[Mike]

Hi everyone.

I’m thinking about coordinating a bulk order of Topo50 maps from Land Information New Zealand on behalf of the club. If you think you may be interested, please email me and say so ASAP. I’m looking at a matter of weeks at least depending on how organised I am, so if you need a specific map urgently for a coming trip, just go and buy it off the shelf.

With an order of 20+ maps (assuming enough interest), LINZ will sell them for $3.50 each. That includes GST but not the courier, so the exact price will be slightly higher — a box of 37 maps that I ordered with a couple of friends at work last week came to $3.63 each. The cheapest retail price I can find anywhere is about $6-$7 at Bivouac, even with a 15% discount that they’ll sometimes give on their shelf price if you have the right affiliations. The bulk order rate is much cheaper if you know what you want.

If you don’t know specifically which maps you’d like at this point then no worries. In due course I’ll take orders and/or set up an online spreadsheet where people who’ve shown interest can indicate what they want. You’ll *probably* need to be able to get to a club night to pay and collect at some point. Note that I’m planning to order them all as folded maps rather than flat, as I think it’ll make postage and transport less complex.

Topo50 maps are the *new* series of maps being published by Land Information New Zealand since late last year. They’re single-sided standard sized A1 size maps, smaller than the old maps but easier to fit into all those standard A1-sized things like photocopiers and satchels, etc. They have the new map grid based on the NZGD2000 geodetic datum, which is a fancy way of referring to the reference point on which the map projections are based. Aside from the completely differently numbered map grid, the new datum also causes projected latitude and longitude to shift by about 200 metres on average.

Obviously the land itself hasn’t changed significantly and old maps don’t need to be thrown out, but LINZ is trying to encourage as many map users as possible to switch to the new series so as to reduce confusion with coordinate systems and so on. Bulk order discounts are part of that incentive. If you’d like more info about why the mapping system has changed, LINZ has a website at http://www.topo50.govt.nz/ There are also other resources and info around if you search the web.

Mike.

[Laura]

I’m definitely up for some maps – there are about 12+ that I want, and to pay in the shops would leave me poor.

[jon]

definately! I’ll have to look up the numbers for the ones I want and make a list, I’d probably be up for buying about 10 maps I think, wellington area, taranaki, tongariro, and some south island…

[hans wiskerke]

Count us in for a few as well – probably 10+

Cheers,
Hans

[Mike]

Hi everyone.

It’s great to see some interest in this. If people could email me directly it’d be helpful, as I don’t always see updates in this forum straight away. I’ll probably place an order in the latter part of February (like after about the 19th or 20th depending on how things go), assuming enough people have decided which maps they’d like by then. A few things:

* For those expressing interest, I’ve been emailing a link to an online spreadsheet to fill in details of what they want. It’s only available to people with email invites, so you need to tell me you’re interested, or at least tell me which maps you want and then I’ll fill it in.

* Non-members can order too, but note the conditions below that apply to everyone.

* You’ll need to be able to get to a Wednesday club night to collect your maps.

* As the club’s managing the payment, we’ll be asking each person to pay for the maps they’ve ordered *before* the order gets placed. The easiest way to do this will be to pay money into the bank account. (More details to come in due course if you’ve expressed interest.)

* Maps should cost $3.50 each, but postage from LINZ (to the club) is uncertain until the complete order is placed. To simplify this, we’ll add $1 to each person’s order, and the club will absorb the difference whichever way it goes.

* The order can only go ahead if there are more than 20 maps requested in total.

If you’re not sure and have nobody to talk to, there are several ways to figure out which maps you might like without leaving the comfort of the internet. A couple of possibilities are:

* LINZ has some online sheet index diagrams at http://www.linz.govt.nz/topography/topo-maps/topo50/sheets/index.aspx

* My favourite way is to visit koordinates.com and search for Topo50 (ie. Visit http://koordinates.com/layers/?q=topo50 ), then flip on the Topo50 layer, zoom around the country to find the bits you want, and switch on the Topo50 sheet index to see which map it’s on. This takes some getting used to if you’ve never used it before, though.

Thanks.
Mike.

[Laura]

I have added some additional map codes to the spreadsheet but they haven’t shown up with the correct number and price of the maps I wanted. All up I should be paying you approx $55 but can someone check and confirm that please

[Mike]

Should be fixed. I’ve sent you an email.

[Author]

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