The topographic map series have been available in paper form for all of Wisconsin for almost two decades, and have a great variety of uses. They are printed using a special set of ink colors, and features are separated by color. For instance, blue is reserved for water, green for forest, and only contour lines are brown. However, boundaries, text, and geodetic control points are all printed in black.
Where to Purchase
Find a Topo Map
Revisions
Where to Purchase? - Map Dealers
in Wisconsin
Other Producers of Topo Maps
• State Agencies: The Wisconsin Department of Transportation produces
very large-scale strip topo maps used in the planning and detailed designing
of highway and airports.
• Regional Agencies: The Southeast
Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission produced large-scale topo maps
for the seven counties in its region, and uses them as a base map for constructing
overlays depicting property boundaries, soils, wetlands, etc. Each topo
map covers approximately 1/4 of a square mile at a scale of 1:2,400 (1
= 200'), and has two foot elevation contours.
• Local Agencies: Some local governments and private businesses produce
very large-scale topo maps, usually of small-area sites. While copies of
these maps are not readily available to the public through a single outlet,
government offices are required to make their material available under
Open Records laws.
Ordering Out-of-Print Topo Maps The WGNHS has produced an updated, free, single sheet Index to USGS
Topographic Maps of Wisconsin.
The USGS also publishes an Index and Catalog of Topo Maps for Wisconsin.
The state index lists the various map series for Wisconsin produced by
the USGS along with the individual topo maps within each map series. The
state catalog, which is updated and reissued periodically, lists only those
topo maps available for the state of Wisconsin from USGS.
To search for topos on-line, try USGS
Map Finder
By state statute, responsibility for administering and coordinating
Wisconsin's topographic mapping by federal agencies is assigned to the
state geologist who directs the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History
Survey (WGNHS).
Most of the USGS topo maps for Wisconsin were funded under 50:50 cost
sharing arrangements. Wisconsin's funding for the 1:24,000-scale series,
mostly provided by our state departments of transportation (DOT) and natural
resources (DNR) in addition to the WGNHS, totaled $4.9 million. Beyond
matching that amount, additional federal funds were allocated, bringing
the total investment to $11.9 million (not adjusted for inflation).
After the 1:24,000-scale series was completed in 1985 for Wisconsin,
the WGNHS maintained a $20,000 annual state program to fund quad revision,
but even that modest amount fell victim to budget cuts in 1995.
Although as many as 1,500 7.5-minute quadrangles per year are being
revised in the United States, none of these are complete revisions. Very
few revisions include contour updates, new control, or field verification
of content. Map revision standard and procedures currently in place will
be used for at least several more years by the USGS. They also have no
specific plans to return to a program of new mapping by collecting new
control and doing new field verification. In order to revise a greater
number of maps with available funding, topographic map revision will continue
to be done with remote and secondary sources for the foreseeable future.
Unfortunately, the level of revision funding in Wisconsin is seriously
insufficient, resulting in the updating of less than 1 percent of the map
series since its completion in 1985. As of 1992, over 60 percent of the
maps in the series are already over 12 years old. At the current rate of
funding support, revising each of the 1154 7.5- minute quadrangles, just
once each, would require more than 160 years!
Our office maintains a list of map dealers that sell USGS topo maps in or near
Wisconsin. We are not a map sales outlet but can refer you to places that
do sell USGS topo maps. There are also map libraries across the state that
have topo maps for viewing purposes. Most federal depository libraries
have a collection of the USGS topo maps. GPO maintains a website that let
users search for federal depository libraries as well as the documents
or maps they have. To find a library nearest you with your need, visit
the GPO Federal Depository Library Program.
- GPO
Federal Depositoty Library Program
Besides the USGS, a number of state, regional and local Wisconsin agencies
produce topo maps for various areas. These maps are usually designed to
suit the agencies' own particular needs, and tend to be very large-scale.
The USGS preserves out-of-print maps
on microfilm. Using photographic techniques, reasonably legible black-and-white
paper reproductions can be reproduced from the microfilm original. Contact
the USGS for more information on obtaining out-of-print maps.
The topographic map series have been available in paper form for all
of Wisconsin for almost two decades, and have a great variety of uses.
To assist in selecting a topographic quad, several options are available.
Less than 10% of Wisconsin's coverage of the USGS topo maps have been
revised since 1980. None of this work has been full replacement mapping
(the most costly alternative) but has involved updates to selected features.
A block of 42 quads surrounding Lake Winnebago were updated in the mid-1990s
(with federal funds) using a computerized process and a modified symbol
scheme.
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