What Happened to Topo Maps on Acme Mapper
At that place are a ton of skills that are key to a successful and safety hike. Careful planning, knowing how to utilize a compass, and letting someone know where you'll be hiking are all role of that list. Merely one of the most neglected skills amongst many hikers is being able to read and navigate using a "topo" (or topographic map). While this deficit is mutual for many novice hikers, fifty-fifty some experienced hikers lack this skill, which can literally be a lifesaver if things to awry in the backcountry. This iteration of our Backcountry Scientific discipline series gives a rundown of what these maps are and how they can be used on the trail.
What Is A Topo Map, and Why Practice Nosotros Have Them?
For the most part, the 24-hour interval-to-day navigation we have to perform is relatively simple. We can option up a route map and plan/follow a route to where we need to go by using little more than lines denoting the presence of roadways and the locations of towns and settlements. Paper maps served this office in the past, while GPS systems commonly provide us with this info today. Unless yous utilise other types of maps in your profession, in fact, it's likely that the just map you've ever needed to navigate the world is a simple road map or atlas.
However, these types of maps don't work in the backcountry. Why? It's uncomplicated: Y'all're not going to encounter many (if whatsoever!) roads and settlements in the backcountry, and marker the locations of trails will only get you so far. What types of terrain do those trails traverse, and what happens if yous somehow observe yourself off the trail? If all you have is a map showing transportation routes like roads or trails, you're going to observe yourself out of luck.
This is where topo maps become valuable. Put very just, a topographic map is a graphical representation of a geographic expanse that includes not merely major human structures and settlements but also data detailing the terrain of the region covered by the map. Using a topo map, for example, it's possible to locate aquatic features like lakes, rivers, and streams, determine the elevation of various points of involvement, and even visualize the steepness (or gradient) of various pieces of terrain.
How Do Topo Maps Work?
The key to agreement any topo map is understanding how all topo maps stand for elevation and terrain. If you've e'er seen a topo map before, for example, you might have noticed that information technology contains a collection of odd parallel lines, all swirling and bending in an almost psychedelic blueprint. Those lines are contour lines or, put simply, areas of the same peak occurring across the map surface. Think of it this way: if you took a mount and sliced information technology in half horizontally, you would create a airplane of equal elevation through the mountain with your cutting. This is roughly what a profile line represents – it's a marking denoting places across your map with the same superlative above sea level.
Depending on the resolution of your map, some contours will exist labeled to indicate the equal pinnacle they represent (e.g., 3000 feet, 3250 feet, 3500 feet, etc.). The unlabeled lines in between denote incremental changes in elevation between those labeled lines. The amount of top modify between adjacent contours will vary depending on the resolution of your map, but hither in the Appalachians this difference will typically exist somewhere around 50-100 feet.
When put together, these parallel contours create an prototype of the terrain for the area the map covers. When a mountain peak occurs, contours will appear stacked together an concentric rings of increasing superlative, with each contour generally getting smaller equally it nears the mountain's top. Lower areas along rivers and streams will appear in the opposite instance, where larger contours of decreasing pinnacle come up together, in many cases with a U or V shape marking a stream'due south headwaters. And the closer together the contours, the more than change in elevation y'all have occurring over a shorter distance…creating steeper terrain.
How can all this help in the backcountry?
One of the many benefits of a topo map is that yous can visualize the terrain of an area earlier yous get at that place. For example, does the trail you're hiking or planning to hike run forth a ridgetop, climb to a mountain peak, or follow the valley created by a stream? By examining where the trail you're hiking goes in relation to a map'southward contours, you tin generally see what types of habitat your trail volition traverse. And this can be key, since your wearable, gear, and preparation may need to differ depending on where you'll hike.
A topo map can as well help y'all examine the difficulty of a trail. Past looking at the distance between contours on the map, for example, you can tell if a trail is generally going to traverse an surface area with little peak gain or arise/descend steeply. Every bit a rule of thumb, if the trail runs parallel to the contours on your map, you can look information technology to exist relatively apartment, since the trail will be post-obit an area of roughly similar acme. This typically occurs in our area when a trail follows a low stream bottom or "slabs" effectually the side of a ridge. If the trail runs perpendicularly across several contours in quick succession, though, y'all're likely going to exist looking at a steep climb or descent. And the closer together the contours, the steeper that terrain volition be.
Lastly – and well-nigh importantly – a topo map can literally be a lifesaver if you get lost in the forest, particularly if used with a GPS or compass. Northward is ever "up" (or towards the top of the map) on a topo, meaning that you lot can get a crude bearing of your direction and the lay of the land by a unproblematic glance at the topo itself, provided that you know where you lot are. Many topo maps too contain latitude and longitude guides along the map'southward fringes, meaning that yous can pinpoint your exact location with relative certainty if you lot can get your current latitude and longitude from a GPS unit. And on top of that, many modern GPS units incorporate topo map base layers (or at least the option to purchase them) and so that yous tin can runway your movement across the map in existent-fourth dimension.
There's obviously much more than to topo maps than we're discussing hither, but hopefully this tin can at least serve as a useful introduction. If you're interested in learning more, try browsing the internet to examine some digital topos (Acme Mapper is a cracking – and free! – resource), or choice up a physical topo map from a local retailer. National Geographic, for example, has produced a serial of loftier-quality topos with trails and roads overlaid for outdoor recreation enthusiasts that covers most of our mountain region. You can purchase these online or via nigh regional outfitters. Articles by the U.S. Search and Rescue Task Strength and Indiana Academy Bloomington have some more info on topo map features and technical details.
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Source: https://highlonesometrails.wordpress.com/2016/07/04/backcountry-science-what-is-a-topo-map/
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