TopoMiller
🛤️Roads & Trails Guide
Add Geographic Features: TopoMiller can overlay roads, trails, and rivers onto your terrain models. These features are carved into (or raised from) the surface, creating tactile reference points on your CNC-carved topography.
🗄️Data Source
OpenStreetMap (OSM)
All roads, trails, and river data comes from OpenStreetMap, the free, collaborative map of the world.
Why OpenStreetMap?
- • Worldwide coverage — Data available for virtually any location on Earth
- • Community maintained — Millions of contributors keep data accurate and up-to-date
- • Rich detail — Includes trail names, road types, river classifications, and more
- • Free and open — Licensed under ODbL, free for everyone to use
📍Overview
When you click "Load Roads & Trails", TopoMiller queries OpenStreetMap for geographic features within your selected region. Features are organized into categories that you can customize independently.
🛣️ Roads
Highways, streets, and paths. Useful for orientation and context on your terrain model.
🥾 Trails
Hiking paths, footways, and tracks. Perfect for outdoor recreation areas.
🏞️ Rivers
Waterways, streams, and rivers. Adds natural features to your model.
↔️Feature Width
Controls how wide the carved/raised line will be on your final model. Width is measured in millimeters (mm) on the physical output.
Width Range: 0.1mm - 2.0mm
- 0.1 - 0.3mm: Fine detail, best for small models or dense feature areas
- 0.4 - 0.8mm: Standard width, good balance of visibility and detail
- 1.0 - 2.0mm: Bold lines, ideal for large models or primary features
↕️Carving Depth
Controls how deep the feature is carved into the terrain (or how high it's raised above it). Measured in millimeters (mm).
Depth Range: 0.1mm - 3.0mm
- 0.1 - 0.3mm: Subtle, tactile indication without visual dominance
- 0.5 - 1.0mm: Clearly visible and feelable, standard choice
- 1.5 - 3.0mm: Very pronounced, may require paint fill for visibility
🎨Carving Style
Choose whether features are carved into the terrain surface or raised above it.
Recessed (Default)
Features are carved into the terrain surface, creating grooves or channels.
- ✓ Natural appearance for rivers and valleys
- ✓ Can be filled with paint or resin
- ✓ Won't catch on fingers when handling
Raised
Features stand above the terrain surface, creating ridges.
- ✓ Highly tactile, easy to trace by touch
- ✓ Good for roads and boundaries
- ✓ More visible without paint fill
📂Feature Categories
Features are organized into categories that you can toggle on/off independently. Each category has its own width, depth, and style settings.
Major and minor roads, highways, streets
Hiking paths, footways, bridleways, tracks
Rivers, streams, canals, drainage
✅Individual Feature Selection
When features have names in OpenStreetMap (like "Pacific Crest Trail" or "Colorado River"), you can toggle them individually. This gives you precise control over exactly which features appear on your model.
Selection Controls
- All / None: Quickly select or deselect all named features in a category
- Search: Filter features by name when there are many (appears with 5+ features)
- Hover: Hovering over a feature name highlights it on the map
- Unnamed features: Shown as "+ X unnamed" at the bottom of the list
💡Tips & Best Practices
The default width (0.5mm) and depth (0.5mm) work well for most models. Adjust after seeing a test carve.
Including every road and trail can make a model look cluttered. Consider selecting only major features or named trails.
Enabled features are shown on the map. Review the overlay before exporting to ensure you have what you want.
A 0.5mm wide trail on a 100mm model looks different than on a 300mm model. Scale your widths accordingly.