Reference Jamaica's Topo' Maps Yourself

Referencing the Jamaican topo maps requires two things: you to be on the island and secondly, in possession of an accurate GPS receiver. If you're reading this, you probably intend to visit the island and you probably have, or are thinking of getting, a GPS. The actual referencing involves stopping at sites easily located on the map, then obtaining WGS84 positions. Calibrate your paper, or digitized, topo maps with the new latitudes and longitudes and disregard those found on the maps. Three calibration points are sufficient but more will increase the accuracy. Although this approach is a little time-consuming, it does have the advantage of getting you out and about on the island and will result in accurately GPS referenced maps if done carefully. There are various GPS mapping programs available, OziExplorer and Fugawi being the most popular, but if traveling with a laptop is out of the question, the hard-copy topo maps can be calibrated by hand. If the foregoing seems a little intimidating, then geo-referencing files for the Cockpit Country digitized topos, (sheets 2,3,6 and 7), in OziExplorer format are available from the of this article, for free but requiring a description of their intended use. The map calibration files will need a registered version of OziExplorer to function. JAD69 presents us with difficulties only when the topographical maps are used; a WAAS enabled GPS position, in WGS84, for anywhere in Jamaica, will return a GPS user to within metres of the desired location. Find it once, give it a waypoint, and you'll always find it again!