Reference: Revised USGS Topographic Maps of Kentucky and Tennessee Reveal New Design

From USGS:

US Topo maps now have a crisper, cleaner design – enhancing readability of maps for online and printed use. Map symbols are easier to read over the digital aerial photograph layer whether the imagery is turned on or off. Improvements to symbol definitions (color, line thickness, line symbols, area fills), layer order, and annotation fonts are additional features of this supplemental release. Users can now adjust the transparency for some features and layers to increase visibility of multiple competing layers.
This new design is launched on new US Topo quadrangles for Kentucky (671 maps) and Tennessee (694 maps), which replace the first edition US Topo maps for those states. The replaced maps will be added to the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection and are also available for free download from The National Map and the USGS Map Store website.
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US Topo maps are updated every three years, with the initial round completed last September. Maps for Hawaii are currently in production with Alaska production starting later this year.
Re-design enhancements and new features:

• Crisper, cleaner design improves online and printed readability while retaining the look and feel of traditional USGS topographic maps
• New functional road classification schema has been applied
• A slight screening (transparency) has been applied to some features to enhance visibility of multiple competing layers
• Updated free fonts that support diacritics
• New PDF Legend attachment
• Metadata formatted to support multiple browsers
• New shaded relief layer for enhanced view of the terrain
• Military installation boundaries, post offices and cemeteries

The new digital electronic topographic maps are delivered in GeoPDF image software format and may be viewed using Adobe Reader,

Read the Complete Announcement

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