Would you like free access to thousands of topographic maps? TopoZone.com at www.topozone.com is a fully searchable Web site containing topographic images of the entire United States. Under Get a Map, click Place Name Search to go to the query form. The system will return a list of places that match your search criteria.

Click on the name you want and you'll get the topographic map that contains that feature. The default scale is 1:100,000 (small), so zoom in to a larger scale map for more detail. You'll find the zoom selections along the top edge of the map; they are 1:25,000, 1:50,000, 1:100,000 and 1:200,000.

Topographic maps show vegetation in green, water in blue and densely built-up areas in gray or red. The wiggly lines are contour lines, which represent elevation. Contours that are very close together indicate steep slopes. Widely spaced contours, or an absence of contours, mean that the slope is relatively level. You can find elevation values written along contour lines.

Read the FAQ and help files for information on displaying and printing the maps, as well as placing them on your Web page.