One of our recent customers to purchase our South American Topographic Maps Series 2 which covers almost all of Brazil (as well as most of Peru and parts of Bolivia) had a few questions for us after downloading the 124 maps from the OverlandResource.com client download center (you can do the same by purchasing the maps here).  The following is a transcript of the emails (edited for clarity):

Hello. I have just purchased the South America Topographic Series 2 and I am having a few problems. I started to download what appears to be part 1 of 3. I had to stop part way through and when I tried to continue it went straight to part 2. I have now successfully downloaded part 2. Do I need to download part 1 and 3 as well or are they the same as I’ve already got? My second problem is that I don’t have any index to the maps or any software with them. I’ve also tried opening the .MAP files but my computer doesn’t recognize them. Please can you help with this?

What the Maps Cover and How to Use Them

The customer purchased Series 2 of the South America map series so there was no need to download the other Series 1 and 3.

• Series 1 covers latitudes 12 North to 4 South
• Series 2 covers latitudes 4 South to 22 South, (this is the one he purchased)
• Series 3 covers latitudes 22 South to 56 South.

To index the maps you need to have software such as OziExplorer (http://www.oziexplorer.com) or Fugawi (http://www.fugawi.com). But really, as I’ve noted in previous posts, download and get to know OziExplorer.  The .map files are created by and for OziExplorer.  They are really just text files that contain all of the information to place the images of the topo maps in the correct coordinate space.

This software will read the .map files and georeference them, index them, and make it easy to navigate, view, and zoom between the maps. It will also add GPS capability to them (only useful when you’re actually in South America.)

Back to the Title: Who Needs Topo Maps of Brazil?

I received a final email, and here is what he said:

Thank you very much for the very quick response. I’ve been living in Brazil for the past 3 years, visiting here for 6 years altogether, and it’s almost impossible to get a decent map. I’m trying to run a paragliding guiding business so I’m hoping these will be very useful.

According to Steve, it is hard to find good detailed maps of Brazil.  Hopefully the packages we sell are use to him.  I took a look at his paragliding website, and wow does it ever look like fun! So on a side note, if you’re going to Brazil, check out his site and look him up.

Steve can be found running his paragliding business XCBrazil.com in Bairro de Lourdes, Brazil.

Subscribe and Submit

Has this article been of interest to you? There's more to come, so in the mean time stay tuned in and subscribe to this website - subscribe by email or subscribe by RSS. And if you have something else to add, you can either write it in the comments below, or submit an article to us for submission on this site. If you have your own website and you want some traffic it's a great way to build a link. Check out our article submission page and find out more.

Related Articles

1. South America Topographic MapsFinding good maps of South America can be difficult, especially if you don't want to spend a lot of money. This article summarizes our research...
2. Translating Russian Topographic Maps using the OziExplorer Names DatabaseI thought I’d write down an email exchange I had with a recent customer who purchased one of our South American Topographic Map series.  As...
3. Selling South American Topographic MapsWe are now offering large scale (1:500,000) topo maps of South America for download directly from OverlandResource.com. These are calibrated and georeferenced and come with...
4. Calibrating South America ITMB Maps for OziExplorerInternational Travel Maps have some of the best paper maps available for expedition and adventure travel. Based out of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, these guys...
5. Calibrating Maps in OziExplorerThis article describes how to calibrate a scanned paper map into OziExplorer mapping and GPS software. Watch the video how-to and read the extra details...
6. GPS and Digital Mapping for TravelThere are basically three options when it comes to digital mapping while on the road. From simplest to most complex they are a handheld GPS...
7. What are JOG, TPC, ONC, JNC, and GNC Maps?When searching for topographic maps, particularly for regions in Africa, Asia, and South America you will likely run into JOG, TPC, ONC, JNC, and GNC...
8. How to Create Custom Map Shapes in OziExplorerThe biggest strength in OziExplorer is its ability to display georeferenced, scanned paper maps. But many really good maps don't come in the rectangular format...