Printing PDF Topo Maps (and Map Packs)
CalTopo has supported PDF printing for a little while, but it was tucked away until I made sure that generating the PDFs wouldn’t overload my server. It’s now front and center in the UI, along with higher resolution PDFs and an important new feature – multi-page map packs.
First off, clicking the print icon in the top right will no longer bounce you straight into browser print mode. Instead it brings up a menu for choosing between browser printing and the PDF generator:
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The new print menu |
The PDF option was initially tucked away as a link on the browser print screen, built out to satisfy some grumbling users who wanted exact 1:24k prints. Since then I’ve found myself using it almost exclusively – the prints are higher resolution and you aren’t limited to a fixed set of zoom levels. It seemed time for a promotion to first-tier status.
Now for the good part – when you choose “Create a PDF”, you can mark up to 15 pages on the map and dump them into a single PDF file for printing. Here I’ve marked several pages on a user’s Big SEKI Loop map, all with a 1 inch : 1 mile scale:
When I click “Generate PDF” they come back in a single file, along with an overview page that shows how the maps are positioned relative to each other:
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The first page of the PDF shows individual map placement |
So try it out! You can also check out a sample 1:24k PDF of the popular Bunny Flat routes up Shasta, with slope shading.
Please note that this may become a paid feature at some point, depending on how much extra work it creates for my server and the degree to which I need to make a living off CalTopo.