nsw-topo-split

nsw-topo-split is a simple Python package that provides a command-line interface for downloading and evenly splitting NSW Spatial Services topographic maps across smaller pages. This is useful if you can't get an official hard copy (e.g., for a new edition), or if you don't have access to a large-format printer to print the digital maps provided on the NSW Spatial Collaboration Portal.

Quick example

nsw-topo-split cover katoomba 2022
nsw-topo-split map katoomba 2022

Maps shown above are © State of New South Wales (Spatial Services, a business unit of the Department of Customer Service NSW), reproduced under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.

Installation

Option 1: pipx (preferred)

This is the easiest option because it automatically installs nsw-topo-split into a standalone virtual environment and allows you to run nsw-topo-split anywhere.

Install pipx, then run

pipx install nsw-topo-split

Option 2: pip

Create and activate a clean virtual environment, then run

pip install nsw-topo-split

Development installation

Clone the repository and navigate to its root directory. Then, in a clean virtual environment, run

pip install -r requirements-dev.txt  # for reproducibility
pre-commit install
pip install -e .

Usage

usage: nsw-topo-split [-h] [-o OUT] [-f] [-d [DPI]] [-q] [-s SIZE] [-p]
                      [-n NX NY] [-l LX LY] [-w]
                      {map,cover} name year

split a NSW topographic map across smaller pages

positional arguments:
  {map,cover}           'map' to make the map pages, 'cover' to make the cover
                        pages
  name                  map name (case-insensitive), e.g., katoomba; remember
                        to quote names with spaces
  year                  year of publication

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -o OUT, --out OUT     output directory (default: working directory); files
                        are output in a subdirectory corresponding to the
                        publication year and map name, e.g.,
                        2022/8930-1S+KATOOMBA
  -f, --force-download  download the original map, even if it already exists
                        in the output directory
  -d [DPI], --dpi [DPI]
                        rasterize the output to the specified resolution
                        (default: 300 DPI); if this option is not given, then
                        the output will not be rasterized. WARNING: this may
                        make gridlines hard to see on some map editions. It
                        will also increase processing time, and file size for
                        mode=map.
  -q, --quiet           suppress log messages

page format options:
  -s SIZE, --size SIZE  page size (case-insensitive; default A3); options are
                        'A0' through 'A10', 'B0' through 'B10', 'C0' through
                        'C10', 'Card-4x6', 'Card-5x7', 'Commercial',
                        'Executive', 'Invoice', 'Ledger', 'Legal', 'Legal-13',
                        'Letter', 'Monarch' and 'Tabloid-Extra'
  -p, --portrait        use portrait layout rather than landscape
  -n NX NY, --n-pages NX NY
                        horizontal and vertical number of pages (determined
                        automatically by default)
  -l LX LY, --overlap LX LY
                        horizontal and vertical overlap between pages in mm
                        (default: [20.0, 20.0])
  -w, --allow-whitespace
                        do not expand overlaps to eliminate white space

For example, the quick example above will produce three PDFs in ./2022/8930-1S+KATOOMBA:

• 8930-1S+KATOOMBA.pdf: The original map downloaded from Spatial Services
• 8930-1S+KATOOMBA_cover_a3.pdf: A landscape A3 page with the map cover page and legend side-by-side
• 8930-1S+KATOOMBA_split_a3.pdf: The map, split across six landscape A3 pages with 20mm overlaps.

When printing double-sided, make sure to choose "flip on long edge".