Alright,
So, I've taken the job as my Battalion's S2 for the last month now. I've settled in pretty well and have been able to do a search and discover the answers to any question or problem I may have had, but I ran into one issue I just can't adequately solve.
How do I find topo maps without transportation measures printed on them? I.E Road names, building names, railroad names, et cetera? I asked my higher Bde S2 and there seems to be no knowledge of how to do that. I asked their "topo experts", who are privates and specialists that directed me to nga.mil. From there, I found different branching paths. The first one was to establish an account through the defense logistics agency-aviation, which is currently pending. Another was to GEOINT-Online on the same site, but I couldn't get access to it as of yet either. So, in the mean time, I decided to look at the open source material on the web, but found little.
The closest thing I found was topo maps from usgs.gov, which actually have nice maps that can filter out certain things like road names, but all of the maps are 1:24,000. USGS would be perfect if they had different scales, the one that I'm really looking for is :50,000. My BN Commander is certain I can find adequate maps without transportation on them, but I'm stuck. USGS is good but to cover the training area we usually cover, I'd have to get multiple maps to cover the right amount of space, which 1:24,000 just can't do.
Perhaps the Defense Logistics Agency-Aviation will have what I'm looking for, but until I get approved for an account and can find what I need, I wanted to get advice from others who may have been in my situation and establish a decent capability in my shop to acquire maps, which it never has done before.
I'm attempting the find these particular topo maps to meet my Commander's guidance to create maps that require our subordinate units to utilize terrain and operational measures like MSRs rather than local road names that we typically find on the maps we use.
Thanks
V/R,
PM
So, I've taken the job as my Battalion's S2 for the last month now. I've settled in pretty well and have been able to do a search and discover the answers to any question or problem I may have had, but I ran into one issue I just can't adequately solve.
How do I find topo maps without transportation measures printed on them? I.E Road names, building names, railroad names, et cetera? I asked my higher Bde S2 and there seems to be no knowledge of how to do that. I asked their "topo experts", who are privates and specialists that directed me to nga.mil. From there, I found different branching paths. The first one was to establish an account through the defense logistics agency-aviation, which is currently pending. Another was to GEOINT-Online on the same site, but I couldn't get access to it as of yet either. So, in the mean time, I decided to look at the open source material on the web, but found little.
The closest thing I found was topo maps from usgs.gov, which actually have nice maps that can filter out certain things like road names, but all of the maps are 1:24,000. USGS would be perfect if they had different scales, the one that I'm really looking for is :50,000. My BN Commander is certain I can find adequate maps without transportation on them, but I'm stuck. USGS is good but to cover the training area we usually cover, I'd have to get multiple maps to cover the right amount of space, which 1:24,000 just can't do.
Perhaps the Defense Logistics Agency-Aviation will have what I'm looking for, but until I get approved for an account and can find what I need, I wanted to get advice from others who may have been in my situation and establish a decent capability in my shop to acquire maps, which it never has done before.
I'm attempting the find these particular topo maps to meet my Commander's guidance to create maps that require our subordinate units to utilize terrain and operational measures like MSRs rather than local road names that we typically find on the maps we use.
Thanks
V/R,
PM
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