I had a CAD Tech bring me a subdivision plat to review this morning and I notice that the vicinity map is basically a screen shot from Google Maps. I believe this is copyrighted material in addition to being not very reproducible. What do you use to make vicinity maps? I used to use TxDOT County road maps, but I think they stopped updating those in 2009 or earlier.
I used to trace over the image from one of the online maps and then delete the image after.?ÿ
I overlay a map and trace out linework as needed to make a map for my needs.
?ÿI use the TxDot country road maps, and add any roads if I need to.
on a related note... I hate vicinity maps.?ÿ?ÿ?ÿ They usually end up looking like space filler to me.?ÿ?ÿ?ÿ I can see if you are in a really remote area, you might want to use them to narrow the location for the user.... but don't we all have interactive maps in our pockets these days??ÿ
https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=3/71.34/-96.82
"OpenStreetMap is a map of the world, created by people like you and free to use under an open license."
I too dislike mandatory vicinity maps; they just eat up valuable white space.?ÿ A?ÿ survey shows the precise location of boundaries, roads, etc., which makes a vicinity map redundant.?ÿ Yah, I've heard the argument; their purpose is to help John Q. Public locate the site.?ÿ Well, maps are made with surveyors et. al.?ÿ as the target audience; somebody lame enough to need a vicinity map may not do so well when interpreting the body of the map.
After some discussion, it has been decided to involve our GIS department. They have plenty of current, publicly sourced data to generate what's needed. The more I look at the Google product, the less I like it. Too hard to read and not reproducible.
I'm with Andy on this; do we really need a vicinity map in this day and age?
But; I do like most others; I trace over another map. I did work for a company that had the whole county on a cd and you could cut the area out and insert it into your drawing.
I remember looking at tiger maps, but I couldn't get it to work for me...
i think it would be better to have one of those QR codes on the map...?ÿ you could link all kinds of data to the map.?ÿ?ÿ might be a good marketing idea .?ÿ?ÿ You're welcome.
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@dgm-pls This is how I do mine.?ÿ Copy an image of Google Maps then trace it.
I've seen a good handful of standard google street maps used as a vicinity map. I've seen them in PDFs where everything is B&W except the google map - looks a bit odd to me.
Google kind of tip toes around the legality here: about.google/brand-resource-center/products-and-services/geo-guidelines/
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Below are a few sites where you can play with the style of google based maps (I've played around with these to get a nice B&W or greyscale base map with no labels then just throw on a few critical labels of my own in CAD):
https://mapstyle.withgoogle.com/
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I've also used GIS shapefiles of roads and waterbodies, rivers, etc.. Then add a handful of critical labels. This can take a bit of time to get the shapefiles into CAD and even longer if you are worried about styling and appearance.
One of my clients requires a vicinity map.?ÿ Although actually contractually undefined, we've settled on a little square representing the section with info on the township and range and a little arrow indicating the project location within the section.?ÿ I feel no way about it except that the client wants it so it's there.
What I think's funny is that the only people that really need to know the location are provided far superior data concerning the site location.?ÿ The GIS department uses lat/long.?ÿ The construction department uses a "map page" system with each "page" being a township.?ÿ The section number and quarter are included with the map page in a numeric sequence in what is considered a "service location".?ÿ Construction forces have access to a DB that directs them to the location by lat/long if a service location is entered in their onboard computer.
So the "vicinity map" is an antique fifth wheel that is just there...next to the north arrow.
The only people that feel this has any importance at all are the old biddies in the county clerk's office that file these documents.?ÿ No misspelled road name (it's both, Kelley Rd. or Kelly Rd. are both displayed on different county road signs) or any closed section that's not designated as such on my vicinity map gets past the ladies.
So the only use of a vicinity map on my documents is to keep the ladies at the courthouse busy and thinking they're helping keep the county free and clear of errors... 😉
PS - I've even gone so far as to contact the countywide emergency response office (9-1-1) to verify road names.?ÿ They're little help as they use GE apparently.?ÿ
If it's obvious where the site is, road intersection, corner, etc.?ÿ But I've seen too many plans lately that have no locus address, no tax map/lot, and it's just a long straight road.?ÿ
So, a locus map would certainly help to know where the site is at a quick glance, without doing a lot of extra research, just to figure out it's nowhere near the site I'm working on.?ÿ
Our county GIS has a paved roads drawing that can create an instant Vic map that looks pretty good. I just label the major roads and the closest intersection. Engineers/designers seem to like to get nutty and label every road on there but that seems a bit much to me. X-ref the ??property line? GIS drawing to get an idea how to align my property lines on it and it??s done.?ÿ
I agree with everyone else that these are kind of pointless additions and are a bit unnecessary. But what really grinds my gears is there??s a certain county I work in, a suburb of DC. You??ll get 5 comments on your vicinity map by a plan reviewer. Because you are showing ROADS on your vicinity map, not RW lines, they like to cry that there??s a gap between the sites property lines and the roads.?ÿ
