Niemi first experimented with a mapping program in July 2001 as a
Linux,
PHP and
MySQL alternative to
Microsoft's
TerraServer-USA topographic mapviewer. The domain was registered at
Go Daddy to Sunset Dynamics on August 10, 2004. However, Niemi did not aggressively develop the website because of the success of TopoZone. After TopoZone started the for-pay
business model on April 8, 2008, Niemi made updates to get the website to match the TopoZone URL methodology for viewing 1:24K
USGS Digital raster graphic maps available from the
Libre Map Project and
Internet Archive and was operating by May 2008. Code was adapted from the
MapServer project at the
University of Minnesota. The viewer was made seamless by incorporating
GDAL. In addition to matching the TopoZone
URLs, TopoQuest offers free downloads of
GeoTIFFs, which TopoZone had only offered for a premium. TopoQuest started adding Canadian 1:50K scale topographic maps in July 2008, and USGS 1:100K and 1:250K scale topographic maps in March 2009. ==References==