Shelf life of A.C.A. maps

[Bicycle Rider]

Do they change them a lot? If I were to buy on now, would it still be reliable in, say 2 years? Aside from unpredictalbe things like road closures due to construction or damage, naturally.

[FredHiltz]

New editions get printed every one to three years. Addenda on the web site note changes to each edition, going back for years. You could use these to update the maps, narrative descriptions, and service directories indefinitely, but at some point the sheer volume of changes would make new maps preferable. Take a look at recent addenda to get an estimate of how many changes you might encounter during two years and judge for yourself.

Temporary changes--due to construction, weather, or natural disasters--show up here in the Temporary ACA Route Road Closures discussion group.

Fred

[Pat Lamb]

We learned (after the first two maps) that the night-before ritual when you're about to change maps needed to include writing down significant changes from the addenda.  (I suppose I could have done it before leaving home, but I never got a round tuit.)  As Fred notes, some of the maps have hardly any changes; and some panels don't have enough room to scribble all the changes on to.  FWIW, most ball point pens write well on the treated surfaces of the maps.

[John Nelson]

I would say that maps up to five or six years old are probably quite usable. Just mark them up with changes from the addenda. If your maps are older than that, you probably want to get newer ones. I did the TransAm with a couple using 1984 maps. We often found ourselves doing different routes, and they usually had to consult my maps for services. But they got across anyway.

[Bicycle Rider]

I would say that maps up to five or six years old are probably quite usable. Just mark them up with changes from the addenda. If your maps are older than that, you probably want to get newer ones. I did the TransAm with a couple using 1984 maps. We often found ourselves doing different routes, and they usually had to consult my maps for services. But they got across anyway.

great. Then i can get the sections I want and use them for initial planning. Can they be uploaded to a PC or are they just available for GPS and "analog" (paper maps)?

[FredHiltz]

Most of the maps are beautifully printed on waterproof paper. A few short routes are sold as PDF downloads. GPS routes and waypoints to use with the maps are free and available on the web site. For more about all of this, go to the home page linked at the top right of this window and click the Routes and Maps link.

Fred

[whittierider]

Can they be uploaded to a PC or are they just available for GPS and "analog" (paper maps)?

The paper is actually plastic, not normal paper, so they're very tough and waterproof.  These maps are great in more ways than expected.

[tsteven4]

You can use online versions of the maps I made for planning at http://tsteven4.qwestoffice.net/.  There are google earth versions, online web versions, and google maps versions.  Most of the google maps versions violate google limits on the number of waypoints so the waypoint/route panel is likely to have compromised operation.  The online web versions work well but are slow.  I do not recommend any of these online maps for on route navigation, I would recommend the paper maps.  I have used a number of the old paper maps without too much problem, but I do mark them up with the updates before I leave home.  On the other hand if the online maps meet your planning needs then you could delay your purchase until closer to your departure.

[Spokey]

I haven't found any good online mapping tools to use with the gpx files.  google doesn't upload the route at all.  Just show all the POIs.   RideWithGPS isn't too bad but if you want to tweak the route a bit, you can have the thing go haywire.

If all you are interested in is pre-trip planning, use the Garmin MapSource if you have that.  My brother got that in to his Garmin gps with some difficulty.  I spent an inordinate amount of time failing to get the ACA gpx routes in to my droid.  Tried many online and PC tools.  I have Mapsource too so we can share the planning long distance.  I wasn't able to get the route in to my Nuvi but maybe that doesn't do that sort of thing (I also didn't try very hard).

On the TransAm, I had a set that might have been 10 years old.  They were old enough that they were Bike Centennial maps and my brother had whatever was current in 2003.  They were different enough that we would look at the next day for differences so we didn't go our separate ways.

I'm sticking with the paper (just ordered a couple current sections of the AC route).  This will make the third set since 2005(?).  But I'm finally hitting the pedals mid-Sept for Key West so I won't have to buy a fourth.