A Comprehensive Guide to Historical Map and Aerial Imagery Tools for Taiwan
This is a guide to various useful digital mapping tools that can assist in surveying and planning mountaineering and river tracing trips in Taiwan. These tools are free-to-use and either developed by the mountaineering community in Taiwan or government agencies. In addition to these online mapping tools, the Taiwanese mapping community also maintains a crowd-sourced hiking map that is updated on a rolling basis as trail information is provided by the community. The majority of these tools can be used without fluency in Mandarin.
View Taiwan’s Mountains From New Perspectives
Online Tools
Composite Mapping Tools & Map Viewers
Happyman Map Browser 地圖瀏覽器
GIS Center’s Historical Map Viewer 臺灣百年歷史地圖 (“100 Years of Maps”)
Aerial Imagery
NLCS Map Viewer 國土測繪中心
NLCS Map Service 3D 國土測繪中心3D
Forestry Bureau Aerial Survey Office 農林航空測量所
Google Earth
Official Naming and Zoning Reference
Ministry of Interior Land Map 地籍圖資網路便民服務系統
Estimating Water Flow
Catchment Area Calculator 集水區觀察員
CWB Accumulated Precipitation Graph 日累積圖
Offline Tools:
Topo Maps
RudyMaps (魯地圖)
Online Tools
Composite Mapping Tools & Map Viewers
Happyman Map Browser 地圖瀏覽器
Happyman Map Tool w/Rudy Maps
The infamous W-shaped canyon of Pasikao River as viewed in Rudy Maps. Photos of the actual canyon are below.
Link: Happyman Map Tool
Features:
satellite imagery / aerial imagery
topographical maps
historical maps
measure distances and elevation change
on-map rainfall forecasts
Likely the BEST tool for researching and planning hikes through Taiwan’s mountains.
Happyman Map Tool has the option to simultaneously show a composite rendering of two maps. The left dropdown menu features a selection of historical maps and satellite imagery, that can be overlayed with either the Rudy (魯地圖), 經建1, or 經建3 topographical maps on the right. Transparency is customizable and the UX is commendable.
Regardless of the map combination selected, the following features: peaks, hot springs, historic (abandoned) Japanese police stations, water sources, historic (abandoned) indigenous villages, mountain cabins, campsites, and suspension bridges are superpositioned over both maps. The blue tracks displayed are previously uploaded GPS routes that you can view and download.
On the upper right is an option to overlay rainfall accumulation or forecasted rainfall for the coming days.
Note: Just like Google Earth, you can easily spend hours looking around without actually leaving your front door — make sure to go outside eventually.
Useful Maps:
These can be found in the left dropdown (green = recommended)
陸側1924新 - Japanese topographic map, high resolution, marks canyons, hot springs, and place names
老五萬 1956 - marks old trails
水利局 1966 - another reference for old trails
經建1 1989 & 經建3 2001 - maps out farthest reaches of forestry roads (林道), *more additions on 2001
魯地圖 / Rudy - contour lines and waterways are most prominent; marks water sources, mountain entry points, and campsites; Rudy is the English version
衛星圖 - up-to-date Google Maps satellite view
農航所 - up-to-date overlay of Forestry Bureau Aerial Survey Office imagery
GIS Center’s Historical Map Viewer 臺灣百年歷史地圖 (“100 Years of Maps”)
The old police stations along the Neibenlu Police Trail can be seen in GIS Center's Historical Map Viewer (100 Years of Maps).
Link: GIS Center’s Historical Map Viewer
Features:
massive collection of historical maps
historical map overlay function
The GIS Center’s Historical Map Viewer is a unique tool that can overlay historical maps on top of Google Maps for easy reference. It has far more map options than Happyman Map Browser. But, it lacks certain cartographic abilities such as the ability to measure distance. As historical maps suffer in the sense of scale category, this is likely irrelevant.
Useful Maps:
(green = recommended; orange = warning)
Page1
1897 - 日治臺灣假製二十萬分一圖 - indigenous settlements and traverse trails marked
1898 - 日治四十萬分之一臺灣全圖 - indigenous settlements and traverse trails marked
Page 2
1907 - 日治五萬分之一蕃地地形圖 - indigenous settlements clearly marked; high resolution; canyon marked
1921 - 日治二萬分之一台灣堡圖 - indigenous settlements clearly marked; super high resolution; missing many mountain areas
1924 - 日治三十萬分之一台灣全圖(第一版) - indigenous settlements clearly marked; low resolution; complete but rough
1924 - 日治五萬分之一地形圖(陸地測量部) - canyons, hot springs, place names well-marked; super high resolution, scale correct; missing mountain areas south of Mugua River
Page 3
1934 - 日治三十萬分之一台灣全圖 - indigenous settlements and traverse trails marked
1934 - 日治三十萬分之一台灣全圖(第三版) not detailed, uses katakana
1939 - 日治三十萬分之一台灣全圖(第五版) not detailed, uses kanji
1944 - 美軍五萬分之一地形圖 - location of settlements is very precise on the topographic map
Page 4
臺灣省水利工程、水文站及基準點位置圖 - marks police stations and old traverse trails; inferior to Japanese maps
Page 5
92~94年正射影像【NLSC】- historical satellite imagery
Aerial Imagery
The Taiwanese government offers access to several platforms with images different from Google Earth. Due to differences in time of day and satellite position at the time of capture, these may be superior or inferior to the imagery on Google Earth.
NLCS Map Viewer 國土測繪中心
The confluence of Laningavan (ナニハバン) River and Luye (Pasikao) River viewed in NLCS Map Viewer.
Link: NLCS Map Service 國土測繪中心
Features:
satellite imagery / aerial imagery
topographical maps
distances measurements
The NLCS Maps are dated (2017) but offer excellent angles for most rivers in Taiwan. Low resolution maps load quickly.
NLCS Map Service 3D 國土測繪中心3D
The confluence of Laningavan（ナニハバン）River and Luye (Pasikao) River viewed as a 3D render.
Link: NLCS Map Service 3D Map 國土測繪中心
Features:
satellite imagery / aerial imagery
3D rendering
elevation change measurements via 3D map (for watercourse / waterfalls)
The 3D version of NLCS offers limited but high-resolution aerial imagery of some areas, mostly in central Taiwan.
Forestry Bureau Aerial Survey Office 農林航空測量所
The same confluence from above seen in higher resolution on the Aerial Survey Office platform.
Link: Forestry Bureau Aerial Survey Office 農林航空測量所
Features:
satellite imagery / aerial imagery
The Aerial Survey Office offers higher resolution satellite imagery than Google Earth. The downside is that it is not as current.
Google Earth
The same confluence from above seen in Google Earth, surprisingly with less detail.
Link: Google Earth
Features:
satellite imagery / aerial imagery
comparatively up-to-date satellite imagery
Google Earth is updated several times per year and, as a result, usually offers the most accurate and up-to-date imagery.
Official Naming and Zoning
Ministry of Interior Land Map 地籍圖資網路便民服務系統
Link: Ministry of Interior Land Map 地籍圖資網路便民服務系統
Features:
Displays official names of geographic features
According to the Forestry Bureau of Taiwan, this tool is used for place name reference (by loading OSM map). It also displays national-level nature reserves. County-level reserves like Xinwulu River’s Fish Protection Area are not displayed.
Tools for Estimating Water Flow
Catchment Area Calculator 集水區觀察員
Link: Catchment Area Calculator 集水區觀察員
This web app calculates the catchment area of any point on a waterway in km². It is useful for understanding the scope of a river at any point.
Pasikao River (鹿野溪) Catchment Area
The catchment area for Pasikao’s W-shaped canyon is around 200km².
Jiajiuliao (加九寮溪) Catchment Area
By comparison, the catchment area for Wulai’s popular Jiajiuliao River (加九寮溪) is only 12km².
CWB Accumulated Precipitation Graph 日累積圖
Link: CWB Accumulated Precipitation Graph
A good reference for determining potential flow of larger watersheds. Useful for planning longer trips.
It can be adjusted to view 1, 2, 3, or 4-day timeframes.
Offline Tools
Taiwan TOPO (魯地圖) aka “Rudy Map”
Download: Rudy Map Download Link
Rudy Map (魯地圖) is a free offline map for compatible GPS applications on iOS and Android. It can be also displayed on a Garmin. The map is updated on a rolling basis from crowd-sourced information delivered by active mountaineers in Taiwan. Water sources, campsites, peaks, trails, forestry roads, etc. are marked.
Rudy Map can be displayed using the following apps:
Android: Oruxmaps, Locus Map, GTs 綠野遊蹤, Wadi 蛙弟！
iOS: Cartograph 2 Maps, 山林日誌
Rudy Map Installation Instructions (in Mandarin Chinese and spoken by a TTS robot)
Rudy Map Legend
Rudy Map 魯地圖 Taiwan Topo Map
Cartograph 2 Maps (iOS) w/魯地圖 loaded
