TopoZone is a website operated by Locality LLC that offers free online topographic maps. It was founded in November 1999 by Ed McNierney whose company Maps a la carte, Inc. operated out of North Chelmsford, Massachusetts. Prior to founding the company, McNierney, an organic chemistry graduate of

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

, was chief technology officer for Eastman Software, a division of

Eastman Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

. In 2003 the company partnered with the

National Map ''The National Map'' is a collaborative effort of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other federal, state, and local agencies to improve and deliver topographic information for the United States. The purpose of the effort is to provi ...

making its 20-Terabyte library of digital topographic maps and aerial photography available to the USGS. The 2003 press release of the partnership said that 300 million maps had been served from 1999 to 2003. TopoZone was one of the first topographic mapping site on the web, providing visitors with free viewing and printing of the full set of

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

topographic maps In modern mapping, a topographic map or topographic sheet is a type of map characterized by large- scale detail and quantitative representation of relief features, usually using contour lines (connecting points of equal elevation), but histori ...

covering the entire

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The maps are produced by the

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

, which encourages the distribution of their maps through business partners. TopoZone offered aerial photographs from the

and street maps from the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

. In 2007 complete coverage of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

was added, using the topographic map series produced by

Natural Resources Canada Natural Resources Canada (NRCan; french: Ressources naturelles Canada; french: RNCan, label=none)Natural Resources Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Natural Resources (). is the depa ...

. In 2007 McNierney sold the company to Demand Media and stayed on as chief mapmaker until the company was taken over by Trails.com.McNierney profile at linkin.com
/ref> On April 9, 2008, Topozone was incorporated into Demand Media's Hillclimb Media subsidiary Trails.com. Links to individual TopoZone maps now forward to Trails.com, with maps limited to small size and strongly watermarked. An annual $50 subscription is required to access larger maps without watermarks. Demand Media discontinued the site in 2014 and it was eventually acquired by Locality LLC and relaunched in December 2015.

References

External links

TopoZone
Topography techniques Web Map Services Map companies of the United States Maps of Canada Maps of the United States Companies based in Massachusetts {{website-stub

See also

References

External links