Print GeoPDF with Specific Layers on Mac OS X

September 13, 2014 6:36 PM

I want to print US Topo Quads for use when hiking and backpacking. I usually toggle certain map elements off—especially "Land Cover"—but a printed copy still prints the land cover (using Adobe Reader, which is the only fully compatible Mac program (PDF) I've found). So: How can I print GeoPDFs from OS X that reflect the layers I toggle off or on?

I am on the most recent Mac OS X release, using the most recent Adobe Reader release.

If there are other options for using US Topo Quads and GeoPDFs on Mac, they are more than welcome!

posted by Korou to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (3 answers total)

This doesn't answer your question exactly, but offering it as a work-around if you don't get any other answers:

Are you aware that you can print, view, and save topos as a .jpg? It will be through the historical maps, but for hiking, most of the information hasn't changed....and if they have, you can compare it to the current .pdf. If you go to the historical map database, when you hit browse it gives you the map option as a .jpg. (I'm going to assume you're only printing the relevant sections of the map....? because if you're printing the maps on regular sized paper, then the scale must be horrible, and if you're taking them to kinkos or something to print, then why not just buy alltrails and have super control or just go ahead and buy the national geographic maps for that scale and price.)

Here's how: go to the topo database. Pick your topo. You can either go to maps here or browse pubs. In the maps here window view (this one chosen at random) when you hit browse you get a topo .jpg like this.

Now that I think about it, their topo map database might have a browse button too in which you can look at the .jpgs. Unfortunately it's refusing to load for me so I can't check it.

Also, if you're unsatisfied with answers here, contact the USGS topo division with your question. I've never contacted them concerning their products or a problem with their software that I haven't had a swift, helpful, and friendly response. If you're having a problem like this and it's universal, they'll want to know if they don't, and may have a work around solution if they do.
posted by barchan at 7:16 PM on September 13, 2014

So I just did a little experiment in Adobe Reader for OS X: I opened a USGS Topo Quad (downloaded from the link you gave), turned off some layers in the "layers" panel by clicking the little eyeballs, and printed. The layers I turned off weren't in the printed output.

If you can't manage to get it to work, I'd find someone (even a public library in many cases) with access to Adobe's pro tools for working with PDFs. You could certainly do it in Acrobat, but this should also be possible if you open the map in Photoshop or Illustrator.
posted by zachlipton at 10:46 PM on September 13, 2014

IIRC, when I only wanted certain layers turned on for a presentation I "printed to file" and made a new PDF with my selections.
posted by DoubleLune at 7:49 AM on September 14, 2014