Scanned USGS Quad Images
The Scanned USGS Topographic Quad Images are available statewide in TIFF and MrSID formats. The images are tiled as 4 kilometer squares, according to the Orthophoto Index, rather than by the original 7.5-minute sheets used by the U.S. Geological Survey for its paper map versions.Download Free Data Index | Download Data Instructions | Command-line FTP Usage
When downloading these Quad images, you will need to select the 4km-square images that cover the extent of the original paper map. In the example at right, in order to view all images for the Shelburne Falls quad (as it was tiled as a paper map), one would need to download 15 individual images (as well as their header files - .tfw for TIFF and .sdw for MrSID), as indicated by the 6-digit IDs. In this example, the TIFF images would be named q101930.tif, q105930.tif, etc. To best determine the tiles you need:
- refer to the Scanned USGS Topographic Map Images Reference, a .PDF file (viewable in the free Adobe Acrobat Reader) that displays the original USGS paper map scheme and MassGIS' image tiling index. Town names and boundaries are also included.
- download a .dbf file that lists the corresponding OQ IDs for each town. This file may be displayed in any program that supports dBase format, such as ArcView, ArcGIS, Excel, Lotus 1-2-3, and others.
Go to the Download areas:
To download the files click on the file name with the right mouse button and choose to save. Please note that some users have experienced problems (e.g., the browser window "freezing up") when using ftp with Internet Explorer. Netscape does not seem to cause this problem. If you want to download many files, consider using command-line FTP.
- TIFF (download both the .tif and .tfw files for each image)
- MrSID (download both the .sid and .sdw files for each image)
Ordering these images on CD-ROM:
- These tiled images are also available on CD-ROM.
- In addition, MassGIS has produced one single statewide image mosaic of all the USGS Quad images, in MrSID format. This mosaic is only available on CD-ROM. See the datalayer description for details.
Last Updated 11/05/20001
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