Easily Create Topographic Maps for Geology in Your Area

We're going to be studying topographic maps next week in my class and I stumbled onto a really cool site that allow you to search the geology of anywhere in the US/Canada and get a topographic map of it.

We're in Texas and one of the iconic geologic fixtures in our state is called Enchanted Rock.  It's located in Llano, TX which is out west of Austin, TX.  Here are the steps to get your own map and save it.

1. Go to http://www.mytopo.com/maps/
2. Type in a location or address (I simply put in 'Enchanted Rock')
3. Use the zoom feature to find the exact map view that you want.
4. From here you could project it on the board or even take a screen capture of it for use in your class.

I used the free program Skitch to capture the screen and make some notations on the map below.

You could also use the Windows Snipping Tool (Windows 7 or later) or download a free tool like Jing to do the job also.  

I'm now easily able to make my unit relevant to our area instead of having to use some random topographic map.  Who knows...maybe a map of enchanted rock will even show up on our standardized state test.  Wouldn't that be nice?!