Good maps for midwest?



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Joe Nordic

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When I ride in upstate NY, I use the excellent Jimapco regional maps, which show all the back roads
for a multi-county region.

Are there similar printed maps available for Ohio, Indiana, Illinois?

The only ones I am aware of are the DeLorme atlases.

Thanks.

Joe
 
http://www.dot.state.oh.us/bike/

This site has some links for Ohio routes.

"Joe Nordic" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> When I ride in upstate NY, I use the excellent Jimapco regional maps, which show all the back
> roads for a multi-county region.
>
> Are there similar printed maps available for Ohio, Indiana, Illinois?
>
> The only ones I am aware of are the DeLorme atlases.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Joe
 
Joe Nordic wrote:

> When I ride in upstate NY, I use the excellent Jimapco regional maps, which show all the back
> roads for a multi-county region.
>
> Are there similar printed maps available for Ohio, Indiana, Illinois?
>

Riding in Michigan I like UniversalMap maps - sound like the same as your Jimapco maps - cost about
$5.00 at lots o'stores everywhere, cover 5-6 counties.

Can't seem to get into their website (www.universalmap.com) to check if they cover those states,
though....

J.W.
 
j walen wrote:

> Joe Nordic wrote:
>
> > When I ride in upstate NY, I use the excellent Jimapco regional maps, which show all the back
> > roads for a multi-county region.
> >
> > Are there similar printed maps available for Ohio, Indiana, Illinois?
> >
>
> Riding in Michigan I like UniversalMap maps - sound like the same as your Jimapco maps - cost
> about $5.00 at lots o'stores everywhere, cover 5-6 counties.
>

The UniversalMaps for other states are not like those for Michigan. I've used the Ohio and Indiana
ones for riding, but they do not show the level of detail that the Michigan ones do. They aren't at
the same scale, and they don't distinguish paved from gravel roads.

I'm glad to hear about the Jimapco maps. It was timely informaiton -- I was just starting to explore
the map possibilities for riding in New York and Vermont.

John Gorentz
 
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John Gorentz wrote:

>
> The UniversalMaps for other states are not like those for Michigan. I've used the Ohio and Indiana
> ones for riding, but they do not show the level of detail that the Michigan ones do.
>

Odd - you'd think when they got a useful format (as I said - they're sold everywhere in Mich) they'd
standardize it. Oh well.

J.W.

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<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html> John Gorentz wrote:
<blockquote TYPE=CITE> <br>The UniversalMaps for other states are not like those for
Michigan. I've <br>used the Ohio and Indiana ones for riding, but they do not show the level
<br>of detail that the Michigan ones do. <br> </blockquote>

<K><br>Odd - you'd think when they got a useful format (as I said - they're sold <i>everywhere</i>
in Mich) they'd standardize it. Oh well.
<K>A.A.</html>

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j walen wrote:

> John Gorentz wrote:
>
>>
>> The UniversalMaps for other states are not like those for Michigan. I've used the Ohio and
>> Indiana ones for riding, but they do not show the level of detail that the Michigan ones do.
>
>
> Odd - you'd think when they got a useful format (as I said - they're sold everywhere in Mich)
> they'd standardize it. Oh well.

It's not just a matter of format. It's also the information content. I'm sure it costs a lot more to
gather the kind of information they put in the Michigan maps.

Even the Michigan maps are of uneven quality. The maps for some parts of the state have more
information (and a more aesthetically pleasing format) than others.

I think I even know what part of the state their main cartographer comes from, but the UniversalMap
people won't help me confirm it. I was once amazed at the level of historical detail that was shown
on one of the maps. I was on a bike tour to do some history research, had forgotten my road maps at
home, so ended up picking up one of the Universal Maps, which were just then (AFAIK) starting to
appear in gas stations. I sat in a restaurant looking at it with my wife. It became apparent that
this guy knew about historical sites that I didn't think anyone else but me cared about.

Afterwards I e-mailed to the UniversalMap people, commenting on the level of historical detail,
wanting to find out who it was who knew and cared about all these places. They wouldn't tell me,
just saying that it was done under contract, and something to the effect that it was proprietary
information. As I've studied these maps more closely since then, I've concluded that one part of
the state has a lot more of this level of detail than any of the others do, so I'm now slightly
less impressed. I figure the person must know his/her home area very well. I still wish I could
meet him/her.

I agree. It would be wonderful if UniversalMap could make the same types of maps for other states.

John Gorentz
 
"Joe Nordic" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> When I ride in upstate NY, I use the excellent Jimapco regional maps, which show all the back
> roads for a multi-county region.
>
> Are there similar printed maps available for Ohio, Indiana, Illinois?

In Illinois, there is an excellent map for the Chicago metro area available from the Chicagoland
Bicycle Federation: http://www.chibikefed.org/cbfmap.htm

The state of Illinois has divided the state into regional areas, and publishes free bicycle maps for
each region. These are available from the Illinois Department of Transportation. Some like them;
personally I've found them to be (a) inaccurate on info like whether a shoulder is present,
(b) very conservative: looking at the map you'd never think bicycling was possible in the Chicago
area, and (c) of limited use in the rural areas, since they don't have street names, and the
roads are marked only with street names.
 
John Gorentz wrote: ...

> I think I even know what part of the state their main cartographer comes from, but the
> UniversalMap people won't help me confirm it. I was once amazed at the level of historical detail
> that was shown on one of the maps. I was on a bike tour to do some history research, had forgotten
> my road maps at home, so ended up picking up one of the Universal Maps, which were just then
> (AFAIK) starting to appear in gas stations. I sat in a restaurant looking at it with my wife. It
> became apparent that this guy knew about historical sites that I didn't think anyone else but me
> cared about.
>
> Afterwards I e-mailed to the UniversalMap people, commenting on the level of historical detail,
> wanting to find out who it was who knew and cared about all these places. They wouldn't tell me,
> just saying that it was done under contract, and something to the effect that it was proprietary
> information. As I've studied these maps more closely since then, I've concluded that one part of
> the state has a lot more of this level of detail than any of the others do, so I'm now slightly
> less impressed. I figure the person must know his/her home area very well. I still wish I could
> meet him/her.

You might carefully check the town names; perhaps the map author threw in a Lake Wobegon type of
thing. (Remember a few years back when someone added the towns "goblu" and "beatosu"?) Greg
Siple, for many years the cartographer for Bikecentennial, put his house on the local Missoula
maps. And so forth. Or send it to Neal Rubin at the DetSnooze; this might be right up his alley
and the freelancer will step forward. HTH --Karen M.
 
for the area of Ohio that I live in (Troy) I use the Southwest Ohio map ( I think there is only one
published). It covers Cincinatti Columbus, Dayton and North to around Minster. It's very good for
cycling(this is the only map I use) and I suppose there are Northwest etc. versions.

Frank

"Joe Nordic" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> When I ride in upstate NY, I use the excellent Jimapco regional maps, which show all the back
> roads for a multi-county region.
>
> Are there similar printed maps available for Ohio, Indiana, Illinois?
>
> The only ones I am aware of are the DeLorme atlases.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Joe
 
Do you happen to know which company publishes that map?

Thanks.

Joe

"Frank Cooley" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> for the area of Ohio that I live in (Troy) I use the Southwest Ohio map
( I
> think there is only one published). It covers Cincinatti Columbus, Dayton and North to around
> Minster. It's very good for cycling(this is the only map I use) and I suppose there are Northwest
> etc. versions.
>
> Frank
 
"John Gorentz" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> The [Universal] maps for some parts of the state have more information (and a more aesthetically
> pleasing format) than others.
>
> I think I even know what part of the state their main cartographer comes from, but the
> UniversalMap people won't help me confirm it. I was once amazed at the level of historical detail
> that was shown on one of the maps. ... Afterwards I e-mailed to the UniversalMap people,
> commenting on the level of historical detail, wanting to find out who it was who knew and cared
> about all these places. They wouldn't tell me, just saying that it was done under contract, and
> something to the effect that it was proprietary information. As I've studied these maps more
> closely since then, I've concluded that one part of the state has a lot more of this level of
> detail than any of the others do, so I'm now slightly less impressed. I figure the person must
> know his/her home area very well. I still wish I could meet him/her.

If you ever find this phantom Universal cartographer, pass along my compliments as well. I've
only used the ones on the west side of the lower peninsula, but I have found them great for
bicycle touring.

They contain street names, they contain paving information, there are little ridge lines showing
hills, they show little roads, they have detail for towns of any size, and you can tell paved from
gravel (and those wonderful dirt "seasonal roads" in northwest Michigan).
 
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