OT : Storing Topo maps ?

[Chris83716]

Can anyone recommend a good way to store USGS Topo maps? Rolled up in a tube works; but it is kind of a pain to find the specific one I'm looking for. Flat in a drawer would be great if I had a drawer that big. Am I missing something or is that just the way it is?

Chris

[Gobblerforge]

For keeping, I roll. For packing, I fold.
Gobbler

[mouthpiece]

I download & store them in my iPhone.

Forget paper - it's so 20th Century

[J Miller]

Mine are rolled up in a plastic storage box. I can see what's there and they stay clean and dry. A drawer would be nice, but they've been rolled up so long they'd never flatten out.

Joe

[geobru]

To keep them flat, you either have to have a drawer "that big", or rig up a hanging file so they can hang unfolded. Most of my maps get used and are folded.

[Hobie]

I used to have a map filing cabinet(s) with big drawers that was head high. You can store a lot of things flat. Prints, maps, flags, etc. I have also hung them on a rack and put them in cardboard portfolios in a rack (vertical storage). Barring that you are pretty much limited to folded (and there's a best way to do that) or rolled.

[Mike D.]

Topos? Dinosaur tools. All are on the computer and iPhone. Google Earth is another way to go.

[BigSky56]

Chris, I store mine in a tube and I number the maps on the top left corner on the back then on a sheet of paper that I store with the maps I match a name with a number. danny

[JReed]

I used to have all mine stored in a set of cubbyholes I had made for them. Each cubby was big enough for one rolled map and each was tagged with what map it was.

[Batman1939]

I've got well over 100 topo maps of Arizona. I don't use them much since I retired, but lying flat (in drawers) seems the best way to store them. When you want to pull one out to work with it, you don't have to constantly fight to keep it flat. If you need to take some into the field they can be put in tubes for safe carry. If you flop them over and put a book on them when you return from the field they should return to their previously flat configuration in a fairly short time. I don't like folding them as they will soon tear and the part you're interested in will ALWAYS be at the junction of two folds !!! This is a variation of the law that says when there are two guys in the locker room their lockers will ALWAYS be right next to one another.

As for topos being "old-fashioned"--it's really hard for me to get excited about planning my hunting tactics on my gps (or a modern cell phone if I had one). I'd rather have a topo if I'm going into an area with which I'm unfamiliar or haven't visited in a while. Call me a geezer.

[El Chivo]

I would sandwich them between cardboard dividers and stick the whole thing against the wall behind the dresser. You could probably get nice board close to the right size at an art store. Then when you open it up they would be nice and flat and you could earmark each map.

This would be a good time to scan them in and save them to CD, then print out just the areas you need for the day. I don't really like big maps blowing in the wind out in the field, so if I have it together I make copy of the portion I need on an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet.

[kimwcook]

My only thought with keeping all my maps on a GPS, phone or whatever is when that EMP comes you'll at least have something to hold the corners of your map from folding up. I get nervous relying too much on electronics. Yes, I'm officially an old geezer.

[markinalpine]

I've stored mine between two sheets of poster board. Keeps them flat. I hinged the poster boards together at the bottom with a paper strip held on with duct tape. I found a spot behind a dresser where I can slide the stored maps to get them out of the way.
Happy New Year,
Mark

[dkmlever]

I fold mine so the map's name is on the bottom right corner, then stack them in a box. Easy to flip through to see whichone I want.
I use both a GPS and a topo map, they are never out of style and still work when I don't get a signal or my batteries are dead.

[Griff]

Rolled up and stored in old Christmas wrapping paper tubes. Labeled and stored in the attic. Haven't used a topo in close to 15 years. But then, haven't hunted a "new" area in that long either!

[AJMD429]

Use 'binder clips' (the black spring-steel ones) about 1/2" or 1" in thickness (depending on how many maps and how thick your 'clipboard'), and about four of them along the top of a piece of plywood or masonite that size, holding ALL the maps flat, on the one board. Pop the wire handles OFF those clips and only put them on when you're adding another map. Use a 'cover sheet' if you want to protect the top map.



Keep several additional clips handy with the wire handles on them, to use on the sides and if needed on the bottom edge.

Number your maps sequentially in the lower corner, and have an 'index' on the cover sheet or wherever showing which one is which.

When you want to refer to one you can just un-do the side clips, roll the ones in front of it up over the top, and clip them in place on the back so they don't flop around, using the side clips.

Materials/Cost: 1 scrap of plywood, 8-10 binder clips, one poster-board 'cover' sheet.

If you need to remove the maps completely, vs. view them on the giant 'clipboard', just pop the wire handles back in the top spring binder clips, or leave them in, for that matter.

The whole thing can slip in behind a bookshelf, or beside a deep chest of drawers or file cabinet.

[Chris83716]

I think our resident doctor has the winning suggestion so far.

I've got the entire state of Idaho on CD but there is no way I'm packing a laptop in to some of the places I go.

Chris

[adirondakjack]

folded in ziplocks, sorted by county. write the name of the township on the edges of the map in several places, eliminating messing with the wrong one....

[KirkD]

Folded. Out in the wilderness a paper copy in a ziplock bag beats an electronic copy once the batteries are dead or the canoe flipped and electronics waterlogged or sunk. I cannot rely on any battery powered devices on extended wilderness trips although I do bring them along for convenience (especially a headlamp). I always like to have 19th century backup, including a paper topo map.

[mod71alaska]

Can anyone recommend a good way to store USGS Topo maps? Rolled up in a tube works; but it is kind of a pain to find the specific one I'm looking for. Flat in a drawer would be great if I had a drawer that big. Am I missing something or is that just the way it is?

Chris

Chris, check out using an artist's portfolio for your USGS topos then store the portfolio up against a wall out of the way. The thin portfolios come in many sizes up to very large.

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid ... Categories

[Noah Zark]

I use my topo maps, so they are all folded.

And, they keep on working long after the power's out and batteries die.

Noah

[adirondakjack]

Folded. Out in the wilderness a paper copy in a ziplock bag beats an electronic copy once the batteries are dead or the canoe flipped and electronics waterlogged or sunk. I cannot rely on any battery powered devices on extended wilderness trips although I do bring them along for convenience (especially a headlamp). I always like to have 19th century backup, including a paper topo map.

EGGSACKLY. My son makes fun of my
tethered gear" pocket on my hunting coat. One large side pocket has a bagged topo map for the area, and a 2AA maglight and a good compass, both of which are tethered to a "D" ring sewn into the pocket lining via para cord. The pocket flap snaps shut as well. Also in that same pocket are a fire starter kit, TP wrapped in foil (to be replaced by vacuum-sealed bag this year, now that I got the machine), and a coiled deer drag line of 1/8" braided nylon.

When ya take a fall, things get wet, etc, it's back to basics......

[mouthpiece]

"Chris, check out using an artist's portfolio for your USGS topos then store the portfolio up against a wall out of the way. The thin portfolios come in many sizes up to very large."

I have stored them (with one fold) in my x-ray valise.

[mouthpiece]

Topos? Dinosaur tools. All are on the computer and iPhone. Google Earth is another way to go.

iPhone doubles as flashlight, too. Paper cartography is Rooster Cogburn kinda stuff.

[adirondakjack]

Topos? Dinosaur tools. All are on the computer and iPhone. Google Earth is another way to go.

iPhone doubles as flashlight, too. Paper cartography is Rooster Cogburn kinda stuff.

I'm as high tech as the next guy. I love my "Droid 2", that will do all that stuff, compass, gps, flashlight, even tell me how to do bandages (if it has 3g, which is a big laugh in the back country) but I am NOT gonna truust my life to one if I get turned around in the big woods in cold weather, when possibly hurt, the kayak rolls, etc. Even with a decent GPS program and google maps, I want a paper back-up and a real needle compass.

[pdawg.shooter]

[quote="Mike D."]Topos? Dinosaur tools. All are on the computer and iPhone. Google Earth is another way to go.[/quo

Maybe, but my map and compass has never suffered a dead battery!

[AJMD429]

Even with a decent GPS program and google maps, I want a paper back-up and a real needle compass.

Me too. Just like having good enough shoes and coat to walk wherever I'm trying to drive, or a backup firearm and/or knife if in a 'survival' situation.