TOPORAMA MAPS

Toporama maps have some unique properties when compared to paper maps or digital maps derived from scans of paper maps. They lack some of the detail of the paper maps such as contour elevations and some geographic names. They have an equal number of pixels in the horizontal axis regardless of the latitude which creates some distortion along the east/west axis. Normal maps are slightly narrower at the top than at the bottom. However, this does allow mosaicing of adjoining images without having to deal with the convergence of meridians.

Also all Toporama maps use the NAD 83 datum where as paper maps can be in either NAD 27 or NAD 83. The Toporama maps can also be more up to date than their corresponding paper copies.

View the Toporama site with a full sized window at this URL.

The maps are in GIF files which can be imported into most of the mapping programs in use today. Individual map files can be downloaded by navigating through the clickable map indexes to the map that you want then right clicking and saving the file (see tutorial).

Downloading the map files in bulk will be discussed later.

Toporama II

The Toporama site is being revamped to upgrade the interface. A prototype version was temporarily opened in August 2003 for review by users. It was structured like MapQuest with a map window in which the user could zoom and pan. Digital Elevation Data was also available.

Unfortunately the feature to access and download complete map sheets didn't seem to be there in this new version. Hopefully this will be in the final version as well as access to the map directories for bulk downloads.

Following the trial the NRC issued the following notice dated 2003/08/21

Toporama II and your comments

Hi!
Thank you for taking the time to register with NRCan Toporama II prototype a few weeks ago. More particularly, we want to thank those who took some of their precious time to provide us with comments. Your comments, quite numerous in fact, are essential to us and will be reflected in the orientation we will give to our site. The high number of comments as well as their relevance are an excellent indication of the interest shown for this kind of tool and you may rest assured that we will do our best to offer a friendly and efficient site as soon as possible.

Here is a summary of the most frequent comments:
- The response time is unsatisfactory
- Toporama II should allow for requests by co-ordinates
- Toporama II should allow for the loading of a complete topographic file (NTS)
- Research by toponym (place name) is inadequate
- The loss of the current view when you choose another product is irritating
- Display problems: shift, legend, text, etc.
- Topographic data is inaccurate
- 1:50 000 data missing

We'll spare you the 350 comments (constructive or not) received but be sure that as far as possible, they will all be taken into account. Toporama II prototype is now closed until we can offer a tool that is up to your expectations and that will meet our quality standards. Changes suggested by your comments are important and will likely take some time to be addressed but we hope to have Toporama II opened within a few months.

Web Services Team
Centre for Topographique Information
Natural Resources Canada
Email: wms_cits@NRCan.gc.ca

Manual Calibrations

Although the Toporama maps are free to download they do not come with the calibration files required for use in mapping programs like OziExplorer or Fugawi. This can be done manually by inputting the coordinates of known points on the map sheets in calibration routines which are part of these programs. In the case of Toporama maps the coordinates (latitude and longitude) of the upper left corner are shown below the map sheet on the web site. Please note that this information is not shown on the GIF files that you download so it's best to make a note of it while downloading. Also all of the map sheets are in the NAD 83 datum.

Map sheets for southern Canada (below 69º latitude) are .25 degrees in height (latitude) and .5 degrees in width (longitude) so it's a simple matter to calculate the coordinates for the other three corners of the map. Depending on the mapping program you will need a minimum of two or three points for the calibration. Generally speaking the more points entered the more accurate the resulting calibration so it can't hurt to use all four corners.

The Equidistant Cylindrical projection should used when calibrating Toporama maps for use in Fugawi.

Precalibrated Maps

If you don't want to take the time to download and calibrate the toporama maps sheets there is another option. The maps are available on CD with calibrations for Ozi, Memory Map or Fugawi. The costs charged (pennies per map) are to cover creating the calibrations along with time, materials and expenses. After you've done manual calibrations you will appreciate how much time these could save.

Chuck Gale has two CD's which cover all of Canada south of the 52nd parallel at the 1:50000 scale. The CD's are nice because you can simply import the maps and they end up properly organized on your machine. One covers east of the Ontario Manitoba border, the other west. Currently CD's are shipped C.O.D. at $35 (Cdn) each. Contact cgale@playground.net for more information.

Dave Patton's site Canadian Information Systems has six Cd's which cover all of Canada at both 1:50000 and 1:250000. The CDs are organized according to the Canadian NTS System Index Maps and are $75 to $80 Cdn each. Dave also has satellite images of Canada available at his site.

SaBaMap also offers Toporama maps calibrated for OziExplorer. They are offered on 10 CDs covering the following regions: Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, Prairies and Pacific (2 CDs for each region). Included with the maps is a Transformed Canadian Geographical Names Database, that contains ~125000 topographic names, names of airports, campgrounds, fixed and floating navigation aids, lighthouses, marinas, harbors, wreck and obstructions.

Each region (2CDs with maps and databases with names + instruction) costs 40CAD (taxes and Charge On Delivery by Post Canada included). 5 regions (maps and geographical names of the Canada) costs 150CAD (taxes and Charge On Delivery by Post Canada included). For more information please contact sabamap@videotron.ca

The summary below compares the cost of CDs of calibrated Toporama maps.