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Colorado
Revised May 2010

High Resolution Topographic Maps
for
 Garmin GPS Receivers
by
Above the Timber

 

40-Foot Contours:

Above the Timber's Colorado Topos are at 40-foot intervals, the same as standard 7.5-minute USGS Quad maps. Because of the multi-layered nature of the maps, as you zoom out, contours will automatically reduce to 200 foot intervals to avoid contour clutter.

High Resolution Water Data:

Besides the contour interval, the High Resolution Water Data is what makes these maps stand out. Most vector maps only have named water features, named lakes and streams. For every named water feature, their are 100-unnamed water features. To the extent possible with USGS water feature databases, ALL unnamed water features are on these maps. We're talking beaver pond resolution!!!  Additionally, most Colorado rivers are shown at their true extent, bank to bank, not just a line indicating river.

Public Lands in Unique Colors:

Virtually all Colorado public lands are included on these maps and most have a unique color for quick identification. The 2010 maps started from a newer lands data layer and has more accurate polygons.

Here's a comparison of Above the Timbers maps verses two different Garmin Topo maps:

30-minute Coverage per Map:

Each map segment covers an area of 30 x 30 minutes of arc or exactly 16 - 7.5 minute Quad Maps. These maps seamlessly join one to another, therefore you can have the entire coverage area as one seamless map inside your GPS receiver. Their are in total 120 - 30-min maps in the Colorado map set. All segments are at 24,000:1 (24K) resolution. The total map set is 220MB.

Covers ALL of Colorado:

Extensive Geologic Feature Points:

Their are over 40,000 points of interest showing summits, mines, cemeteries, arches, pillars, basins, springs, flats, ridges, cliffs, waterfalls, communication towers, passes and on and on. For example, Colorado has over 7000 named and positioned mines, they're all here! If you're in the vicinity of a mine, look for the mine symbol on your Garmin GPS for its name.

National Park, Forest Service and BLM Trails and Fourteener Routes:

All of the National Forest Trails are now named and/or numbered. New in 2010, many BLM trails are shown, these include the Gunnison Gorge, Montrose FO, Gunnison FO and the Little Snake FO. The last includes the 100-mile long Yampa Valley Trail.

Last mile routes for each of Colorado's 54-Fourteeners are now shown in a unique dot line type. Every Fourteener has a least one trail and/or route leading to its summit, some have three. The screenshot below gives an example where trails start from a trailhead and routes lead from the defined trail "the last mile" to the summit.

Because both routes and trails are vectors, their line definition does not change as you zoom in, unlike a paper map. If a switchback exists and is not visible at the 0.5 mile scale as shown below, at the 500 foot scale that same switchback will be very apparent and shown in the context of the contours and with the same dot spacing you see below.

A note about routes, trails and routes are not the same, routes may have no visible on ground indication of their existence unlike a trail. Routes are simply lines on a map, nothing more. Also, just because the line exists, it does not mean you have the necessary skills for the route. Users are advised to research the route before attempting them as some are very steep with considerable exposure. See the Capitol Peak screenshot, top of this page, that route goes over the knife edge with thousands of feet of air on both sides, the map will not help you cross that feature, it's up to you.

Latest  Roads:

Major state and federal highways shown in distinct colors and with unique shields for quick identification. All city streets are included, while not routable, the road features greatly aid navigation.

Ski Lifts & Trams:

Every ski lift and tram is shown in a unique ski lift line type. Each lift is described as follows: Name, Capacity, Elevation Gain, Type and Sub-Type. Lifts not included are beginner lifts of ~100 feet or less at the bottom of the mountain. Like every other vector on the map, simply touch the lift line with your cursor for a complete description.

 

Game Management Unit Borders:

Division of Wildlife Big Game (Deer & Elk) Game Management Unit borders have been added at the 1:24,000 scale of the maps. That's equivalent to having a single borderless paper map 980 x 720 inches or 82 x 60 feet. Significantly more precision than any PDF print or text description. See your exact position relative to a GMU border in the field, then use your GPS to measure how far away the border is from your position. All border lines are labeled with the adjacent area numbers, for quick reference.

The above screenshot will give you an idea of the complex nature of the GMU's and how these maps can assist you in the field.

Free Trial Download:

Here's a 2 MB file which will demonstrate all the features of the Colo GPS Topos. It will show all highway types, wilderness, BLM, state land, national forest, city areas, ski lifts, GMU's and much, much more. The map is in a self-extracting executable file. The map will appear in MapSource or BaseCamp as Colo Topo Demo and you can load it into any Garmin mapping GPS. If you're new to MapSource, these screenshots will help immensely. You can also use this download to verify that Above the Timber's maps will work in your Garmin GPS receiver.

PC Download  A link to download the latest version of Mapsource is included in the PC file.

Mac Download  See the Mac installation directions here.

Cost and Upgrade:

$49.95  Click the price link for Order Type Options.

For the cost of a half-dozen paper 7.5-minute USGS Quads, you can buy this map set with the same coverage as 1792 - 7.5-minute Quads. That's less than $0.03 per Quad. The paper equivalent is a single borderless map 980 x 720 inches or 82 x 60 feet.

The upgrade options will differ depending on whether you downloaded or bought retail, here's the Upgrade Link.

Change Log:

A web page that shows a history of map changes by version number: Change Log

Screenshots:

A detailed wide view to show trails and major features. Wilderness areas are shown in this buff color to both distinguish them from forest,
but also that the color not overwhelm the fine detail. Trails, red dashed line, are now easy to see against the contours.

 

Of note, the snow field "glacier" on the upper-right, the ponds along East Brush Creek, made possible by the high resolution water data
 and the wetland on the left at the 11,600 contour.

 

Every pass is identified by the unique symbol seen here.

 
 
 

States
Arizona | Colorado | New Mexico | Utah | Washington

 

 

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© Above the Timber 1997-2010 • Last Updated July 04, 2010