INEGI maps of Mexican States

["vela_este" <vela_este@...>]

Hi, 

As all of you must surely know, when the time comes to take your research to the field or to simply to locate one of those strange sounding Mexican towns, a good map is an indispensable tool. For those searching for a good online map of a Mexican state, let me share with you the following link to the "Instituto de Estadistica Geografía e Informática" or INEGI for short: http://www.inegi.gob.mx/inegi/default.asp 

First, select the state you're looking for in the upper left combo box. 
Next, click in the label "Información Geográfica" almost at the top and center of the page. 
Finally, on the first section of "Datos Generales" find and click on "Condensado estatal en formato raster" 

Depending on your internet connection speed, downloading these maps to your screen could take several minutes, but the wait is well worth it and it is free. What you get is a map in "pdf" format (You need Acrobat Reader) and the detail on these maps is the best I've seen, even when compared to commercial versions. In fact the maps from the INEGI are the most up to date maps (of México) that I know of. 

The good thing about "raster format" maps is that you can zoom in with very little distortion. Then, when the full map is downloaded to your screen, click on the save icon in the Acrobat plug-in toolbar (the floppy disk symbol) and save it to the folder of your choice in your PC.  (Note: You can't use the browser's own menu bar to save the map because the "Save As" option becomes disabled. )

Below are the direct links to some maps:

Aguascalientes:
http://mapserver.inegi.gob.mx/geografia/espanol/estados/ags/ags.pdf
Jalisco:
http://mapserver.inegi.gob.mx/geografia/espanol/estados/jal/jal.pdf
Zacatecas:
http://mapserver.inegi.gob.mx/geografia/espanol/estados/zac/zac.pdf

Victor