Optimus Template

While trying to figure out where property lines should be drawn on a neighborhood map, I found that some of the property lines followed township/section lines.  So I downloaded the free PLSS data provided by DeLorme and loaded it into XMap 5.2 Pro. But there was a problem, the PLSS data didn't seem to match with the aerial imagery or the county plot maps.   So, either the PLSS data was wrong, or the aerial imagery and county plot maps where wrong.  I choose the PLSS being wrong.  So I  I started my search for another source of PLSS data.

While I did find other sources of PLSS data (as well as all types of other data), it was all stored in ESRI Shapefile format. The problem was, none of the DeLorme programs I have (Topo USA, Street Atlas, and XMap Pro) can read a shapefile.  Actually, XMap Pro 6.2 can now read shapefiles, but I'm waiting for 7.x to come out before upgrading, so I haven't tried this new feature.  Although I have a feeling that while the newer versions of XMap will allow me to import shapefiles, they won't allow the shapefile data to be exported and viewed in Topo USA or Street Atlas.

To solve this problem, I wrote an application that can read a shapefile and then generate a .TXT file that can then be imported into Topo USA, Street Atlas, or XMap. I call this application SHP2DRAW. The application can be downloaded from the Downloads page.