I recently got this program and for the most part I am haveing a lot of fun with it. However, when I look at the "Climbing Elevation" of a given route is seem to be much more then I have ever believed it to be. I have an not-so-accurate altimeter in my Lance 4 and even given its range of readings the TopoUSA still seems really high...


Just looking for some opinions....

I've been using it for about 2 months. I like it, but I agree, I don't know how accurate it is. It does miss some of the little things that make me burn... like short steep bridges.

I'm not sure how "climbing elevation" is calculated. I think it includes all of the little inclines you don't even feel. No road is "level" that has been engineered by humans in the US (well, maybe some). By definition, there is some slope for drainage and flood control. While small, it could add up...?...

I think that it is consistent between routes, so a good benchmark. The high points seem to be right on per my GPS. My GPS is old and big, so I've only spot checked it from the car on occasion.

I have Topo USA 4.0 (the previous version) and it is not accurate at all. Sometimes the cumulative elevation gain is double the actual value. Worse, distances are often wrong. On one local 6 mile climb, the program measures only 4 miles. The problem with the program is that it uses vectors to approximate roads, but the vectors are too sparse. On a curvey mountain road, the vectors ignore many of the switchbacks and give you a distance that is too short. On the other hand, the vectors go up and down hills that the road doesn't, so it adds in a lot of bogus climbs (and bogus descents).

I recently got this program and for the most part I am haveing a lot of fun with it. However, when I look at the "Climbing Elevation" of a given route is seem to be much more then I have ever believed it to be. I have an not-so-accurate altimeter in my Lance 4 and even given its range of readings the TopoUSA still seems really high...


Just looking for some opinions....

Topo is "inaccurate" because its not using USGS 7.5 minute data and its using its own data for roads. You have to purchase USGS 7.5 minute quads to get "accurate" data. Topo 5.0 gives you $50 free of sat-10 and USGS 7.5 minute quad data downloads. Take advantage of that.

Topo is good for getting the gist of a route but you'll either have to resort to the USGS 7.5 minute quad data, a personal GPS or altimeter on your bike for more "accurate" data.

I recently got this program and for the most part I am haveing a lot of fun with it. However, when I look at the "Climbing Elevation" of a given route is seem to be much more then I have ever believed it to be. I have an not-so-accurate altimeter in my Lance 4 and even given its range of readings the TopoUSA still seems really high...


Just looking for some opinions....

It's awful. A pig, or maybe a monkey, can come up with more accurate guesses on elevation gain.

I agree with most here. I have v4.0 and I would try and plot a route using the software and it was a major PITA. For some reason I was never able to get it to pick exactly the ride I was planning on doing. I tried setting individual waypoints or just highlited a particular road and the software managed to screw it up everytime. The one thing that did seem to work pretty well was uploading a ride from my handheld (garmin legend) to the software. The software gave me a birds eye view of where I had ridden, but I don't think the overall elevation gain, according to the software was that accurate. Also, for some reason any rides over ~60miles would not be plotted on the map. Something to do with too many waypoints. Garmin was supposed to have a patch for this, but I'm not sure if it ever came out.

All in all I still think its a great product and there's really nothing else on the market to compare. It's good enough for me. I'm not building roads or surveying the land so I don't need data accurate up to the foot and second.

Topo USA tells me where I'm going...

My Polar S710 tells me where I went...

And my GPS... tells me where I am :)


All in all I still think its a great product and there's really nothing else on the market to compare. It's good enough for me. I'm not building roads or surveying the land so I don't need data accurate up to the foot and second.

Topo USA tells me where I'm going...

My Polar S710 tells me where I went...

I find the TopoUSA 5.0 calculates mileage fairly well - maybe off 5% from actual. The climbing elevation is about 30-50% off compared to my actual GPS Geko 301 readings. I haven't tried downloading the more detailed USGS 7.5 min data, but I will give it a try and see how it compares.