I Went To The USGS Yesterday

[SandStorm]

The guy there said, and I quote, "You must be going to the same place as the last person who was here. These are the same maps."

Maps: Marion Peak, Mt. Tom, Sharktooth Peak, Sphinx Lakes, Mt. Brewer

So. Who's the guilty party?

[maverick]

Which USGS office, there are quite a few of them?

[SandStorm]

Roger, Maverick. The Menlo Park building. Thanks, brother.

[SandStorm]

For what it's worth, if you're in the Bay Area, or close, the USGS in Menlo Park has every 7.5 minute map in CA.

USGS Map Store
345 Middlefield Road
West Willow Road exit off 101, at the end of Survey Lane, which is just a few blocks down.
650-329-4358

[rlown]

I love that place.. Like a candy store

[TehipiteTom]

Which USGS office, there are quite a few of them?

Not as many as there used to be.

(555 Battery was the one I used to frequent. Long gone, which is especially unfortunate since I work 3 blocks from there.)

[ManOfTooManySports]

I bought some 7.5s from USGS on-line. They are obviously printed to order. But the paper stock was not as thick as maps I used to get from REI, etc. before they stopped selling them. Are the maps bought from the office the same heavy stock as before?

And may I get on a soapbox and whine for a moment? Has the usage of good topo maps really gone down so much that there is no point in selling them? Are people that reliant on GPS or broad area maps? Are people just not going to where you'd need topos? I've done trips with only Tom Harrison maps, but only when I am strictly on well-used trails. And if I had a GPS I'd still bring topos as back-up. (And, no, I don't want to restart the flame wars of GPS vs. maps.) Whiny rant over.

[SandStorm]

Hey, there's a big difference between legit bull**** and ranting. I went into the North Face flagship store off Union Square yesterday. It is now a boutique. The Neiman Marcus across the street is now a Marmot store.

[SSSdave]

Was in there a few months ago and noticed they moved into a small room upstairs. Their map room used to have stack collections of most of the western states maps but now just house California. So as I usually do, went around pulling out a stack of maps. But then when I looked at the quality of printing, noticed some were not as sharp. Person at desk explained they are not using the same printer for replacements when the old maps run out although the cost is still $8 a 24k map instead of $2 as it was for years in the old days. Also said would need to go through the Denver office now for other states. I put back several maps that were apparently printed by the new printer, just keeping the high quality older ones. For the quality I saw, I can get the same by downloading libremap.com and printing on my R2880 inkjet, though need to tape sheets together.

Anyone visiting the map sales also might visit the USGS Library next door the has a world of fascinating maps, books, and documents especially lots of one of a kind old stuff.

David

[ManOfTooManySports]

The print quality of the stuff they mailed was good--not as good, but usable without a problem. The paper was of a lesser quality, though. I need to get a client with a really good large format printer so I can do some late night work.