About Oregon Topo

• Frequently asked questions
• Technical information

The following questions are frequently asked (or, if they aren't, they probably should be).

Yes, they are really free. You can use them yourself, give them to your friends and even redistribute them, so long as you comply with the license agreement (which is pretty unrestrictive).

I'm not asking for money. I'm asking for donations. You don't have to pay me anything at all.

While the maps are free, many of the tools, and some of the data, used to create them were not. It would be nice to offset some of the expenses I've laid out in putting this map series together.

The satisfaction inherint in supporting my work. I'll probably be more amenable to continue this project if it's not such a black hole of time and money, though of course I can't make any guarantees about future development. I have a lot of projects that occupy my time.

I started with quads that were covered best by the data I had. In particular, I had detailed, recent, accurate road data for the Portland Metro area, so they were the first priority. Other, nearby quads might get done, but a lack of recent data leads to a lower priority.

Send me email. But, please, don't expect a personal reply or even rapid resolution! Problems will get fixed as my spare time allows.

I have no idea. Minor fixes might happen regularly. Updates of commercial data might happen less frequently, if at all, depending on the costs involved.

No.

No. If you are having trouble with MapSource, try updating to the latest version (the maps won't work with really old versions of MapSource). If it's a GPS problem, you might need to update your firmware (a problem with old GPSr's). Otherwise, you are on your own.

I do plan on releasing a version that doesn't require MapSource, though it will be more frustrating to use.

While I do have tools to make maps for Magellan GPS units, I do not actually own one, so that puts a damper on testing and quality control. There may be a Magellan version some day, and there may not be. I don't have tools for creating maps for other GPS manufacturers.

I could for some data, but not all of it. Data that I purchased, for example, does have restrictions on redistribution that I need to follow. However, I don't currently have any plans to do this, as that would require me to do twice as much work and I'm lazy. If you have a specific project in mind, then feel free to email me, and we'll talk.