60% AUSLIG maps on CDROM 26 years old or older: The 1994 maps exist???? @ ExplorOz

AnswerID: 4112 Submitted: Monday, Jun 10, 2002 at 00:00

Darren replied:

I emailed Ausling (Natmap) a few months agon with the following reply:

'Thanks for your email regarding updates of the Raster 250k set. Geoscience
Australia (formerly AUSLIG) are currently working on a new edition of the
Raster. This will have a better resolution (200dpi) and will be
geo-rectified. Of the 540 maps covering Australia over 300 of them will be
in GDA format. This product is going through a betta test and correction
process at the moment. We do not have a time frame for availability but are
aiming for the new financial year.'

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FollowupID: 1762 Submitted: Monday, Jun 10, 2002 at 00:00

Guy posted:

Thanks Darren. The answer from AUSLIG does not surprise me. I found a difference of 6 km between the 1971 edition and the 1994 edition of Auslig. But on average the errors are around 3 km for roads and 4 to 6 for airports.
This does not seem much of an error when driving around the suburbs you are familiar with. But when it comes to the remote areas of Australia it becomes a serious problem. I would advise TOURISTS in general NOT to use AUSLIG maps for trekking/walking in Australia. For example if you start from one point to reach an other point even only 10 km away, you may suddenly become TOTALLY disorientated because the features appearing on your route at some specific GPS points will not correspond to the AUSLIG map. You may expect to find a cliff or a creek and this may not be there. You can become totally confused and BECOME LOST ONLY 5 KM from where you started from. The quality of the AUSLIG MAP information is simply poor. At the moment it is easy to blame the GPS or the skill of trekker/bushwalker/4wdrivers but what about the inaccuracy of the AUSLIG Map on average 3 kms out. `Guy
Guy

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AnswerID: 4113 Submitted: Monday, Jun 10, 2002 at 00:00

Darren replied:

Also try http://www.maptrax.com.au/listofproducts.htm

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FollowupID: 1761 Submitted: Monday, Jun 10, 2002 at 00:00

Guy posted:

Maptrax actually "copies" under contract Auslig maps.
Maptrax is not an advantage unles the Auslig maps are correct. Guy

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AnswerID: 4131 Submitted: Tuesday, Jun 11, 2002 at 00:00

DennisN replied:

G'day fellers, Reading this post brings me to the thought that it is very easy to criticise. A country as big as Austalia presents a gigantic task to map - especially with our limited resources. The cost of producing survey on one 250k map is enormous to say the least. I had this fact pointed out many times during a 23 year army career where we used maps constantly. At the end of the day, unless the map was made yesterday, the changeable features on it are outdated. This can be validated by anybody who has ever wandered the gas and oil fields of Jackson and Moomba in Qld and S.A. It is impossible to keep survey up to the new tracks. What doesn't change, and any experienced navigator will vouch for this, are the basic topographical features [unless some bugger blows them away]. Ridges will always be ridges, spurs will always be spurs, saddles will always be saddles, and re-entrants will always be re-entrants - TO SOMEBODY WHO KNOWS HOW TO NAVIGATE BY LAND. Give Auslig a go - I find their map CD very useful, and I have been navigating by land and sea for more years than I can remember. Enjoy the bush :)

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FollowupID: 1775 Submitted: Wednesday, Jun 12, 2002 at 00:00

Kezza posted:

As an ex army bushie as well I agree with dennis - most of the topographic maps are accurate on landforms and topography but youd be surprised how fast a disused road will grow over and how often fire breaks and forestry roads become major tracks with added use to the contrary of the map. Just used a map off auslig cd over the weekend in a remote part of coastal qld and found it was correct and I was wrong and I use maps weekly and have done so since 1975 usually the map shows disused roads or doesnt show a new road (or six) confuses you.

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FollowupID: 1782 Submitted: Wednesday, Jun 12, 2002 at 00:00

Colin posted:

The advent of GPS in everyone's car has changed peoples perspective of 'where they are' enormously. If you 'throw away' your GPS and use good basic map reading/navigating and 'reading the land' skills, you will find the 'old' maps to be very reliable - 'think outside the GPS/Map' ! Geoscience Australia/AusLIG have information available on Datums, Projections, Grids etc which may help to explain to everyone why the map reference may differ from the GPS reading, the main cause of critisim !? Of course some map features like roads will change over time, but features such as sand dunes/rivers/ridges don't 'move' on maps and are usually very accurate - because of the photogrammetry plotting methods used. Some suggestions - do a good map reading/navigation course (and include the passenger, usually the 'better half'), GPS DO BREAKDOWN ! - make sure the GPS and map are using the same datum - check on the availability of a Geological map of the area you are visiting as the topo/cadastral info is updated. "A good bushman never gets lost, but he may not know where he is!" :)

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AnswerID: 5170 Submitted: Friday, Jul 26, 2002 at 00:00

Guy replied:

Darren understood well the content of my email. The other replies went onto the nationalistic bandwagon which has nothing to do with my original posting. I am wandering sometimes why Australia bothers to have the ACCC and Consummer Affairs laws when the last two replies show they are prepared to accept any substandard products under the name of Nationalism.

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