Free Topo maps for ALL!!!!

I had no idea this existed! Finally, something our government did that kicks ass! Apparently there's a way to download these to your GPS so you don't have to spend $150 to get the Canadian maps CD. I've just started playing with it so I don't have any details. The elevation lines on the maps I've looked at so far are at 20m. Really good detail.

http://geogratis.cgdi.gc.ca/geogratis/en/index.html

This is a great resource. Thanks.

awesome. thanks!

there's an iphone/touch app thats $6 and apparently you can download these topo maps for free. Haven't got round to downloading yet.

another great site where you can make your own maps, print them to shatever scale you want, and on whatever size paper you want
http://www.mapplace.ca
click on the first time users to download the plugin, then you can open up the maps, turn on whatever layers you want

Where can I get the program to be able to see these maps?

The canadian government one can download as a TIF (but I don't recommend it as the files are HUGE) or as two versions of PDF (one is georeferenced, other is just regular PDF). They download as a zip file which when you open it has a bunch of text files (french and english versions) and a PDF which is the map. Looking up the map you want is a bit disjointed. First go to the "New CanTopo Product now available!" section and click on the "CanTopo" link. The page that will pop up has a search box where you can look by Name (pain in the ass don't bother) or there's a map of canada with a numbered grid which you can zoom in on. Once you've gotten to an area you'd like a map of click the "Search Available Datasets" button and a list of all the maps that were in the map window pops up. You can click off the ones you don't want using the check boxes next to them then hit submit (a bit of a waste of time) then a second page that you can select form comes up and at the bottom of that you can pick the file format. Don't bother checking any off yet just hit the "Download" button. Now, you'll be at the download page. Hopefully you remember the number of the map you were looking for from the first map window, if not go back. Mouse over the number of the map and click on it. Select save (if you try to open the file it probably won't work as it's too big). Once it's saved open the map file and enjoy. I still havn't played around with the GPS download. I'm going to look it up as I don't want to screw anything up. As soon as I have info I'll put it up here.

If you like looking at big real maps and not computer maps, the main Library at UBC(2nd floor) has the full collection of printed BC trim Maps at 1:25000 and photocopiers that can copy the whole map for a few bucks.

Ya, BCIT has the same thing. If you wanted to print out the maps on the website full size you'd probably need a D size plotter. You could probably take the file to a printing place but it'd probably be more expensive than photocopying.

geobc is a huge resource as well

http://www.geobc.gov.bc.ca/

they offer lots of free stuff, like web mapping services (wms), or just view base map stuff in google earth - http://ilmbwww.gov.bc.ca/dm/wms/index.html

there is hillshade, imagery, transportation, contours, etc, etc. it's all just graphics sent over the web though…if you want the actual data most likely it'll cost you

if you have the time, download a wms viewer (http://ilmbwww.gov.bc.ca/dm/wms/viewers.html) like arcexplorer

or use the online map builder at http://webmaps.gov.bc.ca/imfx/imf.jsp?site=imapbc to do all mentioned above then output to pdf

SO RAD!!! Just checking out the Land title and Survey, freakin' awesome! (It's like porno for bushwhackers!)

there's an iphone/touch app thats $6 and apparently you can download these topo maps for free. Haven't got round to downloading yet.

Or you can just view the PDF for free.

If you like looking at big real maps and not computer maps, the main Library at UBC(2nd floor) has the full collection of printed BC trim Maps at 1:25000 and photocopiers that can copy the whole map for a few bucks.

Just went copied one of Burke today after reading this. Thanks!