As a long-time user of TOPO! to do terrain modeling, I have a couple of
comments:
1) the program is easy to use, but is only useful for those geographical
areas for which the company has produced it's custom maps. See their web
site at www.topo.com for map availability.
2) the maps are based on the USGS's digital elevation maps (DEM) and
therefore constrained by them - minimum distance between points of about
132 feet.
3) as others have said, the program displays the profile over any arbitrary
route, but does not provide an easy method of getting the data out. You can
directly read out distance and elevation by moving a cursor over the
profile, but there is no provision to output a text file.
4) when I first got the program, I spoke with the developer about a version
that would be more useful for hams, but they are basically uninterested in
producing a version that could produce a file of elevation data. They see
their major market (probably correctly) as being for
hikers/cyclists/campers, etc. All of their efforts are going into producing
more maps, rather than changes to the software.
5) I wrote a short review of the TOPO! program in my editor's column in the
Nov/Dec 1997 issue of the SCCC newsletter, which can be found at the sccc
web site: http://www.contesting.com/sccc/
6) I interpreted N4KG's original request that started this thread as
relating to a method of measuring the profile of the actual terrain at his
QTH, not that found on a USGS map of his QTH. In otherwords, the profile as
the land currently exists today and at finer increments than available from
the USGS.
73 de Bruce, WA7BNM (bhorn@hornucopia.com)
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