Topographic

Customizing Layer Content in Geospatial PDFs

September 21, 2021

How to create customized geospatial PDFs with layer controls.

Time Travel on your Smartphone

April 29, 2021

You can use historic maps and a simple app to explore the past using your smartphone.

Conservation completed for Science Hall’s oldest relief model

November 26, 2019

The oldest relief model in Science Hall, Edwin Howell’s 1875 “Grand Canyon of the Colorado and Southern Cliffs of Utah,” has been restored using conservation techniques.

WGNHS map sales office to close on December 30, 2019

September 17, 2019

The Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey (WGNHS) plans to close its map sales office on December 30, 2019. Users of USGS topographic maps should use this as an opportunity to switch to the newer “US Topos” that have replaced the USGS’s legacy paper topographic maps.

Using geospatial PDFs

August 1, 2017

This document provides an overview of geospatial PDFs and their basic features, as well as some of the tools available to interact with these files, using USGS US Topos as a case study. 2nd edition, published in 2019.

Topographic Maps

July 13, 2017

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) produces 1:100,000-scale county maps for each of the 72 counties in Wisconsin. These maps show topographic features including contours and elevation in meters, highways, roads and other manmade structures, water features, woodland areas, and geographic names. These maps vary in size depending on the particular county. USGS county maps in Wisconsin were generally produced between 1976 and 1990.