Topo Reader8.1 - App Store

Download all available USGS topographic maps and import Geospatial PDF maps for off-line use at full undistorted resolution.

Topo Reader is designed for road trips, camping, hiking, exploration and geographical history. Map images are accurately center aligned regardless of datum and placed on top of Apple's map kit for easy referencing and intuitive touch navigation.

This software utilizes the latest capabilities of IOS with a fast start up, map rotating, unbeatable full detail resolution. Map downloads dispatch in the background so you can continue using the app.

Topo Reader can install for use 422,664 U.S. Geological Survey current and historical topographical maps describing the topography of every region and island territories of the United States of America. Historical versions date as far back as year 1879. Install a map quad by pressing and holding a point on the reference map and discover the maps available at that location and the unique names given to every quad by the cartographers.

Import geospatial PDF maps from the web, AirDrop, Finder, iTunes and email. Even at trailheads there are QRCode for maps that copy and install onto this app! Local and national park services offer PDF maps from their web sites. Even aeronautical sectional maps with embedded geospatial metadata that you can download in installed into Topo Reader.

Easy see all your installed maps by zooming out and they all become a colorful violet and partially transparent so you can spot your map. Installed maps are managed in a table format which can be sorted by name, distance, and scale. Multiple versions of the same map can be stacked on top of one another and made visible or hidden using two finger swipes.

Planning a hike somewhere and want to know the distance of your jaunt. Download the map and use the dual mode ruler to measure the path distance. Select the create Route option and draw and record your planned route.

Purchase a subscription for unlimited map downloading. A subscription stops ads and doesn't auto-renew. The first few map download are complementary.‡

Features:

. No need for cellular service to use
. Use the GPS on downloaded topo maps while offline*
. Dual mode ruler with orthographic line and path measuring
. Waypoints with Augmented Reality finder
. Routes path creation
. Tracks/bread-crumb GPS location recording*
. Full app usability while maps download in the background
. Displays footprint grid and quad names
. Aligns map datums to WGS84 (GPS) coordinates
. Dynamic map stitching
. Cropping of map margins for one big map grid
. Automatic USGS topographic map download for your current location
. Uses GPS location service to identify your location on a topo map*
. Miles, Feet, Kilometers, Meters, Nautical Miles units
. MGRS, UTM, and geodetic latitude and longitude coordinates
. Import geospatial PDF maps downloaded from the USGS and other sources in zip or regular file formats
. Enter coordinates in decimal, minutes and second formats
. Map rotation and orients map to follow your heading
. Imports GPX file formats waypoints
. Email, AirDrop and SMS text waypoints, tracks and routes as GPX files (one subscription purchase required to permanently enable).

Not currently supported: Geo TIFF; OCG layer selection used in current USTopo USGS maps.
Not all geospatial metadata formats and datums are supported for imported PDF maps.
Limited KML features supported.

* Not preloaded with maps. WiFi recommended. Downloading queue does cap at around 36 maps.
** Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life. Location feature may not function on iPod and wifi-only iPad devices without GPS hardware.
‡ After a subscription period expires, advertisement may resume from usage of the import features.

Version History • iOS 16 crashing fixed.
• Nice UX and speed improvement. 8.1 11/03/2022 • New PDF rendering engine that is faster and correctly displays the latest USGS USTopo series.
• Map viewing rewind and forward buttons.
• 100% Google free – No advertisements nor ad trackers. 8.0 05/22/2022 • Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) and Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinate formats. Entry of MGRS, UTM or geodetic coordinates formats is recognized automatically by the parser.
• Improvements with importing KML/KMZ files. (Does not support most KML features.)
• Improvements for Track & Routes.
• Reference map has an OFF mode for reducing network data use; stops the fetch of image tiles from Apple map server.
• The home button arrow no longer points with true North unless user has manually rotated the map. 7.2 03/25/2019 • Bug fix: If cloudDrive was disabled then restore prior purchases could fail to parse the digital purchase receipt.
• Improved map download speeds. 6.4 06/05/2018 • Bug fix: The distance units defaults to metric, or statute units depending on locale setting, and remembers the last units setting.
• Waypoint callouts notes supports HTTP web links and HTML text format, first characters must be " 6.3 03/06/2018 Fix for iPhone X screen size.
Route and Track view improvements. 6.2 01/03/2018 Fix made for imported maps using the datum meta-typed as geographical.
Memory stability improvements for rapid panning and zooming. 6.1 12/10/2017 • New feature to export waypoints, routes, and tracks in GPX file format to email and SMS text recipients, enabled with subscription purchase. 6.0 10/06/2017 Location indicator shows loss of GPS signal and reacquiring status with a light green arrow color, which can occur when in forest or entering a large building. 5.3 07/06/2017 Thank you Apple for IOS 10.3.
• Performance.
• Tracks and routes show path point distance when tapped.
• Current US Topo maps draw PDF OCG defaults without aerial image layer (IOS 10.3).
• 25K scale and smaller maps will release hi-res image data should your device storage space becomes critically low, drop in resolution is negligible. 5.2 04/14/2017 - Performance in route/track drawing algorithm.
- Monetization for hosting costs. 5.1 12/20/2016 • Waypoints AR
• Performance 5.0 10/06/2016 GPX improvements with route tracks and waypoints.
Supports CDATA XML data in imported GPX files. 4.3 05/26/2016 • Fixed issue with peripheral maps reducing resolution temporarily while installing.
• Restore \ sync supports app reinstall. 4.2 04/27/2016 • Performance improvements!
• Restore and sync map download selections from other iOS devices.
• Enterprise servers for fast downloads. 4.1 04/18/2016 Many new features
• No Advertisements
• Three(3) free map downloads
• Optional subscription so you can buy, for very low priced, an unlimited map download period. Keep all maps for full use after the subscription ends.
• Waypoints with grouping capabilities and serval new symbols
• Track path recording and Route path creation
• Three taps hides controls to only show the map uncluttered (shake motion on iPhone)
• Geo-coding search to locate any named geographic feature world wide
• Performance improvements 4.0 03/04/2016 • User supplied "Geospatial PDF" maps can be installed.
• Import USGS maps and Geospatial PDF files via iTunes, email and URL link from the Safari web browser.
• Map rotation and follow user heading map orientation.
• MSL Elevation Reading.
• Support for user entry of coordinates in minute and second format.
• UI Performance improvements.
• Users can adjust advertisement frequency period, filter added to prevent bursts of ad plays.
• Every 20th advertisement viewed adds another free map download.
• Bug fix: The algorithm to displayed ddd°mm'ss.s" coordinate format was incorrectly rounding the seconds arc on certain minutes of a degree. 2.1 04/09/2015 1.1 11/15/2014