Hello all, I have a unique situation where I need a topo map for my parcel in Nevada. Since I am not a surveyor I thought I would locate a forum that was full of professionals that do just that and so, here I am.
I have a 1186 acre parcel that is located in Esmeralda County, NV and would like to take the parcel map and create a Topo map from the data that I have. Basically I need the elevation lines on the existing map. I do have the digital data, map, and surveyed locations. Is there a software program that can take the coordinates from the survey and create such a map? Additionally since this is a one time issue for me it is not feasible to spend a ton of money on a software suite that will be used once.
Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you
Jim
I suggest you contact the county auditor or assessor and find out if they have or are developing a Geographic Information System (GIS) for the county. The accuracy of these varies in some systems the property lines are off by 100 feet or more. Property lines shown should not be relied on for anything but preliminary planning. If you are planning construction or site development accurate surveys of the portion of the parcel will be required. However, for a parcel as large as you are working with it may provide a general idea of the relationship of your parcel to roads streams and other identifiable physical features.
Are you looking for survey grade or just the USGS?
There was some fellow posting on here a few months ago who created a very inexpensive map that provided the GIS boundary with the USGS topo. His website was misleading, so do not expect survey grade data from the source.
> I suggest you contact the county auditor or assessor and find out if they have or are developing a Geographic Information System (GIS) for the county. The accuracy of these varies in some systems the property lines are off by 100 feet or more. Property lines shown should not be relied on for anything but preliminary planning. If you are planning construction or site development accurate surveys of the portion of the parcel will be required. However, for a parcel as large as you are working with it may provide a general idea of the relationship of your parcel to roads streams and other identifiable physical features.
Thank you for the reply, I guess I should have been more clear on my original post. I did have an official survey conducted on the parcel which has now been recorded at the county. This is a very rural area with the entire county only having a population of 900-1000. The county still at this point does not do much by way of digital anything. All documents are in hard copy format and nothing is available through a website etc. I am looking for a topographical map of the property as preliminary planning at this point. I have already shot off an email to the surveyor that conducted the boundary survey and created the plat map for me. It is my intent to have him also conduct a topographical study of the parcel when we decide to develop the land. At this point I am looking for "USGS" grade (as previously mentioned) for my preliminary assement and layout for future development. I was not sure if there was a simple software program that would be able to give rough elevation.
Jim
You could grab the USGS topo quads from here:
http://store.usgs.gov/b2c_usgs/usgs/maplocator/(xcm=r3standardpitrex_prd&layout=6_1_61_48&uiarea=2&ctype=areaDetails&carea=%24ROOT)/.do
The National Map viewer can provide spot elevations:
http://viewer.nationalmap.gov/viewer/
You could also try uploading your data to an ArcGIS online topo map (it needs to be in SHP, CSV, or GPX format):
http://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?useExisting=1
I agree with the USGS approach, it's fairly easy to use the image files.
What software are you using to view the survey data or do you have a paper copy?
If you have the paper copy only, a copy shop would be able to scale up the USGS map to the scale of the survey plan, you could then trace the topographic lines.
If you go this route, I would suggest that you do not include the original surveyors information, ie. title block, name, stamp, etc, as it will appear to some that he did the work. That's happened to me and the client was then informed he would need another surveyor to do his work and they wouldn't be using any of my data.
Good luck
Well, since you asked
Yes there are tons of ways to make this work, and NONE OF THEM are really all that good unless you get a true topo. I'd love to topo 1186 acres on a 50' grid. That would be the job of the year (and 100k or better worth of cost also).
But, in the interest of data manipulation/molestation, it is possible to take a quadrangle sheet and put behind the digital plat and see the 10' contour lines, assuming the job was done on the grid and you can geo-reference the quad sheet to the proper projection. Otherwise you're at a "rubber sheeting" point and it's never gonna be as good as anything.
Once you've done that, you can continue to fool yourself by allowing programs like AutoCAD to interpolate the contours down to 2' for planning.
Hope this helps.
Well, since you asked
> Yes there are tons of ways to make this work, and NONE OF THEM are really all that good unless you get a true topo. I'd love to topo 1186 acres on a 50' grid. That would be the job of the year (and 100k or better worth of cost also).
>
In Louisiana, the savvy surveyor would download the lidar data/surveys from the state..and voila..
instant topo.
no need to step into the field except for some QC on important locations.
Well, since you asked
Thanks guys! I just downloaded a copy of a USGS map and overlaid the boundaries of the parcel. Just a quick way for planning. If it goes any further than this I am sure I will be able to hire somebody to create a formal topography of the site.
Thanks again
Jim
Well, since you asked
In the future, you may want to get an aerial survey for the topo unless it is forest land.
Muddy
I'm not aware of a statewide lidar for Texas. I just get it from tnris.
I'm not knowin' what you had done but typically a boundary survey of a large rural parcel would not include topography unless there was a specific separate contract item for it which would cost a lot of dollars.
Well, since you asked
You could always find your area on Google Earth, make an image file and then create the contours from the Google surface. Not sure of the accuracy, but probably good enough for general planning.
The dangerous thing about using USGS level topo info for significant investment-type planning is that it is far too crude. In my area, 10-foot contours are the norm. Much can happen, up or down, without hitting the next 10-foot contour. We have submitted quite a few elevation certificates to support LOMA's proving such problems.
