A few tools are necessary in order to trim the tiles in order to unite them into a seamless map. Most of these tools can be found in the home and if not they can be purchased for minimal cost and used for multiple things. Items needed are a straight edge, I used a metal ruler, but any straight object will work. Also need will be some sort of cutting instrument, this can be anything from a single edged razor blade to an Xacto knife, even scissors can be used but will require extra care to get a quality result. Some sort of fine marking device, like a mechanical pencil, and some clear tape are the final two items needed. Please, use extra caution when working with sharp objects, as a laceration will not only cause a bad experience, but will also likely ruin your map!
Begin by aligning the straight edge with the crop marks located near the corners of the prints. Special care should be given to the alignment here because the quality of the final product will be drastically affected by sloppy cutting. Sloppy and inconsistent cuts will make it nearly impossible to assembly the map as well as make it virtually unusable.
Align the edge with the crop marks and carefluuy cut off the excess. On the edges of the map, any measurement can be used to leave a border on the map. Borders have many advantages from making notes to protecting the marginal information of the map. In the example, the width of the straight edge is used to define the space for the border. It is important to use the same measurement in order to give a quality appearance to the map.
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On the bottom of the map, in order to maintain the marginal information, a measurement of 3" was used. While these measurements do not give a completed map of USGS standard size, it does produce a very usable map of nearly the same dimensions. Simply measure from the lower border of the map and mark at least two locations along the paper then utilize these marks as the crop marks were used earlier.
Next, align the edges of the trimmed pages taking care to align any text as well as other lines on the map. Due to differences in printers and tolerance differences not all locations may align correctly on the printed panels. If this situation occurs, simply align the panels to the point at which the "most" of the image is aligned. This is an unfortunate drawback to printing your own maps but, in my opinion, acceptable for the cost of producing a map yourself. Once the images are aligned secure with a small piece of clear tape on the front of the map. After all panels are secured, turn the map over and secure all seams with long strips of tape to ensure the map is secure.
Once all seams are secured with tape, the finished product is a full size, standard 1:24,000 scale USGS Topographic Map. While an actual cost of producing a map at home, I believe the cost to be significantly less than the $8.00 for printed map from the USGS. Another option is once printed and assembled at home this map can be used and if determined an actual print from USGS can be ordered for an archive copy for your collection. An option to waterproof the map is to cover the map with self adhesive clear shelf protecting film that is available at most grocery and department stores.
Once the map has been printed and assembled the next step is to finish your map as desired then to fold the map. All newly produced maps from USGS have a United States National Grid (USNG) grid overlay printed on them. Many older USGS maps have tic marks printed on the margins for MGRS (Military Grid Reference System). It is important to note that USNG and MGRS are functionally identical on US soil so the two can be used interchangably and we will cover this in a later post. If the map you have assembled does not have the USNG/MGRS grid printed onto it, take the time to use a straight edge to mark the grid onto your map. This can even be done with prints that have been ordered from USGS to facilitate easier navigation. Any other finishing such as waterproofing can now be done. After this grid has been marked, we now need to fold the map.
Lay the map out on a large flat surface such as the floor or a table face up aith the top of the map away from you as if you were working with the map. Fold the right edge of the map over to the left edge, taking care to align the corners. Crease this fold well, and in order to facilitate easier use of the map in the field fold the map the opposite way and crease well again. This should be done to all folds of the map in order to make the map easier to fold in the field when navigating.
Fold the to leaf back over to the right side in half again. Pay attention to aligning the corners in order to get a good fold. After this fold is completed fold the remaining side in half as you did the front. The final product of the vertical folds should look like the picture below.
Now fold the map in half from top to bottom. Turn the map so the name of the map is facing upwards. The name will be located on the top and bottom right corners of the map sheet. Fold these sheet names so they are touching, taking care to crease well as you are now folding several thicknesses of paper.
Now fold the top flap of the map down toward the bottom. Align corners and crease well. After this fold is complete fold the back flap the same way. This leaves you with the map folded into a sufficient size to fit into a cargo pocket or into a map pouch. Also, the map name is located on both the front and back to facilitate locating the desired map however it has been stored.
Assembling and folding your map sheet correctly will make it easier to use and last much longer than if not taken care of properly. Even if not printed onto waterproof paper, utilizing a map case or even something as simple as a one gallon zip lock bag can protect your map from errant moisture encountered during field navigation exercises.
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