper's Sierra High Route, and while I can buy a pre-set map set I'm considering buy the entire State so that I'll have the resource for other trips. I want to know how hard it's going to be make my map set though.

I have TOPO! for Colorado and it works pretty well. It is pretty basic and can be annoying at times but it is good for printing map sections. I have not used it with GPS data though. If you are looking for something more advanced with better functionality I would go with terrain navigator pro. I would also recommend also getting the national geographic waterproof map paper to print onto.

I've found it pretty straight forward; the prints are fine, I've jpeg'd soft copies for e-mail. Make your own labels with text to note items of interest, input waypoints, grid it for nav coordinates in the field, interchange coord systems. There's also some routing/route planning you can do.

I do like to take those trails illustrated maps if my area is potentially larger than a printout sheet, show the trails, and they also don't become a problem with precip.

Been about 7 years since I've used the NG Topo software, switched to the Delorme version, so perhaps some of my impressions are not longer relevant to the NG software. Most of the main software features between the two packages are pretty equivalent: map detail, grids, datums, waypoints, etc. Initially I had doubts about the Delorme since map coverage of the Western U.S. for the same price as a single state in NG.

Route plotting on existing trails, roads, etc. seems a little easier with the Delorme, you select the section of trail and add it to a 'draw object', connect all the sections (including free hand lines) and you have your route. Can't say I'm really thrilled with the GUI on either package, maybe that's just me, my daddy always told me I wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed.

I've used the Delorme to plot off trail routes in the Winds (I use UTM grids) and the maps have been good enough to hit fairly small features dead on.

Check out the current version of both packages, see which works better for you.