Author Topic: Contour only maps  (Read 5553 times)

Mark331

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Contour only maps
« on: February 24, 2015, 08:28:23 PM »
Apologies if this is covered somewhere but I am new to the forum - excuses out of the way.
I would welcome recommendations as to suitable sources of contour only maps of the UK.  Ideally, downloadable, printable to hardcopy and maybe even free!
If available I would initially practice navigating using a contour only map in the south Oxfordshire area.
Thanks.

ianj37

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Re: Contour only maps
« Reply #1 on: February 25, 2015, 02:52:32 PM »

I don't think you can get them from OS but Harvey Maps (www.harveymaps.co.uk) do produce contour only maps as part of their custom mapping service - unfortunately no idea of the cost. Harvey don't produce maps for the whole of the UK and I would have thought, but I'm by no means certain, that they only provide contour only maps for the areas that  they produce full maps for.

At the back of my mind is the possibility that I read on a forum somewhere, or equally I could have dreamed it, that someone had scanned a section of an OS map and then used their Photoshop skills to remove all colours but brown so producing some sort of a contour only map but, if it were indeed possible, I would have thought it must be far from perfect as the contours would have a gap in them where e.g. a stream crossed.

I also believe the Talkytoaster company (www.talkytoaster.co.uk) that produce maps for Garmin GPSs somehow add OS contour information to an existing open source map so maybe they can produce some sort of contour only map.

Hope this helps.

Mark331

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Re: Contour only maps
« Reply #2 on: February 25, 2015, 06:05:34 PM »
Thank you.  I will have a look at the Harvey Maps first.

ianj37

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Re: Contour only maps
« Reply #3 on: February 25, 2015, 08:01:32 PM »
Probably stating the obvious I know, but I should perhaps also have mentioned that Harvey use a different contour interval to OS.

captain paranoia

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Re: Contour only maps
« Reply #4 on: February 26, 2015, 01:29:38 AM »
Well, it is possible to make them yourself, using SRTM data and LandSerf.

LandSerf is a a free geomorphology analysis tool, and will import the SRTM .hgt files, reproject them to OSGB, and can be made to extract contours at a given interval.  I've played with this a bit, and the match to an OS map's contours was pretty good.

Here are some examples of relief shading and contours in the Brecons.  No there aren't; they're too big...  That's a shame. 

LandSerf
SRTM Data
« Last Edit: February 26, 2015, 01:32:57 AM by captain paranoia »

captain paranoia

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Re: Contour only maps
« Reply #5 on: February 28, 2015, 11:07:03 PM »
Talking of SRTM, I see that the US have decided to release the 1arcsecond data for the entire world; previously they'd chosen to release only a sub-sampled 3arcsecond data set, probably for security reasons.

I note that the only area where the increased resolution data will not be released is a hole covering the major areas of current conflict...

http://www.digital-geography.com/srtm-1-1-arc-second-now-available-large-global-coverage

I've downloaded the data for UK & Eire from the USGS website:

http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/

Haven't yet had a chance to play with it.