It would be really nice if Transdem was selectable to be a varried opague slider tool button, transluscent (see through page) ... then you could overlay topo maps on top of the blank rainbow colored DEM.
You mean to tell me the only drawing tool is that poly line blue path button ... sheesh
Now that you've got your DEM file, close it and leave it alone temporarily.
You want to take care of your maps first and get them in place before you open the DEM. This has to do with the huge DEM files and not the images. I found this out the hard way when working with TransDEM.
I highly suggest that you read through Roland's very helpful documentation and experiment, however, see below for some quick steps.
Follow the instructions to ensure that the Map Data and Web Tile servers are configured. Roland has kindly supplied the basic setups for the most common ones.
To get your maps do this:
Click on Raster Map from the menu.
Choose Map Tile Server.
Choose a provider. I pick Google Maps and Combined for the tile type.
Click in the map window and choose your area you want.
Keep clicking on the little arrows to navigate around if you have to.
Click on the map to zoom.
When you see the area you want, click the BIG arrow to select the coordinates.
Click Get Map to select the image and save it to where it wants to go.
Click Close to return to TransDEM main window.
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Now get your overlay maps - your Topo Maps.
Activate the Simple Route Editor tool and draw a spline on the map to indicate where you want to get the maps for.
Deactivate the spline drawing tool when you're done.
Click on Raster Map again.
Choose Web Mapping Servers.
Pick US and Canada
Pick MS Research Maps or USGS National Map -- Double Click on the one you want to open and connect to.
Click on the Plus (+) sign and choose the USGS Raster Graphics (Topo Maps)
Click the Map Images along path
Click Get Map
You'll be prompted to save your map(s) to.
Let it do its thing. When it's done, hit Close.
Your maps are now imported into TransDEM and you can now open your DEM up. Your maps will be in place on the DEM.
As I said, read Roland's instructions. I may have skipped a step here.
John