Maps

[Nathan_Bell]

Gentoo's thread on vehicle prep brought to mind the need for good maps and pre-planned routes.

Caveat, I live in an area that is not known for having emergencies that would require you to evacuate, so I am passing info along that I have picked up from others.

Get a good set of road maps of your area. Look for non-main highway routes out of the area. Then take a Sunday drive or three and check them out. A route that looks great on a map might be through an area that you would not want to travel with a fully laden vehicle. Also get a route that might have to be leaving from your childrens' school or your SO's work place.

If you are in an area that flooding is a concern, get a set of topo maps and look at the routes you are eyeballing and see if they might be underwater should you need to evac.

[citizensoldier16]

DeLorme makes great topo map atlases by state that include roads, GPS grids, and also include small roads and hiking/jeep trails. A very good investment for any avid outdoorsman or one looking for good, accurate maps that include topo features. I have one for NC and VA that I use for hunting, hiking, etc. They are very accurate and depict terrain well.

http://www.delorme.com/mapstore/default.aspxhttp://www.delorme.com/mapstore/default.aspx

[Gutshot John]

It should be noted that topo maps especially are "perishable", magnetic declination for instance will shift over very few years. Buy new ones occasionally.

[Bighead]

You can also download USGS maps for free from the USGS Store (on my system it only works with IE).

[MarshallDodge]

Good idea.

I have a US Atlas in my car at all times and I have purchased a copy of the Utah Gazeteer which contains the topography maps for the state of Utah. I am not sure if something like it is available for other states.

[RWBlue]

I love my Delome maps. They are cheap. I recommend getting them to any and all states you operate in. It is great to pull one out when you didn’t plan on a trip, or issue or….

magnetic declination has never really been an issue in my area of the world. There are enough decent markers, land marks….as long as I have some clue as to the direction I am going, I could probably get away with a map and no compass. On the other hand when I was in AZ, WY, great white north, and on the water, it makes a difference.

Here are a few more resources:
Garmin sells a product called Mapsource. It allows me to upload and down load data for my GPS. Assuming we are not talking about the end of the world this is going to be my go to item.

And for other prep work, look at google earth. I have it on the home computer as well as my Treo phone.

[Bighead]

Good idea.

I have a US Atlas in my car at all times and I have purchased a copy of the Utah Gazeteer which contains the topography maps for the state of Utah. I am not sure if something like it is available for other states.

Delorme Atlas & Gazetteers, by State

[bkb0000]

even in an EOTFWAWKI situation i imagine GPS will still work for quite some time. i'm not rocket scientist, but i imagine that most satelites maintain their own orbits. does GPS use standard orbit or geostationary satelites?

[K.L. Davis]

It should be noted that topo maps especially are "perishable", magnetic declination for instance will shift over very few years. Buy new ones occasionally.

In all likelihood, the declination values on a printed map can be a few years old on the day you buy them... and the change of declination is rarely so much that it would have a big effect on anything other than long range navigation.

With that said however, you are correct that local declination changes over time, but a good navigator will know that annual creep for the area they are in, and be able to factor that correction in if needed... in my area, it is 6'W annually, so I can go a long time without worrying about it, I will have long worn out any maps that I have before it becomes an issue.

[LittleRedToyota]

even in an EOTFWAWKI situation i imagine GPS will still work for quite some time. i'm not rocket scientist, but i imagine that most satelites maintain their own orbits. does GPS use standard orbit or geostationary satelites?

assuming those satellites are not taken out in a war/whatever that brings about TEOTWAWKI...

i imagine attempting to creating a debris field in space that would take out GPS and communications satellites (or otherwise disabling them) would prolly be relatively high on the to-do list for any nation or group that decided to attack america and could actually succeed in bringing about TEOTWAWKI.

also assuming your GPS receiver is working...the batteries aren't dead, it hasn't been rendered inoperable, etc.

GPS is great, but one should really have traditional orienteering skills using just a map and compass to fall back on in case GPS goes down.

plus, "real" (i.e., without a GPS) orienteering is *a lot* of fun.

and +1 to the delorme gazetteers for road maps...and typical USGS topo maps for foot travel.

if you have a good printer, this site can soak up a lot of your free time:

www.mapcard.com