Before jumping into downloading the data, one consideration you will need to take into account is how much horsepower and memory your computer has. This will have an effect on how long it will take to process this data as well as how much data it can handle at one time. I currently have a Dual Core (2 processors) 2.0GHz machine with 1GB of RAM (memory). At this time, I can process about 1/2 degree by 1/2 degree of map data, this might be a good place for you to start as well and adjust into smaller increments if you start to recieve out of memory errors. Also note, even though I have a dual processor computer, almost all of these programs are single threaded applications (in other words they will only use one processor).

You may also want to think about how you'll want to organize your files and keep track of where you are in the process. Here's how I organized my files. Included are a couple of shortcuts to improve upon some of the processes listed below, most notably the download of Topo data.

Here is a detailed rundown of how to download each piece of data from the USGS National Map Seamless Server. Once you understand what you are doing, there is a shortcut that can take much of the work out of this process using Excel.

1. Open your web browser of choice and navigate to the USGS National Map Seamless Server.
2. After the application opens (and you may be prompted to install some Active X components), click on the View and Download United States Data.
3. This website requires the use of pop-ups, so disable any and all pop-up blockers you may have on your computer.
4. The toolbar on the left side of the screen has several categories, find the Download category. Click on the Define Download Area By Coordinates button. (Hovering above the buttons will display their function.)
5. A pop-up window will appear prompting for your coordinates, I find it easier to work with decimal degrees, so click on the Switch to Decimal Degrees link at the bottom of the window.
6. Now enter you 1/2 degree by 1/2 degree boundaries and click on the Add Area button.
   Example:
   Top: 42.00
   Left: -77.50
   Right: -77.00
   Bottom: 41.50
7. You are now brought to the Request Summary Page where you can download some data, however, we're not quite ready yet. The default Topo data isn't the most accurate data USGS has within it's database and it's not in the format we need. Click on the Modify Data Request link.
8. Scroll down the page till you find the National Elevation Dataset (NED) 1/3 Arc Second listing and place a checkmark next to it. The page will re-load.
9. Scroll back down the page to the National Elevation Dataset (NED) 1/3 Arc Second listing and change the format from ArcGRID to GeoTIFF.
10. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the Save Changes & Return to Summary button.
11. You will be returned to the Request Summary Page page and you will see an additional item for download. The previously mentioned shortcut will skip all previous steps and take you straight to this step. Click on the Download button next to the 1/3 ArcSecond GeoTIFF listing.
12. A Current Order Status pop-up will appear and refresh approximately every 10 seconds, wait until it displays a link to download your data.
13. Click on the link and save the data file to your hard drive. I save the file using the coordinate of the upper left corner, example 42007750.zip.

HINT: You can use excel to auto-generate the extract web page for TOPO data with the proper boundaries, and 1/3 Arc Second. Starting in Row 1 Column B, enter the Longitudinal Coordinates in increasing half degree increments (ex -78, -77.5, -77). Select the three cells and drag to the right and Excel will fill in the rest. Repeat for the Latitudinal Coordinates starting in Row 2 Column A and enter them in decreasing order (ex. 42, 41.5, 41). Select the three cells and drag down and Excel will fill in the rest. Starting in Row 2 Column B, enter the following formula, =CONCATENATE("http://extract.cr.usgs.gov/Website/distreq/RequestSummary.jsp?AL=",$A2,",",$A3,",",AF$1,",", AE$1,"&CS=250&PR=0&MD=CD&PL=ND302HZ"). You can copy and past this formula to the remaining blank cells and it will create the proper URL to plug into your web browser.

	-77.5	-77	-76.5	-76	-75.5
42	Formula	Formula	Formula	Formula	Formula
41.5	Formula	Formula	Formula	Formula	Formula
41	Formula	Formula	Formula	Formula	Formula
40.5	Formula	Formula	Formula	Formula	Formula
40	Formula	Formula	Formula	Formula	Formula

The formula should yield a URL similar to:
http://extract.cr.usgs.gov/Website/distreq/RequestSummary.jsp?AL=41.5,41,-77,-77.5&CS=250&PR=0&MD=CD&PL=ND302HZ

The Hydrological Data is not downloaded directly from the website, but you place a request to the website to generate the data and then a link to download your data will be e-mailed to you. Although this is a bit more of a convoluted method, the data is extremely more accurate that that on the USGS National Map Seamless server and worth the effort.

1. Open your web browser of choice and nagivate to the USGS Hydrological Database.
2. Similar to the USGS National Map Seamless Server, there is a toolbar on the left side of the web page. Click on the Zoom In tool.
3. Using the cross hair cursor, draw a box around the area you wish to download to start zooming in. You'll see how the zones are not nice squares, but oddly shaped areas.
4. On the right hand side of the web page you will see several layer groupings, click on the triangle to the left of NHD High Res. Initially, this will state No layers at current scale. Continue to zoom in on your area until entries are displayed under this heading.
5. Once you see entries under the NHD High Res heading, place a checkmark in the box to the left of the following entries:
   NHD Line
   NHD Flowline
   NHD Area
   NHD Waterbody
6. Click on the triangle to the left of the Hydrologic Units located just under the NHD High Res category. Click on the circle to the left of the Subbasins entry. The map will redraw and display various pieces of hydrologic data.
7. On the toolbar to the left, click on the Polygon Extract tool.
8. With the cross hair cursor, left click on the subbasin you wish to download. A pop-up window will appear.
9. Under option 1, select the High Resolution option.
10. Under option 2, select the Shapefile option.
11. Under option 3, do not select the Populate Flow Table option.
12. Enter your e-mail address in option 4 and click on the Extract button and you will be returned to the previous page. You can continue clicking on additional subbasins to download to complete your maps. In addition, you can also use the pan tool in the toolbar on the left side of the web page to pan to additional subbasins to download.
13. Check your e-mail, it may take from a few minutes to the next business day (I suspect the service at times needs to be "rebooted") to recieve the e-mail with a link to your data. The filename of the download is a randomly generated value, however, the e-mail also contains the identity of the subbasin in the download and I rename the download to the subbasin identifier.

This data is not nearly as large as the Hydrologic or Topo data that were downloaded in the preceeding steps. Although this data is also downloaded from the USGS National Map Seamless Server, I download it in much larger areas than the 1/2 degree by 1/2 degree limitation with the Topo data. Please review my organization suggestions in how I "block" out each state on my Microsoft Excel grid. Since I handle maps on a state by state basis, I typically download this data in a single request that covers the entire state which I am creating maps for.

1. Open your web browser of choice and navigate to the USGS National Map Seamless Server.
2. After the application opens (and you may be prompted to install some Active X components), click on the View and Download United States Data.
3. This website requires the use of pop-ups, so disable any and all pop-up blockers you may have on your computer.
4. The toolbar on the left side of the screen has several categories, find the Download category. Click on the Define Download Area By Coordinates button. (Hovering above the buttons will display their function.)
5. A pop-up window will appear prompting for your coordinates, I find it easier to work with decimal degrees, so click on the Switch to Decimal Degrees link at the bottom of the window.
6. Now enter your bounding box that will cover the state you are creating maps for.
   Top: 42.00
   Left: -81.50
   Right: -73.00
   Bottom: 37.50
7. You are now brought to the Request Summary Page where you can download the less detailed Topo data. Click on the Modify Data Request link.
8. Scroll down the page till you find the Bureau of Transportation Statistics(BTS) Roads listing and place a checkmark next to it. The page will re-load and you will see it selected, the default format should be Shapefile.
9. Scroll down the page till you find the National Atlas Railroads listing and place a checkmark next to it. The page will re-load and you will see it selected, the default format should be Shapefile.
10. To reduce the amount of clutter ton the Request Summary Page, scroll down the page till you find the National Elevation Dataset (NED) 1 Arc Second listing and remove the checkmark next to it. The page will re-load.
11. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the Save Changes & Return to Summary button.
12. You will be returned to the Request Summary Page page and you will see an entry for each of these map categories. Click on the Download button next each one to process the request and download the data. I save the file in each data categories folder with the state initials to indicate the coverage area.

While gathering data for my maps I found the following shapefiles for both National Parks and state borders. You can download load them here for your maps, if you find other data that would be useful and would like to share, send them to me and I might place them on this page for others to use as well.
National Park Shapefile
State Borders Shapefile