@Robb — Yes it’s crossed my mind to cut out and laminate maps in the past, but I’ve never quite gotten around to it. I know plenty of people who print off relevant sections of maps before leaving. Even if you have a complete map stashed away, it can help to have a much smaller section easily accessible.

I’ve noticed with the new Topo50 (and Topo250) systems, LINZ seems to be making a clear effort to make all the maps and data far more easily available. This is awesome, given it’s public information in the first place. It’s great being able to access it so easily without having to pay a commercial middle-man, as has been the case with many digital editions of NZ topo maps that took the LINZ data and re-formatted it.

It’s something I’d like to watch closely in the next few years, though, because I’d like to see how it affects the way people take maps out with them. I have a suspicion that the ease of access to mapping data will encourage more people to produce their own maps, which in turn could lead to people producing sub-standard maps that might result in previously uncommon ways for people to get into trouble. (Think unreliable paper, toner that doesn’t stick properly, maps printed with the relevant grid information not available, maps cut so small as to have chopped off information that would otherwise be very useful if it became necessary to change plans, and so on.) It’s just a theory at this point, of course.

@Craig — It crossed my mind to try and write a better guide to the changes (at least for the lower North Island), but I guess it’s just a blog post at this point. Maybe it could be a working document to be collaborated on in the future. I do think it’s a shame that there’s still so much sea on some of the maps — the LINZ decision was to only shift boundaries for maps to overlap a maximum of 33% with neighbouring maps, and it still seems to have left some with large amounts of sea.

My understanding from gossip (not reliable!) is that it’s unlikely Terralink will print any specialised maps in the near future, since they lost the overall printing contract now that LINZ does it in-house, and it’s probably not economically feasible for them. Kind of a shame because the double-sided Terralink map of the complete Tararaus was a really nice compromise, though I went off using it after a while because (as you mentioned) I kept wanting to look at off-track contour lines that they’d scratched out to write little tourist notes about old log haulers several kilometres away.

It would be really cool though even if LINZ could be convinced to designate a few specialised maps with shifted borders in certain parts of the grid, which I guess at the very least would require some kind of demonstration of enough interest. It may also be that the systems and information are open enough that it’d be easier for someone else to come in and do exactly that.

Would be a great idea if there was a table of maps associated with recreational areas. You’ve made a good start for the lower North Island.

Plenty of the new Topo50′s have lots of ocean on them for writing trip journals while waiting for a river to go down. Not much other purpose for all that sea without marine hazards identified.

With all the data available, hopefully Terralink or someone else might create a few recreational maps covering those areas? Hopefully not with too much purple text about kauri dams etc covering the important contour lines!

Craig.