majormajor42

I third the 180 view request. I clip it backwards (screen facing my leg) from a belt loop. then when I want to look at it I fold it up so I can look down and everything looks proper BUT it is kinda tight to my waist. When I wear a backpack or camera "purse", I have a better place to clip it. I need a jacket with a good place to clip it about chest high to make viewing easiest. but a way to flip it 180 degrees on the next release would certainly help. another request would be to have more options for the heart pulse rate. Right now, all I see is an instantaneous reading in a data field. It would be nice to have additional Max and averages. Even better might be a way to graph the heart rate or at least attach it to a track so I can view and/or manipulate in mapsource when I get home. The downside of more data field options is that there are so many options as it is. Sure takes a while to scroll through all the options to find the one you want. looking forward to updating (just did a couple weeks ago for the raster maps) and trying these new options out.

with the unit on, hit the power button again. A pop-up menu should appear that will allow you to adjust the backlight. hopefully you aren't already at the highest set point or else you are out of luck. just remember to turn down the backlight when you don't need it so bright to save your batteries. the altimeter graph page can be adjusted to show a barometric graph. change the graph via the setting menu. or, if you just want a value at any given time, press in one of the unit blocks (forget the name for these) and make it display what you want. I frequently accidentally change the display of these boxes when I leave my 400t on in my pocket (which I try not to do, use the clip instead)

Success. I now have some scanned trail maps on my GPS. the map took about eight scans since it is large. I initially used photoshop to merge all the maps back together to make one big JPEG. That was a mistake. As maingrey's links point out, each jpeg must be less than a 1 to 3 MB but less than 1 works better. So as a test I used a smaller jpeg, like the Central Park pre-aligned kmz file as a test, and it worked, so I knew I had done something wrong. I went back and arranged each of the eight JPEGs individually and put them in one folder. There are some minor misalignments but all in all, it is a nice image on my 400t. I set it up so only one profile will display these trail maps. the central park map, which makes a good test: https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?t=2644 oh, one more thing. when I uploaded the software on my 400t, I had to create the folder /garmin/CustomMaps/ myself. I guess I thought it would appear automatically based on what I read.

I would guess not. It, the GPSr, does not know the difference between the trails and the background. It is all on the surface of the same jpeg. looking at the example map image in the first reply above, it would be impossible to somehow automatically remove the white background parts and just leave the black trail/road parts. You would have to perform some intermediary step of tracing the trails or maybe cutting out the many polygons of the background between the trails. I guess some sort of transparency would be nice in this case too, just as you can adjust the degree of transparency of the jpeg on google earth. All we got it the <50 or >50 adjustment. maybe later releases of firmware will have more options.

I would like this option for the purpose of placing new caches. For originality's sake and creativity, it would be nice to know if there was a cache at a particular location before. Maybe there was a perfectly good reason why the old owner archived it and the reviewer doesn't remember the old cache, the logs might say something. One of the motivations for placing a cache might be to bring people to a little-known location, a waterfall in the woods that isn't on any of the maps, only for one of the first found logs to say something like "found a cache here in 2004. been there done that". And if there was a cache in that location before, it might also be nice for the new owner to acknowledge the old cache, as has been done many times and probably what I would do too. fortunately one of the old-timers emailed me the archived list for the area that I live in. I wonder if you emailed someone at Groundspeak with a set of coordinates, they would be able to send you back a list of archives in that area on a per-request basis? I figure they have additional search abilities that the average member does not.

you are doing this on the GPSr? which one do you have?

My lovely wife is impressed that I have found almost 200 caches (about 100 per year). She only geocaches with me a few times a year when we are on vacation. The other day I told her that some people have found over 5000 caches! She said if I ever do 5000 caches she would divorce me. If I stay on pace, around the time of our 50th Anniversary I'll be a free man!!!

Just looked at your profile to see where you are from in the mid-atlantic. Do a cache key word search for "disc golf" and see what comes up. Doesn't look like any or in Maryland though.

It's working! I think... Of course, I'll have to try all this with the my Vista but the 400t is doing it. I loaded up the .img file of my area of NY that had the trails that I already added. They have indeed showed up on my GPSr. They are not nice little red dotted lines like on the opensteetmap. They show up as gray/white lines, something like dirt roads. but they are there and that is the cool part. They seem to be routable as well. I'll have to play with the profile settings for routing. I'm still not entirely used to the settings on the Oregon. It was a Bday present a few months ago. Either the Vista is easier to use or I'm just used to it. Anyhow, as I speak, it is simulating a trip along one of my trails. My ETA is about a half hour moving at about 1.5 mph along the trail that I rendered. How cool is that? Like I said, I'll try this again with my Vista and see if it works. Some of the trails that I edited a few days ago are not there so there are time delays involved. If it works with the vista then maybe I'll test it using the map portions from Columbia, MD.

sorry, I started my reply above without seeing your latest post. I had not yet tried the last step of getting the trails from openstreet onto my GPSr. I was going to experiment with it. Reading Gladstone's comments, it looks like it might not be that easy. I'll still be uploading my tracks and editing the map like he said. Will hope for a solution to the last step of getting those trails on the GPSr. One idea, to bring the thread full circle back to the new garmin custom maps is to use .kmz files but I don't think you can do it on a Vista.

the openstreetmap wiki is what I used to figure it all out. BTW, I just read your recent messages to see what GPSr you have. I see you were having trouble with getting the .img files onto your GPSr. Did you ever work that out? I use this site for downloading to my Garmin. That way it puts all the regions I pick into just one .img file for me. So, I loaded my tracks up two ways. My old tracks were saved on mapsource as the default type of file. I forget what they are called ( .mps???). The wiki says to use gpsbabel to convert to .gpx. I found it unnecessary to use GPSbabel since mapsource can do it too. Open the old track file and simply save as... .gpx in mapsource. Before saving, you can edit your tracks a little in mapsource if you want. since I am loading up to a public website, I removed the beginning or ends of my tracks that had me coming going to my house. now that you have .gpx tracks, go to openstreetmap and hit the link at the top to upload tracks. you might need to register if you haven't already. The other way to upload, with my 400t, but haven't tried this with my older Vista yet, is to just plug the GPSr in to the USB cable. Just upload the .gpx off the GPSr directly. No file conversion is necessary. This is what I do now when I return from a hike. I turn off the GPSr or the tracking well before I return home, for privacy again. Don't know why I am paranoid about this. What I described above takes me a shorter time then the wait for my computer to start up now that I have done it a few times. Now, at your convenience, once the track has loaded into the database, you'll get an email, you can edit the map. This will mean, left clicking the mouse a lot to create a "way" over your trace on the map. Then tagging the "way" appropriately: bikepath, footway, track... I'm still figuring out how to tag properly but as more experienced mappers told me, the important thing is getting the lines on the map. after a day, the map should now have all the edits that you have made. It is not instantaneous like wikipedia. then download a new .img that includes your edits and have fun. I kinda glossed over the editing part. let me know if you need help with that part. lots written on their wiki but mostly by Europeans and some stuff is lost in translation. Even the British have different terms for roads, hiking trails, dirt roads. Like I said, I'm still figuring out how to best tag my ways.

Knowing we have quite a few knowledgeable Harriman hikers here, does anyone know the status of this property? There is a wiki page with all the history. Here is the press release when OSI bought the property from Columbia. I really don't know anything about OSI besides what is written on their website. Some very nice brochures. And it looks like other properties of theirs are open to the public further upstate and in some other areas. Does anyone know what they are doing or have planned for this property? The mansion looks beautiful from the pictures. I once spent a night on Stockbridge Mountain with a great view of it too. But as a geocacher/hiker I'm curious about that huge swath of property they have along western portion of the park.

I'll help you threadjack my own thread since my OP questions have basically been answered. I have been actively collaborating the last month with openstreetmap. I was able to load some of my old saved tracks from mapsource and now every time I get back from a hike I load those tracks as well. Like anything else, it might require a few minutes investment the first time you do it, but it is really easy after you get the hang of it. Here is a link to some of the trails in Harriman State Park, NY that I have been working on. Just make sure your map edits are based on your own experiences and other open domain information that is out there. While it will be great to have routable trails on my GPS, it is also very nice to have the trail map that I paid for from the local trail conference (that I support). Once you upload the trails, edit the map, and then put it on your GPS, you should be able to see geocaches that you have also loaded amoung those trails. A quick look at Columbia, MD shows that some of those trails, footpaths, and bikepaths may already be on openstreetmap. you might be able to add to this.

thank you. those links, and the links in those links really showed me everything I needed to know. I'll try it soon. That last link had some good advice in particular to my flash drive question. It advises putting these .kmz maps on the flash drive so that way, if you "brick it", all you have to do is pull the flash drive and restart. At this point it seems quite clear that the trails on these raster/kmz maps are not routable unless you do additional tracing, custom mapping or something. I will continue to load my tracks to openstreetmap for the purpose of helping create that database of routable streets, bikepaths, and pedestrian/hiking ways. After all that, I'm still a little confused by the copyright issue. Why should it be a problem for me to scan a map that I have paid for, and put it on my GPS for my own personal use. I certainly wouldn't share that map with anyone like with all the Park Service maps in Maingray's first link. Is there something in the process, like when putting the scanned map image on Google Earth, that exposes it to file sharing in some way?

glad to see that. I was about to put a request on the couple of TBs that I put out there to avoid Tallahassee. You took up quite a collection there a couple months ago. I'm sure the caches you choose to drop those TBs in will be spectacular. the bright side, at least you are logging that you grabbed them. Many TBs that are headed for Neverland just disappear.

Awesome. God Speed. We'll have to have a "OCR: Mission Accomplished" event when you return with the bugs.

I was just in Paris and dropped numerous TBs there. If you can't find any cachers to take it and your friend is willing to find a cache, let me know. I could send an email on how to find one or two caches without a GPS.

I didn't want to hijack that other firmware thread with my questions: first time hearing about the custom map option. looks really cool if it works. trying to read up on some words used in that other thread by searching on google. Is "raster" any map loaded with this custom map option? I'll probably start with scanning a trail map. The trails on that map will not be routable, right? I've been adding my tracks to openstreetmaps in the hopes of eventually getting routable trail maps in my area. Are there some new databases/indexes popping up on the internet with lists of maps that people can use with this feature? what is the best way to get some satellite imagery on my 400t? so far I haven't needed the extra flash memory. will adding lots of maps require me to add a flash card?

first, reposting what I wrote a little while ago on a thread in the geocoin forum: "I've only been caching for two years. While 2000 doesn't really seem that long ago, it seems like an eternity by caching standards. I just did some caches from 2001 and I felt like an archeologist going through those log books. So, what if, in addition to other events going on, geocachers gather in some way at active caches as they celebrate their 10th anniversaries? It could be a CITO event, or it doesn't even have to be an official event. Just cachers gathering around the cache at noon on the anniversary day. Might be cool. for those who's curiosities are now piqued, I just looked up the oldest in NY. the bookmark list for that cache has many other very old caches on it. 12 Nov 00: Sleepy Hollow-1. November 12, 2010. I hope I'm not working that day " So is this a good idea for a whole series of CITO events? Would I place a CITO event coordinate right on top of an existing cache or at a nearby trashy area? Some cache 10th anniversaries will not be on weekends. Are non-weekend CITO events just as succesful or should it be less true to the birthday idea and just schedule it on the closest weekend? I just visited a hilltop cache from 2001 yesterday. There is a lot of graffiti nearby. I'm afraid that painting over graffiti is an act of vandalism itself. Do CITO events ever bother with graffiti? I'm not working the weekend of April 24-25th. Maybe that will be a good opportunity to attend or even host my first CITO event and answer a lot of other questions (in addition to reading the stickies in this forum). Given the three-month lead time for events, look for a CITO event hosted by me at Sleep Hollow, NY, posted in August for next November. I, of course, would be thrilled if others pick up on this idea (maybe others have already considered it, it's a big forum) if the conventional wisdom here thinks it is reasonable.

I've only been caching for two years. While 2000 doesn't really seem that long ago, it seems like an eternity by caching standards. I just did some caches from 2001 and I felt like an archeologist going through those log books. So, what if, in addition to other events going on, geocachers gather in some way at active caches as they celebrate their 10th anniversaries? It could be a CITO event, or it doesn't even have to be an official event. Just cachers gathering around the cache at noon on the anniversary day. Might be cool. for those who's curiosities are now piqued, I just looked up the oldest in NY. the bookmark list for that cache has many other very old caches on it. 12 Nov 00: Sleepy Hollow-1. November 12, 2010. I hope I'm not working that day

not exactly. I am a Garmin user, 400t. Keep in mind, I do some editing in mapsource but the tracing part is done right on the openstreetmap website. Once I save the trace, it shows up on the map as a trail the map that anybody else can view and download, and sharing was part of the OP's question.

Something that I have been doing the last few weeks is adding my tracks to openstreetmap.com. I upload my tracks (you can see mine under the same username - majormajor42) to the site from my track files saved in mapsource as .gpx, or taken straight off my 400t as a .gpx. Once my tracks are on the site, I use the edit map option to trace a "footpath", or "path" or "track" on top of my gps tracks. In some cases, where I have been on a trail multiple times, there are multiple tracks shown overlayed on a yahoo map satellite image. Put it all together and I'm able to trace the trail as accurately as possible. I have done this for a few dozen miles of trails in Rockland County, New York mostly. Look for the red doted lines. I've also seen some decent trail networks in Yosemite and Mountainview, CA. If you have hundreds of miles of tracks, I could see where tracing could become tedious. It is a community of opensourcers so if you uploaded your tracks, someone else might step in and trace them and edit the map. The next step will be me, you and others downloading these maps to their GPSrs and using those trails in the woods. I have not done this yet but it would be nice if the trails were routable like the roads are. As I found out yesterday while on a 15 mile hike, an ETA based on an offroad straight line is not as accurate as what might be possible if the navigation system was following a curvy trail. My 400t basemap does have some trails on it but they are not accurately located, inconsistent and I don't think they are routable. here is some of my work of trails in Harriman State Park, NY

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Legal_FAQ would this be helpful to you?

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Map...Garmin/Download They might have what you are looking for for free. looks like it might only be for the southern half of the country though. I've been on an open source kick the last couple weeks. Got some great free maps for a one-week trip to Europe I just took. Now I'm am finally uploading all my saved tracks to the site and editing the map for the trails in my neck of the woods (Harriman State Park, New York mostly)

hey, how about that! I just got notified of a new log on a coin I had watchlisted. It was a coin that I placed in a cache two years ago. I did not own it. I felt terrible that I was the last person to officially touch it. Made me think that I did a bad job of choosing what cache to leave it in. Well, after two years, looks like it is back in circulation. This really makes my day [] It might be a little pathetic that I care that much but I doubt I'm the only one excited by such things.