talkytoaster

For all those interested: Another week and another set of updates...the 9th one for 2013! Over the weekend I have compiled the latest British Isles map tiles with contours into new maps for Garmin GPSrs. The British Isles mapsets I compile include the following areas: England Wales Scotland Isle of Man Channel Islands Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland The GB and Ireland mapsets have been discontinued as they are superseded by the British Isles mapset, and as I now offer the OS 1:50K Look n Feel I have too many mapsets to try and squeeze in to my very limited spare time as these all take significant amounts of time to compile, assemble and test, not to mention uploading to the site: The full British Isles mapsets come with contour data [the Scottish Mountaineering Club contours have been replaced by new 10m contours I compiled from raw NASA SRTM data] and are now routable. The updated ones are prefixed with 130419 [the old ones are prefixed with 130412] and include all changes made to OSM British Isles data as at the 19th April 2013. The latest OS 1:50K Look n Feel has had many of the custom POIs set to zoom level 24 (they only show at zoom levels 0.5 mile or less). These also now use the 10m contours I compiled. Some more tweaking has also been done, and will continue to be done. These are no longer considered experimental. The new 10m contours solve the jaggy coastline/sea problems. The new contours are set at 10M intervals, so offer better resolution than the old Scottish Mountaineering Club ones. Both mapsets now have rendered sea, but without any of the issues experienced with the SMC contours previously used. The contours have now had the Voids fixed and have been regenerated. If you want to grab them then you can find them here: http://talkytoaster.co.uk As these are new, please report any problems directly to me, via my profile on Geocaching.com or via my Gmail account [talkytoasteruk@gmail.com]. This update not only includes newer routable versions with contours for British Isles, but also routable versions without contour data. All of the latest maps have been compiled using an updated compiler which has an improved routing engine. More details about the routing features can be found in the FAQ on my site. Details and the maps can be found here: http://talkytoaster.co.uk/ukmaps.htm This should allow those that have Garmin GPSrs with limited memory to select small areas to upload to these devices complete with contour data. If anyone wants similar maps (with or without contours) for other parts of Europe or elsewhere, then please feel free to contact me to discuss your needs. CAVEAT: No mapping solution is perfect. From OpenStreetMap:- "By the very nature of the wiki-style process there is no guarantee of accuracy of any kind. Then again, few proprietary maps carry a guarantee of accuracy, either. In fact, some have artificially-introduced errors." Furthermore, I and others have already confirmed this with even GB OS maps; deliberate errors and moved paths (some from 10 years or more after the change was documented by the local council/county are not reflected on the latest OS maps). Not everything is accurately mapped, even on 1:25K. All maps should be considered a guide and not a factual statement. To participate and help improve the maps you just need to go to http://www.openstreetmap.org; create an account, upload your tracks from your GPSr and then edit the maps. Help on how to do this can be found on the OpenStreetMap site. I have tested these maps on a Garmin Oregon 550, Etrex Vista Hcx and a Etrex 30 [the full British Isles versions with contour data] and also on a computer in MapSource/BaseCamp for those versions designed for use with it to ensure that they load and render as expected. I do not test all the map data or functions as this is not possible in a reasonable time-frame. Hope this helps? All feedback and comments are most welcome. A big thank you to all of you that have given feedback or made suggestions (polite ones ) on how to improve the maps and/or my site. Keep them coming. An even bigger thank you to those that have supported my site via a donation. It is really appreciated and helps to keep the site going and shows me that my efforts in compiling and making these mapsets available are appreciated. Please be aware that some unscrupulous individuals have been selling my maps via car-boot sales and also on eBay. They have been offering my very old OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapsets and selling them as OS mapsets. The OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapsets include material I produced which is copyrighted. I offer them as FREE for personal use. Buying these maps from these unethical individuals means that you get inferior products, and they, and anyone who buys the maps from them, jeopardize the future of this project. The original OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapset I created has now lost the EXPERIMENTAL tag; the routing is still unique and these will never be recommended for use as a road sat-nav. However, I have released a NEW EXPERIMENTAL mapset using the OS 1:50K Look n Feel that should route in the same way as my standard mapset. You can find them on my site (clearly marked as EXPERIMENTAL), all feedback is most welcome. So far, the feedback I have received is mixed, so any other feedback is most welcome, so that I can identify any issues and attempt to fix them the next time I update them. The "original" talkytoaster.info site is now mirrored at talkytoaster.co.uk and talkytoaster.com (this adds a second physical hosting server in the UK, effectively adding redundancy to the existing, original one in the US). I will continue to run both servers as long as I can afford to. The maps also now work directly in BaseCamp when the GPS with them installed on is connected to a computer with BaseCamp installed. This means that the separate BaseCamp version will only be updated monthly (or less often than that).[/b] The maps now include the published date as part of the internal map name and the OS 1:50K Look n Feel version also includes Cycleway numbers and names. Other changes can be found in the change log page of my site. This update does include new BaseCamp/MapSource versions specifically for PC/Mac. It also fixes some minor issues with routing when bridges are rendered on some tracks/roads. Regards, Martin

For all those interested: Another week and another set of updates...the 8th one for 2013! Over the weekend I have compiled the latest British Isles map tiles with contours into new maps for Garmin GPSrs. The British Isles mapsets I compile include the following areas: England Wales Scotland Isle of Man Channel Islands Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland The GB and Ireland mapsets have been discontinued as they are superseded by the British Isles mapset, and as I now offer the OS 1:50K Look n Feel I have too many mapsets to try and squeeze in to my very limited spare time as these all take significant amounts of time to compile, assemble and test, not to mention uploading to the site: The full British Isles mapsets come with contour data [the Scottish Mountaineering Club contours have been replaced by new 10m contours I compiled from raw NASA SRTM data] and are now routable. The updated ones are prefixed with 130412 [the old ones are prefixed with 130329] and include all changes made to OSM British Isles data as at the 12th April 2013. The latest OS 1:50K Look n Feel has had many of the custom POIs set to zoom level 24 (they only show at zoom levels 0.5 mile or less). These also now use the 10m contours I compiled. Some more tweaking has also been done, and will continue to be done. These are no longer considered experimental. The new 10m contours solve the jaggy coastline/sea problems. The new contours are set at 10M intervals, so offer better resolution than the old Scottish Mountaineering Club ones. Both mapsets now have rendered sea, but without any of the issues experienced with the SMC contours previously used. The contours have now had the Voids fixed and have been regenerated. If you want to grab them then you can find them here: http://talkytoaster.co.uk As these are new, please report any problems directly to me, via my profile on Geocaching.com or via my Gmail account [talkytoasteruk@gmail.com]. This update not only includes newer routable versions with contours for British Isles, but also routable versions without contour data. All of the latest maps have been compiled using an updated compiler which has an improved routing engine. More details about the routing features can be found in the FAQ on my site. Details and the maps can be found here: http://talkytoaster.co.uk/ukmaps.htm This should allow those that have Garmin GPSrs with limited memory to select small areas to upload to these devices complete with contour data. If anyone wants similar maps (with or without contours) for other parts of Europe or elsewhere, then please feel free to contact me to discuss your needs. CAVEAT: No mapping solution is perfect. From OpenStreetMap:- "By the very nature of the wiki-style process there is no guarantee of accuracy of any kind. Then again, few proprietary maps carry a guarantee of accuracy, either. In fact, some have artificially-introduced errors." Furthermore, I and others have already confirmed this with even GB OS maps; deliberate errors and moved paths (some from 10 years or more after the change was documented by the local council/county are not reflected on the latest OS maps). Not everything is accurately mapped, even on 1:25K. All maps should be considered a guide and not a factual statement. To participate and help improve the maps you just need to go to http://www.openstreetmap.org; create an account, upload your tracks from your GPSr and then edit the maps. Help on how to do this can be found on the OpenStreetMap site. I have tested these maps on a Garmin Oregon 550, Etrex Vista Hcx and a Etrex 30 [the full British Isles versions with contour data] and also on a computer in MapSource/BaseCamp for those versions designed for use with it to ensure that they load and render as expected. I do not test all the map data or functions as this is not possible in a reasonable time-frame. Hope this helps? All feedback and comments are most welcome. A big thank you to all of you that have given feedback or made suggestions (polite ones ) on how to improve the maps and/or my site. Keep them coming. An even bigger thank you to those that have supported my site via a donation. It is really appreciated and helps to keep the site going and shows me that my efforts in compiling and making these mapsets available are appreciated. Please be aware that some unscrupulous individuals have been selling my maps via car-boot sales and also on eBay. They have been offering my very old OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapsets and selling them as OS mapsets. The OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapsets include material I produced which is copyrighted. I offer them as FREE for personal use. Buying these maps from these unethical individuals means that you get inferior products, and they, and anyone who buys the maps from them, jeopardize the future of this project. The original OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapset I created has now lost the EXPERIMENTAL tag; the routing is still unique and these will never be recommended for use as a road sat-nav. However, I have released a NEW EXPERIMENTAL mapset using the OS 1:50K Look n Feel that should route in the same way as my standard mapset. You can find them on my site (clearly marked as EXPERIMENTAL), all feedback is most welcome. So far, the feedback I have received is mixed, so any other feedback is most welcome, so that I can identify any issues and attempt to fix them the next time I update them. The "original" talkytoaster.info site is now mirrored at talkytoaster.co.uk and talkytoaster.com (this adds a second physical hosting server in the UK, effectively adding redundancy to the existing, original one in the US). I will continue to run both servers as long as I can afford to. The maps also now work directly in BaseCamp when the GPS with them installed on is connected to a computer with BaseCamp installed. This means that the separate BaseCamp version will only be updated monthly (or less often than that).[/b] The maps now include the published date as part of the internal map name and the OS 1:50K Look n Feel version also includes Cycleway numbers and names. Other changes can be found in the change log page of my site. This update does include new BaseCamp/MapSource versions specifically for PC/Mac. Regards, Martin

For all those interested: Another week and another set of updates...the seventh one for 2013! Over the weekend I have compiled the latest British Isles map tiles with contours into new maps for Garmin GPSrs. The British Isles mapsets I compile include the following areas: England Wales Scotland Isle of Man Channel Islands Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland The GB and Ireland mapsets have been discontinued as they are superseded by the British Isles mapset, and as I now offer the OS 1:50K Look n Feel I have too many mapsets to try and squeeze in to my very limited spare time as these all take significant amounts of time to compile, assemble and test, not to mention uploading to the site: The full British Isles mapsets come with contour data [the Scottish Mountaineering Club contours have been replaced by new 10m contours I compiled from raw NASA SRTM data] and are now routable. The updated ones are prefixed with 130329 [the old ones are prefixed with 130308] and include all changes made to OSM British Isles data as at the 29th March 2013. The latest OS 1:50K Look n Feel has had many of the custom POIs set to zoom level 24 (they only show at zoom levels 0.5 mile or less). These also now use the 10m contours I compiled. Some more tweaking has also been done, and will continue to be done. These are no longer considered experimental. The new 10m contours solve the jaggy coastline/sea problems. The new contours are set at 10M intervals, so offer better resolution than the old Scottish Mountaineering Club ones. Both mapsets now have rendered sea, but without any of the issues experienced with the SMC contours previously used. The contours have now had the Voids fixed and have been regenerated. If you want to grab them then you can find them here: http://talkytoaster.co.uk As these are new, please report any problems directly to me, via my profile on Geocaching.com or via my Gmail account [talkytoasteruk@gmail.com]. This update not only includes newer routable versions with contours for British Isles, but also routable versions without contour data. All of the latest maps have been compiled using an updated compiler which has an improved routing engine. More details about the routing features can be found in the FAQ on my site. Details and the maps can be found here: http://talkytoaster.co.uk/ukmaps.htm This should allow those that have Garmin GPSrs with limited memory to select small areas to upload to these devices complete with contour data. If anyone wants similar maps (with or without contours) for other parts of Europe or elsewhere, then please feel free to contact me to discuss your needs. CAVEAT: No mapping solution is perfect. From OpenStreetMap:- "By the very nature of the wiki-style process there is no guarantee of accuracy of any kind. Then again, few proprietary maps carry a guarantee of accuracy, either. In fact, some have artificially-introduced errors." Furthermore, I and others have already confirmed this with even GB OS maps; deliberate errors and moved paths (some from 10 years or more after the change was documented by the local council/county are not reflected on the latest OS maps). Not everything is accurately mapped, even on 1:25K. All maps should be considered a guide and not a factual statement. To participate and help improve the maps you just need to go to http://www.openstreetmap.org; create an account, upload your tracks from your GPSr and then edit the maps. Help on how to do this can be found on the OpenStreetMap site. I have tested these maps on a Garmin Oregon 550, Etrex Vista Hcx and a Etrex 30 [the full British Isles versions with contour data] and also on a computer in MapSource/BaseCamp for those versions designed for use with it to ensure that they load and render as expected. I do not test all the map data or functions as this is not possible in a reasonable time-frame. Hope this helps? All feedback and comments are most welcome. A big thank you to all of you that have given feedback or made suggestions (polite ones ) on how to improve the maps and/or my site. Keep them coming. An even bigger thank you to those that have supported my site via a donation. It is really appreciated and helps to keep the site going and shows me that my efforts in compiling and making these mapsets available are appreciated. Please be aware that some unscrupulous individuals have been selling my maps via car-boot sales and also on eBay. They have been offering my very old OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapsets and selling them as OS mapsets. The OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapsets include material I produced which is copyrighted. I offer them as FREE for personal use. Buying these maps from these unethical individuals means that you get inferior products, and they, and anyone who buys the maps from them, jeopardize the future of this project. The original OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapset I created has now lost the EXPERIMENTAL tag; the routing is still unique and these will never be recommended for use as a road sat-nav. However, I have released a NEW EXPERIMENTAL mapset using the OS 1:50K Look n Feel that should route in the same way as my standard mapset. You can find them on my site (clearly marked as EXPERIMENTAL), all feedback is most welcome. So far, the feedback I have received is mixed, so any other feedback is most welcome, so that I can identify any issues and attempt to fix them the next time I update them. The "original" talkytoaster.info site is now mirrored at talkytoaster.co.uk and talkytoaster.com (this adds a second physical hosting server in the UK, effectively adding redundancy to the existing, original one in the US). I will continue to run both servers as long as I can afford to. The maps also now work directly in BaseCamp when the GPS with them installed on is connected to a computer with BaseCamp installed. This means that the separate BaseCamp version will only be updated monthly (or less often than that).[/b] The maps now include the published date as part of the internal map name and the OS 1:50K Look n Feel version also includes Cycleway numbers and names. Other changes can be found in the change log page of my site. This update does not include new BaseCamp/MapSource versions specifically for PC/Mac. Regards, Martin

Hi, I would recommend that you copy the map to a MicroSD card, that way if something goes wrong you only need to remove the card,rather than do a master reset on the Oregon losing all your existing maps and data. I do offer OS 1:50K Look n Feel maps for Spain on a pre-loaded and tested 4GB MicroSD for a very reasonable price, see my site at http://talkytoaster.co.uk/ for more details. These are superior to the ones offered on the site mentioned earlier in the thread by ChillyPenguin, as those DO NOT include contours, so are not TOPOGRAPHICAL, the ones I compile and offer are. Hope this helps? Regards, Martin

For all those interested: Another week and another set of updates...the sixth one for 2013! Over the weekend I have compiled the latest British Isles map tiles with contours into new maps for Garmin GPSrs. The British Isles mapsets I compile include the following areas: England Wales Scotland Isle of Man Channel Islands Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland The GB and Ireland mapsets have been discontinued as they are superseded by the British Isles mapset, and as I now offer the OS 1:50K Look n Feel I have too many mapsets to try and squeeze in to my very limited spare time as these all take significant amounts of time to compile, assemble and test, not to mention uploading to the site: The full British Isles mapsets come with contour data [the Scottish Mountaineering Club contours have been replaced by new 10m contours I compiled from raw NASA SRTM data] and are now routable. The updated ones are prefixed with 130308 [the old ones are prefixed with 130301] and include all changes made to OSM British Isles data as at the 8th March 2013. The latest OS 1:50K Look n Feel has had many of the custom POIs set to zoom level 24 (they only show at zoom levels 0.5 mile or less). These also now use the 10m contours I compiled. Some more tweaking has also been done, and will continue to be done. These are no longer considered experimental. The new 10m contours solve the jaggy coastline/sea problems. The new contours are set at 10M intervals, so offer better resolution than the old Scottish Mountaineering Club ones. Both mapsets now have rendered sea, but without any of the issues experienced with the SMC contours previously used. The contours have now had the Voids fixed and have been regenerated. If you want to grab them then you can find them here: http://talkytoaster.co.uk As these are new, please report any problems directly to me, via my profile on Geocaching.com or via my Gmail account [talkytoasteruk@gmail.com]. This update not only includes newer routable versions with contours for British Isles/, but also routable versions without contour data. All of the latest maps have been compiled using an updated compiler which has an improved routing engine. More details about the routing features can be found in the FAQ on my site. Details and the maps can be found here: http://talkytoaster.co.uk/ukmaps.htm This should allow those that have Garmin GPSrs with limited memory to select small areas to upload to these devices complete with contour data. If anyone wants similar maps (with or without contours) for other parts of Europe or elsewhere, then please feel free to contact me to discuss your needs. CAVEAT: No mapping solution is perfect. From OpenStreetMap:- "By the very nature of the wiki-style process there is no guarantee of accuracy of any kind. Then again, few proprietary maps carry a guarantee of accuracy, either. In fact, some have artificially-introduced errors." Furthermore, I and others have already confirmed this with even GB OS maps; deliberate errors and moved paths (some from 10 years or more after the change was documented by the local council/county are not reflected on the latest OS maps). Not everything is accurately mapped, even on 1:25K. All maps should be considered a guide and not a factual statement. To participate and help improve the maps you just need to go to http://www.openstreetmap.org; create an account, upload your tracks from your GPSr and then edit the maps. Help on how to do this can be found on the OpenStreetMap site. I have tested these maps on a Garmin Oregon 550, Etrex Vista Hcx and a Etrex 30 [the full British Isles versions with contour data] and also on a computer in MapSource/BaseCamp for those versions designed for use with it to ensure that they load and render as expected. I do not test all the map data or functions as this is not possible in a reasonable time-frame. Hope this helps? All feedback and comments are most welcome. A big thank you to all of you that have given feedback or made suggestions (polite ones ) on how to improve the maps and/or my site. Keep them coming. An even bigger thank you to those that have supported my site via a donation. It is really appreciated and helps to keep the site going and shows me that my efforts in compiling and making these mapsets available are appreciated. Please be aware that some unscrupulous individuals have been selling my maps via car-boot sales and also on eBay. They have been offering my very old OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapsets and selling them as OS mapsets. The OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapsets include material I produced which is copyrighted. I offer them as FREE for personal use. Buying these maps from these unethical individuals means that you get inferior products, and they, and anyone who buys the maps from them, jeopardize the future of this project. The original OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapset I created has now lost the EXPERIMENTAL tag; the routing is still unique and these will never be recommended for use as a road sat-nav. However, I have released a NEW EXPERIMENTAL mapset using the OS 1:50K Look n Feel that should route in the same way as my standard mapset. You can find them on my site (clearly marked as EXPERIMENTAL), all feedback is most welcome. So far, the feedback I have received is mixed, so any other feedback is most welcome, so that I can identify any issues and attempt to fix them the next time I update them. The "original" talkytoaster.info site is now mirrored at talkytoaster.co.uk and talkytoaster.com (this adds a second physical hosting server in the UK, effectively adding redundancy to the existing, original one in the US). I will continue to run both servers as long as I can afford to. The maps also now work directly in BaseCamp when the GPS with them installed on is connected to a computer with BaseCamp installed. This means that the separate BaseCamp version will only be updated monthly (or less often than that).[/b] The maps now include the published date as part of the internal map name and the OS 1:50K Look n Feel version also includes Cycleway numbers and names. Other changes can be found in the change log page of my site. This update also includes new BaseCamp/MapSource versions specifically for PC/Mac. Please note: This will be the final update for 2-3 weeks as I'm away on business. Regards, Martin

That is most odd, I've just rechecked on my own system, un-installed the current OS 1:50K LnF mapset, deleted all the files, unzipped the 030215 prefixed OS 1:50K LnF Mapsource ZIP file to the directory, ran the install.bat and opened BaseCamp and viola! It works fine for me, both in BaseCamp and MapSource. I've had no other comments that this mapset was faulty; bear in mind it was released over 3 weeks ago and usually I get informed of ANY issues with any of the new maps within 2 hours (usually less). I tested with BaseCamp 4.1.1 on Windows 8 (64Bit) and also in MapSource 6.16.3. I have uploaded a new test version if anyone wants to try them. Link is: http://talkytoaster.co.uk/130308-British-Isles+Contours-Routable-OS50tt.zip All feedback is most welcome. Regards, Martin

Have you tried removing all the files from the folder you previously installed them into after running the uninstall.bat (and then unzip the new version and run the install.bat)? The typ file is definitely in the ZIP, so it is the OS1:50K Look n Feel version. I'll probably put up new BaseCamp/MapSource versions this weekend anyway. Regards, Martin

David, Which mapset are you referring to? The Standard one or the OS 1:50K Look n Feel version? I have checked my local copy here and it looks identical to the last version, apart from the newer contours. Suggest you contact me directly as I don't read this board very often now. Regards, Martin

For all those interested: Another week and another set of updates...the fifth one for 2013! Over the weekend I have compiled the latest British Isles map tiles with contours into new maps for Garmin GPSrs. The British Isles mapsets I compile include the following areas: England Wales Scotland Isle of Man Channel Islands Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland The GB and Ireland mapsets have been discontinued as they are superseded by the British Isles mapset, and as I now offer the OS 1:50K Look n Feel I have too many mapsets to try and squeeze in to my very limited spare time as these all take significant amounts of time to compile, assemble and test, not to mention uploading to the site: The full British Isles mapsets come with contour data [the Scottish Mountaineering Club contours have been replaced by new 10m contours I compiled from raw NASA SRTM data] and are now routable. The updated ones are prefixed with 130301 [the old ones are prefixed with 130215] and include all changes made to OSM British Isles data as at the 1st March 2013. The latest OS 1:50K Look n Feel has had many of the custom POIs set to zoom level 24 (they only show at zoom levels 0.5 mile or less). These also now use the 10m contours I compiled. Some more tweaking has also been done, and will continue to be done. These are no longer considered experimental. The new 10m contours solve the jaggy coastline/sea problems. The new contours are set at 10M intervals, so offer better resolution than the old Scottish Mountaineering Club ones. Both mapsets now have rendered sea, but without any of the issues experienced with the SMC contours previously used. The contours have now had the Voids fixed and have been regenerated. If you want to grab them then you can find them here: http://talkytoaster.co.uk As these are new, please report any problems directly to me, via my profile on Geocaching.com or via my Gmail account [talkytoasteruk@gmail.com]. This update not only includes newer routable versions with contours for British Isles/, but also routable versions without contour data. All of the latest maps have been compiled using an updated compiler which has an improved routing engine. More details about the routing features can be found in the FAQ on my site. Details and the maps can be found here: http://talkytoaster.co.uk/ukmaps.htm This should allow those that have Garmin GPSrs with limited memory to select small areas to upload to these devices complete with contour data. If anyone wants similar maps (with or without contours) for other parts of Europe or elsewhere, then please feel free to contact me to discuss your needs. CAVEAT: No mapping solution is perfect. From OpenStreetMap:- "By the very nature of the wiki-style process there is no guarantee of accuracy of any kind. Then again, few proprietary maps carry a guarantee of accuracy, either. In fact, some have artificially-introduced errors." Furthermore, I and others have already confirmed this with even GB OS maps; deliberate errors and moved paths (some from 10 years or more after the change was documented by the local council/county are not reflected on the latest OS maps). Not everything is accurately mapped, even on 1:25K. All maps should be considered a guide and not a factual statement. To participate and help improve the maps you just need to go to http://www.openstreetmap.org; create an account, upload your tracks from your GPSr and then edit the maps. Help on how to do this can be found on the OpenStreetMap site. I have tested these maps on a Garmin Oregon 550, Etrex Vista Hcx and a Etrex 30 [the full British Isles versions with contour data] and also on a computer in MapSource/BaseCamp for those versions designed for use with it to ensure that they load and render as expected. I do not test all the map data or functions as this is not possible in a reasonable time-frame. Hope this helps? All feedback and comments are most welcome. A big thank you to all of you that have given feedback or made suggestions (polite ones ) on how to improve the maps and/or my site. Keep them coming. An even bigger thank you to those that have supported my site via a donation. It is really appreciated and helps to keep the site going and shows me that my efforts in compiling and making these mapsets available are appreciated. Please be aware that some unscrupulous individuals have been selling my maps via car-boot sales and also on eBay. They have been offering my very old OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapsets and selling them as OS mapsets. The OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapsets include material I produced which is copyrighted. I offer them as FREE for personal use. Buying these maps from these unethical individuals means that you get inferior products, and they, and anyone who buys the maps from them, jeopardize the future of this project. The original OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapset I created has now lost the EXPERIMENTAL tag; the routing is still unique and these will never be recommended for use as a road sat-nav. However, I have released a NEW EXPERIMENTAL mapset using the OS 1:50K Look n Feel that should route in the same way as my standard mapset. You can find them on my site (clearly marked as EXPERIMENTAL), all feedback is most welcome. So far, the feedback I have received is mixed, so any other feedback is most welcome, so that I can identify any issues and attempt to fix them the next time I update them. The "original" talkytoaster.info site is now mirrored at talkytoaster.co.uk and talkytoaster.com (this adds a second physical hosting server in the UK, effectively adding redundancy to the existing, original one in the US). I will continue to run both servers as long as I can afford to. The maps also now work directly in BaseCamp when the GPS with them installed on is connected to a computer with BaseCamp installed. This means that the separate BaseCamp version will only be updated monthly (or less often than that).[/b] The maps now include the published date as part of the internal map name and the OS 1:50K Look n Feel version also includes Cycleway numbers and names. Other changes can be found in the change log page of my site. Regards, Martin

For all those interested: Another week and another set of updates...the fourth one for 2013! Over the weekend I have compiled the latest British Isles map tiles with contours into new maps for Garmin GPSrs. The British Isles mapsets I compile include the following areas: England Wales Scotland Isle of Man Channel Islands Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland The GB and Ireland mapsets have been discontinued as they are superseded by the British Isles mapset, and as I now offer the OS 1:50K Look n Feel I have too many mapsets to try and squeeze in to my very limited spare time as these all take significant amounts of time to compile, assemble and test, not to mention uploading to the site: The full British Isles mapsets come with contour data [the Scottish Mountaineering Club contours have been replaced by new 10m contours I compiled from raw NASA SRTM data] and are now routable. The updated ones are prefixed with 130215 [the old ones are prefixed with 130201] and include all changes made to OSM British Isles data as at the 15th February 2013. The latest OS 1:50K Look n Feel has had many of the custom POIs set to zoom level 24 (they only show at zoom levels 0.5 mile or less). These also now use the 10m contours I compiled. Some more tweaking has also been done, and will continue to be done. These are no longer considered experimental. The new 10m contours solve the jaggy coastline/sea problems. The new contours are set at 10M intervals, so offer better resolution than the old Scottish Mountaineering Club ones. Both mapsets now have rendered sea, but without any of the issues experienced with the SMC contours previously used. The contours have now had the Voids fixed and have been regenerated. If you want to grab them then you can find them here: http://talkytoaster.co.uk As these are new, please report any problems directly to me, via my profile on Geocaching.com or via my Gmail account [talkytoasteruk@gmail.com]. This update not only includes newer routable versions with contours for British Isles/, but also routable versions without contour data. All of the latest maps have been compiled using an updated compiler which has an improved routing engine. More details about the routing features can be found in the FAQ on my site. Details and the maps can be found here: http://talkytoaster.co.uk/ukmaps.htm This should allow those that have Garmin GPSrs with limited memory to select small areas to upload to these devices complete with contour data. If anyone wants similar maps (with or without contours) for other parts of Europe or elsewhere, then please feel free to contact me to discuss your needs. CAVEAT: No mapping solution is perfect. From OpenStreetMap:- "By the very nature of the wiki-style process there is no guarantee of accuracy of any kind. Then again, few proprietary maps carry a guarantee of accuracy, either. In fact, some have artificially-introduced errors." Furthermore, I and others have already confirmed this with even GB OS maps; deliberate errors and moved paths (some from 10 years or more after the change was documented by the local council/county are not reflected on the latest OS maps). Not everything is accurately mapped, even on 1:25K. All maps should be considered a guide and not a factual statement. To participate and help improve the maps you just need to go to http://www.openstreetmap.org; create an account, upload your tracks from your GPSr and then edit the maps. Help on how to do this can be found on the OpenStreetMap site. I have tested these maps on a Garmin Oregon 550, Etrex Vista Hcx and a Etrex 30 [the full British Isles versions with contour data] and also on a computer in MapSource/BaseCamp for those versions designed for use with it to ensure that they load and render as expected. I do not test all the map data or functions as this is not possible in a reasonable time-frame. Hope this helps? All feedback and comments are most welcome. A big thank you to all of you that have given feedback or made suggestions (polite ones ) on how to improve the maps and/or my site. Keep them coming. An even bigger thank you to those that have supported my site via a donation. It is really appreciated and helps to keep the site going and shows me that my efforts in compiling and making these mapsets available are appreciated. Please be aware that some unscrupulous individuals have been selling my maps via car-boot sales and also on eBay. They have been offering my very old OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapsets and selling them as OS mapsets. The OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapsets include material I produced which is copyrighted. I offer them as FREE for personal use. Buying these maps from these unethical individuals means that you get inferior products, and they, and anyone who buys the maps from them, jeopardize the future of this project. The original OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapset I created has now lost the EXPERIMENTAL tag; the routing is still unique and these will never be recommended for use as a road sat-nav. However, I have released a NEW EXPERIMENTAL mapset using the OS 1:50K Look n Feel that should route in the same way as my standard mapset. You can find them on my site (clearly marked as EXPERIMENTAL), all feedback is most welcome. So far, the feedback I have received is mixed, so any other feedback is most welcome, so that I can identify any issues and attempt to fix them the next time I update them. The "original" talkytoaster.info site is now mirrored at talkytoaster.co.uk and talkytoaster.com (this adds a second physical hosting server in the UK, effectively adding redundancy to the existing, original one in the US). I will continue to run both servers as long as I can afford to. The maps also now work directly in BaseCamp when the GPS with them installed on is connected to a computer with BaseCamp installed. This means that the separate BaseCamp version will only be updated monthly (or less often than that).[/b] Regards, Martin

One last chance to snap this up before it goes on that well known auction site... My trusty Oregon 200 is now looking for a new home. The Oregon 200 is in very good condition and I had a ZAG Invisible Shield on it from the day I got it and have just removed this, so the screen is unscratched and as it was when new. The body of the Oregon 200 is in very good condition too, no dents, scratches or cracks. Works perfectly, complete with box, original Garmin USB cable and I'll even include a pre-loaded and tested 4GB MicroSD card with my latest OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapset. I'm only selling it as I have just upgraded to a 550 so that I have a current Oregon model for my map testing. This is a good alternative to a new Etrex 20 and offers a larger screen which renders map data far faster than the Etrex 20 and 30 models. It holds up to 1,000 caches at a time. Battery life is 16-20 hours (depending on batteries used). This is an excellent starter to intermediate level device for caching, hiking, cycling. If you can get to West Sussex, you are welcome to come and see it in action before purchase. Price is £140 (O.V.N.O) + Postage and packing (if not picking it up in person). Please feel free to PM or email me if you need more information of want to come an see it.

For all those interested: Another week and another set of updates...the third one for 2013! Over the weekend I have compiled the latest British Isles map tiles with contours into new maps for Garmin GPSrs. The British Isles mapsets I compile include the following areas (this has now replaced the UK mapset): England Wales Scotland Isle of Man Channel Islands Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland The GB and Ireland mapsets have been discontinued as they are superseded by the British Isles mapset, and as I now offer the OS 1:50K Look n Feel I have too many mapsets to try and squeeze in to my very limited spare time as these all take significant amounts of time to compile, assemble and test, not to mention uploading to the site: The full British Isles mapsets come with contour data [the Scottish Mountaineering Club contours have been replaced by new 10m contours I compiled from raw NASA SRTM data] and are now routable. The updated ones are prefixed with 130201 [the old ones are prefixed with 130118] and include all changes made to OSM British Isles data as at the 1st February 2013. The latest OS 1:50K Look n Feel has had many of the custom POIs set to zoom level 24 (they only show at zoom levels 0.5 mile or less). These also now use the 10m contours I compiled. Some more tweaking has also been done, and will continue to be done. These are no longer considered experimental. The new 10m contours solve the jaggy coastline/sea problems. The new contours are set at 10M intervals, so offer better resolution than the old Scottish Mountaineering Club ones. Both mapsets now have rendered sea, but without any of the issues experienced with the SMC contours previously used. If you want to grab them then you can find them here: http://talkytoaster.co.uk As these are new, please report any problems directly to me, via my profile on Geocaching.com or via my Gmail account [talkytoasteruk@gmail.com]. This update not only includes newer routable versions with contours for British Isles/, but also routable versions without contour data. All of the latest maps have been compiled using an updated compiler which has an improved routing engine. More details about the routing features can be found in the FAQ on my site. Details and the maps can be found here: http://talkytoaster.co.uk/ukmaps.htm This should allow those that have Garmin GPSrs with limited memory to select small areas to upload to these devices complete with contour data. If anyone wants similar maps (with or without contours) for other parts of Europe or elsewhere, then please feel free to contact me to discuss your needs. CAVEAT: No mapping solution is perfect. From OpenStreetMap:- "By the very nature of the wiki-style process there is no guarantee of accuracy of any kind. Then again, few proprietary maps carry a guarantee of accuracy, either. In fact, some have artificially-introduced errors." Furthermore, I and others have already confirmed this with even GB OS maps; deliberate errors and moved paths (some from 10 years or more after the change was documented by the local council/county are not reflected on the latest OS maps). Not everything is accurately mapped, even on 1:25K. All maps should be considered a guide and not a factual statement. To participate and help improve the maps you just need to go to http://www.openstreetmap.org; create an account, upload your tracks from your GPSr and then edit the maps. Help on how to do this can be found on the OpenStreetMap site. The contour data now in use is from the NASA SRTM project. I have tested these maps on a Garmin Oregon 200, Etrex Vista Hcx and a Etrex 30 [the full British Isles versions with contour data] and also on a computer in MapSource/BaseCamp for those versions designed for use with it to ensure that they load and render as expected. I do not test all the map data or functions as this is not possible in a reasonable time-frame. Hope this helps? All feedback and comments are most welcome. A big thank you to all of you that have given feedback or made suggestions (polite ones ) on how to improve the maps and/or my site. Keep them coming. An even bigger thank you to those that have supported my site via a donation. It is really appreciated and helps to keep the site going and shows me that my efforts in compiling and making these mapsets available are appreciated. Please be aware that some unscrupulous individuals have been selling my maps via car-boot sales and also on eBay. They have been offering my very old OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapsets and selling them as OS mapsets. The OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapsets include material I produced which is copyrighted. I offer them as FREE for personal use. Buying these maps from these unethical individuals means that you get inferior products, and they, and anyone who buys the maps from them, jeopardize the future of this project. The original OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapset I created has now lost the EXPERIMENTAL tag; the routing is still unique and these will never be recommended for use as a road sat-nav. However, I have released a NEW EXPERIMENTAL mapset using the OS 1:50K Look n Feel that should route in the same way as my standard mapset. You can find them on my site (clearly marked as EXPERIMENTAL), all feedback is most welcome. So far, the feedback I have received is mixed, so any other feedback is most welcome, so that I can identify any issues and attempt to fix them the next time I update them. The "original" talkytoaster.info site is now mirrored at talkytoaster.co.uk and talkytoaster.com (this adds a second physical hosting server in the UK, effectively adding redundancy to the existing, original one in the US). I will continue to run both servers as long as I can afford to. Finally....I have made some more major tweaks to the OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapset it now will show other tracks types and also other natural and man-made barriers (walls, fences, etc.) where the data has been added to OSM.Including in BaseCamp. They also now work directly in BaseCamp when the GPS with them installed is connected to a computer with BaseCamp installed. This means that the separate BaseCamp version will only be updated monthly. Regards, Martin

For all those interested: Another week and another set of updates...the second one for 2013! Over the weekend I have compiled the latest British Isles map tiles with contours into new maps for Garmin GPSrs. The British Isles mapsets I compile include the following areas (this has now replaced the UK mapset): England Wales Scotland Isle of Man Channel Islands Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland The GB and Ireland mapsets have been discontinued as they are superseded by the British Isles mapset, and as I now offer the OS 1:50K Look n Feel I have too many mapsets to try and squeeze in to my very limited spare time as these all take significant amounts of time to compile, assemble and test, not to mention uploading to the site: The full British Isles mapsets come with contour data [the Scottish Mountaineering Club contours have been replaced by new 10m contours I compiled from raw NASA SRTM data] and are now routable. The updated ones are prefixed with 130118 [the old ones are prefixed with 130111] and include all changes made to OSM British Isles data as at the 18th January 2013. The latest OS 1:50K Look n Feel has had many of the custom POIs set to zoom level 24 (they only show at zoom levels 0.5 mile or less). These also now use the 10m contours I compiled. Some more tweaking has also been done, and will continue to be done. These are no longer considered experimental. The new 10m contours solve the jaggy coastline/sea problems. The new contours are set at 10M intervals, so offer better resolution than the old Scottish Mountaineering Club ones. Both mapsets now have rendered sea, but without any of the issues experienced with the SMC contours previously used. If you want to grab them then you can find them here: http://talkytoaster.co.uk As these are new, please report any problems directly to me, via my profile on Geocaching.com or via my Gmail account [talkytoasteruk@gmail.com]. This update not only includes newer routable versions with contours for British Isles/, but also routable versions without contour data. All of the latest maps have been compiled using an updated compiler which has an improved routing engine. More details about the routing features can be found in the FAQ on my site. Details and the maps can be found here: http://talkytoaster.co.uk/ukmaps.htm This should allow those that have Garmin GPSrs with limited memory to select small areas to upload to these devices complete with contour data. If anyone wants similar maps (with or without contours) for other parts of Europe or elsewhere, then please feel free to contact me to discuss your needs. CAVEAT: No mapping solution is perfect. From OpenStreetMap:- "By the very nature of the wiki-style process there is no guarantee of accuracy of any kind. Then again, few proprietary maps carry a guarantee of accuracy, either. In fact, some have artificially-introduced errors." Furthermore, I and others have already confirmed this with even GB OS maps; deliberate errors and moved paths (some from 10 years or more after the change was documented by the local council/county are not reflected on the latest OS maps). Not everything is accurately mapped, even on 1:25K. All maps should be considered a guide and not a factual statement. To participate and help improve the maps you just need to go to http://www.openstreetmap.org; create an account, upload your tracks from your GPSr and then edit the maps. Help on how to do this can be found on the OpenStreetMap site. The contour data now in use is from the NASA SRTM project. I have tested these maps on a Garmin Oregon 200, Etrex Vista Hcx and a Etrex 30 [the full British Isles versions with contour data] and also on a computer in MapSource/BaseCamp for those versions designed for use with it to ensure that they load and render as expected. I do not test all the map data or functions as this is not possible in a reasonable time-frame. Hope this helps? All feedback and comments are most welcome. A big thank you to all of you that have given feedback or made suggestions (polite ones ) on how to improve the maps and/or my site. Keep them coming. An even bigger thank you to those that have supported my site via a donation. It is really appreciated and helps to keep the site going and shows me that my efforts in compiling and making these mapsets available are appreciated. Please be aware that some unscrupulous individuals have been selling my maps via car-boot sales and also on eBay. They have been offering my very old OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapsets and selling them as OS mapsets. The OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapsets include material I produced which is copyrighted. I offer them as FREE for personal use. Buying these maps from these unethical individuals means that you get inferior products, and they, and anyone who buys the maps from them, jeopardize the future of this project. The original OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapset I created has now lost the EXPERIMENTAL tag; the routing is still unique and these will never be recommended for use as a road sat-nav. However, I have released a NEW EXPERIMENTAL mapset using the OS 1:50K Look n Feel that should route in the same way as my standard mapset. You can find them on my site (clearly marked as EXPERIMENTAL), all feedback is most welcome. So far, the feedback I have received is mixed, so any other feedback is most welcome, so that I can identify any issues and attempt to fix them the next time I update them. The "original" talkytoaster.info site is now mirrored at talkytoaster.co.uk and talkytoaster.com (this adds a second physical hosting server in the UK, effectively adding redundancy to the existing, original one in the US). I will continue to run both servers as long as I can afford to. Finally....I have made some major tweaks to the OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapset it now will show other tracks types and also other natural and man-made barriers (walls, fences, etc.) where the data has been added to OSM. They also now work directly in BaseCamp when the GPS with them installed is connected to a computer with BaseCamp installed. This means that the separate BaseCamp version will only be updated monthly. Regards, Martin

For all those interested: Another week and another set of updates...the first one for 2013! Over the weekend I have compiled the latest British Isles map tiles with contours into new maps for Garmin GPSrs. The British Isles mapsets I compile include the following areas (this has now replaced the UK mapset): England Wales Scotland Isle of Man Channel Islands Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland The GB and Ireland mapsets have been discontinued as they are superseded by the British Isles mapset, and as I now offer the OS 1:50K Look n Feel I have too many mapsets to try and squeeze in to my very limited spare time as these all take significant amounts of time to compile, assemble and test, not to mention uploading to the site: The full British Isles mapsets come with contour data [the Scottish Mountaineering Club contours have been replaced by new 10m contours I compiled from raw NASA SRTM data] and are now routable. The updated ones are prefixed with 130111 [the old ones are prefixed with 121228] and include all changes made to OSM British Isles data as at the 11th January 2013. The latest OS 1:50K Look n Feel has had many of the custom POIs set to zoom level 24 (they only show at zoom levels 0.5 mile or less). These also now use the 10m contours I compiled. Some more tweaking has also been done, and will continue to be done. These are no longer considered experimental. The new 10m contours solve the jaggy coastline/sea problems. The new contours are set at 10M intervals, so offer better resolution than the old Scottish Mountaineering Club ones. Both mapsets now have rendered sea, but without any of the issues experienced with the SMC contours previously used. If you want to grab them then you can find them here: http://talkytoaster.co.uk As these are new, please report any problems directly to me, via my profile on Geocaching.com or via my Gmail account [talkytoasteruk@gmail.com]. This update not only includes newer routable versions with contours for British Isles/, but also routable versions without contour data. All of the latest maps have been compiled using an updated compiler which has an improved routing engine. More details about the routing features can be found in the FAQ on my site. I have versions of the British Isles mapset which are compatible with MapSource/BaseCamp (PC), and have also been tested in MapSource/BaseCamp before release. Versions for Mac OSX (RoadTrip/BaseCamp) are also available. Details and the maps can be found here: http://talkytoaster.co.uk/ukmaps.htm This should allow those that have Garmin GPSrs with limited memory to select small areas to upload to these devices complete with contour data. If anyone wants similar maps (with or without contours) for other parts of Europe or elsewhere, then please feel free to contact me to discuss your needs. CAVEAT: No mapping solution is perfect. From OpenStreetMap:- "By the very nature of the wiki-style process there is no guarantee of accuracy of any kind. Then again, few proprietary maps carry a guarantee of accuracy, either. In fact, some have artificially-introduced errors." Furthermore, I and others have already confirmed this with even GB OS maps; deliberate errors and moved paths (some from 10 years or more after the change was documented by the local council/county are not reflected on the latest OS maps). Not everything is accurately mapped, even on 1:25K. All maps should be considered a guide and not a factual statement. To participate and help improve the maps you just need to go to http://www.openstreetmap.org; create an account, upload your tracks from your GPSr and then edit the maps. Help on how to do this can be found on the OpenStreetMap site. The contour data now in use is from the NASA SRTM project. I have tested these maps on a Garmin Oregon 200, Etrex Vista Hcx and a Etrex 30 [the full British Isles versions with contour data] and also on a computer in MapSource/BaseCamp for those versions designed for use with it to ensure that they load and render as expected. I do not test all the map data or functions as this is not possible in a reasonable time-frame. Hope this helps? All feedback and comments are most welcome. A big thank you to all of you that have given feedback or made suggestions (polite ones ) on how to improve the maps and/or my site. Keep them coming. An even bigger thank you to those that have supported my site via a donation. It is really appreciated and helps to keep the site going and shows me that my efforts in compiling and making these mapsets available are appreciated. Please be aware that some unscrupulous individuals have been selling my maps via car-boot sales and also on eBay. They have been offering my very old OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapsets and selling them as OS mapsets. The OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapsets include material I produced which is copyrighted. I offer them as FREE for personal use. Buying these maps from these unethical individuals means that you get inferior products, and they, and anyone who buys the maps from them, jeopardize the future of this project. The original OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapset I created has now lost the EXPERIMENTAL tag; the routing is still unique and these will never be recommended for use as a road sat-nav. However, I have released a NEW EXPERIMENTAL mapset using the OS 1:50K Look n Feel that should route in the same way as my standard mapset. You can find them on my site (clearly marked as EXPERIMENTAL), all feedback is most welcome. So far, the feedback I have received is mixed, so any other feedback is most welcome, so that I can identify any issues and attempt to fix them the next time I update them. The "original" talkytoaster.info site is now mirrored at talkytoaster.co.uk and talkytoaster.com (this adds a second physical hosting server in the UK, effectively adding redundancy to the existing, original one in the US). I will continue to run both servers as long as I can afford to. Finally....I have made some major tweaks to the OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapset it now will show other tracks types and also other natural and man-made barriers (walls, fences, etc.) where the data has been added to OSM Regards, Martin

My trusty Oregon 200 is now looking for a new home. The Oregon 200 is in very good condition and I had a ZAG Invisible Shield on it from the day I got it and have just removed this, so the screen is unscratched and as it was when new. The body of the Oregon 200 is in very good condition too, no dents, scratches or cracks. Works perfectly, complete with box, original Garmin USB cable and I'll even include a pre-loaded and tested 4GB MicroSD card with my latest OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapset. I'm only selling it as I have just upgraded to a 550 so that I have a current Oregon model for my map testing. This is a good alternative to a new Etrex 20 and offers a larger screen which renders map data far faster than the Etrex 20 and 30 models. It holds up to 1,000 caches at a time. Battery life is 16-20 hours (depending on batteries used). This is an excellent starter to intermediate level device for caching, hiking, cycling. If you can get to West Sussex, you are welcome to come and see it in action before purchase. Price is £140 + Postage and packing (if not picking it up in person). Please feel free to PM or email me if you need more information of want to come an see it.

For all those interested: Another week and another set of updates...the final one for 2012! Over the weekend I have compiled the latest British Isles map tiles with contours into new maps for Garmin GPSrs. The British Isles mapsets I compile include the following areas (this has now replaced the UK mapset): England Wales Scotland Isle of Man Channel Islands Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland The GB and Ireland mapsets have been discontinued as they are superseded by the British Isles mapset, and as I now offer the OS 1:50K Look n Feel I have too many mapsets to try and squeeze in to my very limited spare time as these all take significant amounts of time to compile, assemble and test, not to mention uploading to the site: The full British Isles mapsets come with contour data [the Scottish Mountaineering Club contours have been replaced by new 10m contours I compiled from raw NASA SRTM data] and are now routable. The updated ones are prefixed with 121228 [the old ones are prefixed with 121214] and include all changes made to OSM British Isles data as at the 28th December 2012. The latest OS 1:50K Look n Feel has had many of the custom POIs set to zoom level 24 (they only show at zoom levels 0.5 mile or less). These also now use the 10m contours I compiled. Some more tweaking has also been done, and will continue to be done. These are no longer considered experimental. The new 10m contours solve the jaggy coastline/sea problems. The new contours are set at 10M intervals, so offer better resolution than the old Scottish Mountaineering Club ones. Both mapsets now have rendered sea, but without any of the issues experienced with the SMC contours previously used. If you want to grab them then you can find them here: http://talkytoaster.co.uk As these are new, please report any problems directly to me, via my profile on Geocaching.com or via my Gmail account [talkytoasteruk@gmail.com]. This update not only includes newer routable versions with contours for British Isles/, but also routable versions without contour data. All of the latest maps have been compiled using an updated compiler which has an improved routing engine. More details about the routing features can be found in the FAQ on my site. I have versions of the British Isles mapset which are compatible with MapSource/BaseCamp (PC), and have also been tested in MapSource/BaseCamp before release. Versions for Mac OSX (RoadTrip/BaseCamp) are also available. Details and the maps can be found here: http://talkytoaster.co.uk/ukmaps.htm This should allow those that have Garmin GPSrs with limited memory to select small areas to upload to these devices complete with contour data. If anyone wants similar maps (with or without contours) for other parts of Europe or elsewhere, then please feel free to contact me to discuss your needs. CAVEAT: No mapping solution is perfect. From OpenStreetMap:- "By the very nature of the wiki-style process there is no guarantee of accuracy of any kind. Then again, few proprietary maps carry a guarantee of accuracy, either. In fact, some have artificially-introduced errors." Furthermore, I and others have already confirmed this with even GB OS maps; deliberate errors and moved paths (some from 10 years or more after the change was documented by the local council/county are not reflected on the latest OS maps). Not everything is accurately mapped, even on 1:25K. All maps should be considered a guide and not a factual statement. To participate and help improve the maps you just need to go to http://www.openstreetmap.org; create an account, upload your tracks from your GPSr and then edit the maps. Help on how to do this can be found on the OpenStreetMap site. The contour data now in use is from the NASA SRTM project. I have tested these maps on a Garmin Oregon 200, Etrex Vista Hcx and a Etrex 30 [the full British Isles versions with contour data] and also on a computer in MapSource/BaseCamp for those versions designed for use with it to ensure that they load and render as expected. I do not test all the map data or functions as this is not possible in a reasonable time-frame. Hope this helps? All feedback and comments are most welcome. As there is now a new site that offers lots of statistics and records, I am going to discontinue the current UK Geocaching Records pages that were originally hosted/maintained by Mongoose39uk (these can be found on the same site as the maps I offer). I have reorganised the map page on the site to hopefully make it easier to find which mapset you want and updated the compatibility table with new models reported to work. I've also updated the shop page to cover the newer Garmin GPSr models (Etrex 10/20/30, Montana 600/650, etc.) A big thank you to all of you that have given feedback or made suggestions (polite ones ) on how to improve the maps and/or my site. Keep them coming. An even bigger thank you to those that have supported my site via a donation. It is really appreciated and helps to keep the site going and shows me that my efforts in compiling and making these mapsets available are appreciated. Please be aware that some unscrupulous individuals have been selling my maps via car-boot sales and also on eBay. They have been offering my very old OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapsets and selling them as OS mapsets. The OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapsets include material I produced which is copyrighted. I offer them as FREE for personal use. Buying these maps from these unethical individuals means that you get inferior products, and they, and anyone who buys the maps from them, jeopardize the future of this project. The original OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapset I created has now lost the EXPERIMENTAL tag; the routing is still unique and these will never be recommended for use as a road sat-nav. However, I have released a NEW EXPERIMENTAL mapset using the OS 1:50K Look n Feel that should route in the same way as my standard mapset. You can find them on my site (clearly marked as EXPERIMENTAL), all feedback is most welcome. So far, the feedback I have received is mixed, so any other feedback is most welcome, so that I can identify any issues and attempt to fix them the next time I update them. The "original" talkytoaster.info site is now mirrored at talkytoaster.co.uk and talkytoaster.com (this adds a second physical hosting server in the UK, effectively adding redundancy to the existing, original one in the US). I will continue to run both servers as long as I can afford to. Finally....I hope you all had a very Happy Christmas and hope you all have a great year in 2013...may the cache Gods smile on you always! Regards, Martin

Is it still available ? Yep, at the moment it is...

My trusty Oregon 200 is now looking for a new home. The Oregon 200 is in very good condition and I had a ZAG Invisible Shield on it from the day I got it and have just removed this, so the screen is unscratched and as it was when new. The body of the Oregon 200 is in very good condition too, no dents, scratches or cracks. Works perfectly, complete with box, original Garmin USB cable and I'll even include a pre-loaded and tested 4GB MicroSD card with my latest OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapset. I'm only selling it as I have just upgraded to a 550 so that I have a current Oregon model for my map testing. This is a good alternative to a new Etrex 20 and offers a larger screen which renders map data far faster than the Etrex 20 and 30 models. It holds up to 1,000 caches at a time. Battery life is 16-20 hours (depending on batteries used). This is an excellent starter to intermediate level device for caching, hiking, cycling. If you can get to West Sussex, you are welcome to come and see it in action before purchase. Price is £140 + Postage and packing (if not picking it up in person). Please feel free to PM or email me if you need more information of want to come an see it. Good as a last minute Christmas present

For all those interested: Another week and another set of updates... Over the weekend I have compiled the latest British Isles map tiles with contours into new maps for Garmin GPSrs. The British Isles mapsets I compile include the following areas (this has now replaced the UK mapset): England Wales Scotland Isle of Man Channel Islands Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland The GB and Ireland mapsets have been discontinued as they are superseded by the British Isles mapset, and as I now offer the OS 1:50K Look n Feel I have too many mapsets to try and squeeze in to my very limited spare time as these all take significant amounts of time to compile, assemble and test, not to mention uploading to the site: The full British Isles mapsets come with contour data [the Scottish Mountaineering Club contours have been replaced by new 10m contours I compiled from raw NASA SRTM data] and are now routable. The updated ones are prefixed with 121214 [the old ones are prefixed with 121130] and include all changes made to OSM British Isles data as at the 14th December 2012. The latest OS 1:50K Look n Feel has had many of the custom POIs set to zoom level 24 (they only show at zoom levels 0.5 mile or less). These also now use the 10m contours I compiled. Some more tweaking has also been done, and will continue to be done. These are no longer considered experimental. The new 10m contours solve the jaggy coastline/sea problems. The new contours are set at 10M intervals, so offer better resolution than the old Scottish Mountaineering Club ones. Both mapsets now have rendered sea, but without any of the issues experienced with the SMC contours previously used. If you want to grab them then you can find them here: http://talkytoaster.co.uk As these are new, please report any problems directly to me, via my profile on Geocaching.com or via my Gmail account [talkytoasteruk@gmail.com]. This update not only includes newer routable versions with contours for British Isles/, but also routable versions without contour data. All of the latest maps have been compiled using an updated compiler which has an improved routing engine. More details about the routing features can be found in the FAQ on my site. I have versions of the British Isles mapset which are compatible with MapSource/BaseCamp (PC), and have also been tested in MapSource/BaseCamp before release. Versions for Mac OSX (RoadTrip/BaseCamp) are also available. Details and the maps can be found here: http://talkytoaster.co.uk/ukmaps.htm This should allow those that have Garmin GPSrs with limited memory to select small areas to upload to these devices complete with contour data. If anyone wants similar maps (with or without contours) for other parts of Europe or elsewhere, then please feel free to contact me to discuss your needs. CAVEAT: No mapping solution is perfect. From OpenStreetMap:- "By the very nature of the wiki-style process there is no guarantee of accuracy of any kind. Then again, few proprietary maps carry a guarantee of accuracy, either. In fact, some have artificially-introduced errors." Furthermore, I and others have already confirmed this with even GB OS maps; deliberate errors and moved paths (some from 10 years or more after the change was documented by the local council/county are not reflected on the latest OS maps). Not everything is accurately mapped, even on 1:25K. All maps should be considered a guide and not a factual statement. To participate and help improve the maps you just need to go to http://www.openstreetmap.org; create an account, upload your tracks from your GPSr and then edit the maps. Help on how to do this can be found on the OpenStreetMap site. The contour data now in use is from the NASA SRTM project. I have tested these maps on a Garmin Oregon 200, Etrex Vista Hcx and a Etrex 30 [the full British Isles versions with contour data] and also on a computer in MapSource/BaseCamp for those versions designed for use with it to ensure that they load and render as expected. I do not test all the map data or functions as this is not possible in a reasonable time-frame. Hope this helps? All feedback and comments are most welcome. As there is now a new site that offers lots of statistics and records, I am going to discontinue the current UK Geocaching Records pages that were originally hosted/maintained by Mongoose39uk (these can be found on the same site as the maps I offer). I have reorganised the map page on the site to hopefully make it easier to find which mapset you want and updated the compatibility table with new models reported to work. I've also updated the shop page to cover the newer Garmin GPSr models (Etrex 10/20/30, Montana 600/650, etc.) A big thank you to all of you that have given feedback or made suggestions (polite ones ) on how to improve the maps and/or my site. Keep them coming. An even bigger thank you to those that have supported my site via a donation. It is really appreciated and helps to keep the site going and shows me that my efforts in compiling and making these mapsets available are appreciated. Please be aware that some unscrupulous individuals have been selling my maps via car-boot sales and also on eBay. They have been offering my very old OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapsets and selling them as OS mapsets. The OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapsets include material I produced which is copyrighted. I offer them as FREE for personal use. Buying these maps from these unethical individuals means that you get inferior products, and they, and anyone who buys the maps from them, jeopardize the future of this project. The original OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapset I created has now lost the EXPERIMENTAL tag; the routing is still unique and these will never be recommended for use as a road sat-nav. However, I have released a NEW EXPERIMENTAL mapset using the OS 1:50K Look n Feel that should route in the same way as my standard mapset. You can find them on my site (clearly marked as EXPERIMENTAL), all feedback is most welcome. So far, the feedback I have received is mixed, so any other feedback is most welcome, so that I can identify any issues and attempt to fix them the next time I update them. The "original" talkytoaster.info site is now mirrored at talkytoaster.co.uk and talkytoaster.com (this adds a second physical hosting server in the UK, effectively adding redundancy to the existing, original one in the US). I will continue to run both servers as long as I can afford to. Finally....I'd like to wish one and all a very Happy Christmas and hope you all have a great year in 2013...may the cache Gods smile on you always! Regards, Martin

Hi, Just follow the instructions on my site,they are quite straightforward...make sure you carry out each step, otherwise the maps will probably not work. If you get stuck, email me and I'll try and assist. I've used a 16GB MicroSD card with my own Etrex 30, works fine,just make sure the card you buy is compatible, not all are! Hope this helps? Regards, Martin

For all those interested: Another week and another set of updates... Over the weekend I have compiled the latest British Isles map tiles with contours into new maps for Garmin GPSrs. The British Isles mapsets I compile include the following areas (this has now replaced the UK mapset): England Wales Scotland Isle of Man Channel Islands Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland The GB and Ireland mapsets have been discontinued as they are superseded by the British Isles mapset, and as I now offer the OS 1:50K Look n Feel I have too many mapsets to try and squeeze in to my very limited spare time as these all take significant amounts of time to compile, assemble and test, not to mention uploading to the site: The full British Isles mapsets come with contour data [the Scottish Mountaineering Club contours have been replaced by new 10m contours I compiled from raw NASA SRTM data] and are now routable. The updated ones are prefixed with 121130 [the old ones are prefixed with 121116] and include all changes made to OSM British Isles data as at the 30th November 2012. The latest OS 1:50K Look n Feel has had many of the custom POIs set to zoom level 24 (they only show at zoom levels 0.5 mile or less). These also now use the 10m contours I compiled. Some more tweaking has also been done, and will continue to be done. These are no longer considered experimental. The new 10m contours solve the jaggy coastline/sea problems. The new contours are set at 10M intervals, so offer better resolution than the old Scottish Mountaineering Club ones. Both mapsets now have rendered sea, but without any of the issues experienced with the SMC contours previously used. If you want to grab them then you can find them here: http://talkytoaster.co.uk As these are new, please report any problems directly to me, via my profile on Geocaching.com or via my Gmail account [talkytoasteruk@gmail.com]. This update not only includes newer routable versions with contours for British Isles/, but also routable versions without contour data. All of the latest maps have been compiled using an updated compiler which has an improved routing engine. More details about the routing features can be found in the FAQ on my site. I have versions of the British Isles mapset which are compatible with MapSource/BaseCamp (PC), and have also been tested in MapSource/BaseCamp before release. Versions for Mac OSX (RoadTrip/BaseCamp) are also available. Details and the maps can be found here: http://talkytoaster.co.uk/ukmaps.htm This should allow those that have Garmin GPSrs with limited memory to select small areas to upload to these devices complete with contour data. If anyone wants similar maps (with or without contours) for other parts of Europe or elsewhere, then please feel free to contact me to discuss your needs. CAVEAT: No mapping solution is perfect. From OpenStreetMap:- "By the very nature of the wiki-style process there is no guarantee of accuracy of any kind. Then again, few proprietary maps carry a guarantee of accuracy, either. In fact, some have artificially-introduced errors." Furthermore, I and others have already confirmed this with even GB OS maps; deliberate errors and moved paths (some from 10 years or more after the change was documented by the local council/county are not reflected on the latest OS maps). Not everything is accurately mapped, even on 1:25K. All maps should be considered a guide and not a factual statement. To participate and help improve the maps you just need to go to http://www.openstreetmap.org; create an account, upload your tracks from your GPSr and then edit the maps. Help on how to do this can be found on the OpenStreetMap site. The contour data now in use is from the NASA SRTM project. I have tested these maps on a Garmin Oregon 200, Etrex Vista Hcx and a Etrex 30 [the full British Isles versions with contour data] and also on a computer in MapSource/BaseCamp for those versions designed for use with it to ensure that they load and render as expected. I do not test all the map data or functions as this is not possible in a reasonable time-frame. Hope this helps? All feedback and comments are most welcome. As there is now a new site that offers lots of statistics and records, I am going to discontinue the current UK Geocaching Records pages that were originally hosted/maintained by Mongoose39uk (these can be found on the same site as the maps I offer). I have reorganised the map page on the site to hopefully make it easier to find which mapset you want and updated the compatibility table with new models reported to work. I've also updated the shop page to cover the newer Garmin GPSr models (Etrex 10/20/30, Montana 600/650, etc.) A big thank you to all of you that have given feedback or made suggestions (polite ones ) on how to improve the maps and/or my site. Keep them coming. An even bigger thank you to those that have supported my site via a donation. It is really appreciated and helps to keep the site going and shows me that my efforts in compiling and making these mapsets available are appreciated. Please be aware that some unscrupulous individuals have been selling my maps via car-boot sales and also on eBay. They have been offering my very old OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapsets and selling them as OS mapsets. The OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapsets include material I produced which is copyrighted. I offer them as FREE for personal use. Buying these maps from these unethical individuals means that you get inferior products, and they, and anyone who buys the maps from them, jeopardize the future of this project. The original OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapset I created has now lost the EXPERIMENTAL tag; the routing is still unique and these will never be recommended for use as a road sat-nav. However, I have released a NEW EXPERIMENTAL mapset using the OS 1:50K Look n Feel that should route in the same way as my standard mapset. You can find them on my site (clearly marked as EXPERIMENTAL), all feedback is most welcome. So far, the feedback I have received is mixed, so any other feedback is most welcome, so that I can identify any issues and attempt to fix them the next time I update them. The "original" talkytoaster.info site is now mirrored at talkytoaster.co.uk and talkytoaster.com (this adds a second physical hosting server in the UK, effectively adding redundancy to the existing, original one in the US). I will continue to run both servers as long as I can afford to. Regards, Martin

I do offer an update service.... Regards, Martin

For all those interested: Another week and another set of updates... Over the weekend I have compiled the latest British Isles map tiles with contours into new maps for Garmin GPSrs. The British Isles mapsets I compile include the following areas (this has now replaced the UK mapset): England Wales Scotland Isle of Man Channel Islands Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland The GB and Ireland mapsets have been discontinued as they are superseded by the British Isles mapset, and as I now offer the OS 1:50K Look n Feel I have too many mapsets to try and squeeze in to my very limited spare time as these all take significant amounts of time to compile, assemble and test, not to mention uploading to the site: The full British Isles mapsets come with contour data [the Scottish Mountaineering Club contours have been replaced by new 10m contours I compiled from raw NASA SRTM data] and are now routable. The updated ones are prefixed with 121116 [the old ones are prefixed with 121102] and include all changes made to OSM British Isles data as at the 16th November 2012. The latest OS 1:50K Look n Feel has had many of the custom POIs set to zoom level 24 (they only show at zoom levels 0.5 mile or less). These also now use the 10m contours I compiled. Some more tweaking has also been done, and will continue to be done. These are no longer considered experimental. The new 10m contours solve the jaggy coastline/sea problems. The new contours are set at 10M intervals, so offer better resolution than the old Scottish Mountaineering Club ones. Both mapsets now have rendered sea, but without any of the issues experienced with the SMC contours previously used. If you want to grab them then you can find them here: http://talkytoaster.co.uk As these are new, please report any problems directly to me, via my profile on Geocaching.com or via my Gmail account [talkytoasteruk@gmail.com]. This update not only includes newer routable versions with contours for British Isles/, but also routable versions without contour data. All of the latest maps have been compiled using an updated compiler which has an improved routing engine. More details about the routing features can be found in the FAQ on my site. I have versions of the British Isles mapset which are compatible with MapSource/BaseCamp (PC), and have also been tested in MapSource/BaseCamp before release. Versions for Mac OSX (RoadTrip/BaseCamp) are also available. Details and the maps can be found here: http://talkytoaster.co.uk/ukmaps.htm This should allow those that have Garmin GPSrs with limited memory to select small areas to upload to these devices complete with contour data. If anyone wants similar maps (with or without contours) for other parts of Europe or elsewhere, then please feel free to contact me to discuss your needs. CAVEAT: No mapping solution is perfect. From OpenStreetMap:- "By the very nature of the wiki-style process there is no guarantee of accuracy of any kind. Then again, few proprietary maps carry a guarantee of accuracy, either. In fact, some have artificially-introduced errors." Furthermore, I and others have already confirmed this with even GB OS maps; deliberate errors and moved paths (some from 10 years or more after the change was documented by the local council/county are not reflected on the latest OS maps). Not everything is accurately mapped, even on 1:25K. All maps should be considered a guide and not a factual statement. To participate and help improve the maps you just need to go to http://www.openstreetmap.org; create an account, upload your tracks from your GPSr and then edit the maps. Help on how to do this can be found on the OpenStreetMap site. The contour data now in use is from the NASA SRTM project. I have tested these maps on a Garmin Oregon 200, Etrex Visat Hcx and a Etrex 30 [the full British Isles versions with contour data] and also on a computer in MapSource/BaseCamp for those versions designed for use with it to ensure that they load and render as expected. I do not test all the map data or functions as this is not possible in a reasonable time-frame. Hope this helps? All feedback and comments are most welcome. As there is now a new site that offers lots of statistics and records, I am going to discontinue the current UK Geocaching Records pages that were originally hosted/maintained by Mongoose39uk (these can be found on the same site as the maps I offer). I have reorganised the map page on the site to hopefully make it easier to find which mapset you want and updated the compatibility table with new models reported to work. I've also updated the shop page to cover the newer Garmin GPSr models (Etrex 10/20/30, Montana 600/650, etc.) A big thank you to all of you that have given feedback or made suggestions (polite ones ) on how to improve the maps and/or my site. Keep them coming. An even bigger thank you to those that have supported my site via a donation. It is really appreciated and helps to keep the site going and shows me that my efforts in compiling and making these mapsets available are appreciated. Please be aware that some unscrupulous individuals have been selling my maps via car-boot sales and also on eBay. They have been offering my very old OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapsets and selling them as OS mapsets. The OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapsets include material I produced which is copyrighted. I offer them as FREE for personal use. Buying these maps from these unethical individuals means that you get inferior products, and they, and anyone who buys the maps from them, jeopardize the future of this project. The original OS 1:50K Look n Feel mapset I created has now lost the EXPERIMENTAL tag; the routing is still unique and these will never be recommended for use as a road sat-nav. However, I have released a NEW EXPERIMENTAL mapset using the OS 1:50K Look n Feel that should route in the same way as my standard mapset. You can find them on my site (clearly marked as EXPERIMENTAL), all feedback is most welcome. The "original" talkytoaster.info site is now mirrored at talkytoaster.co.uk and talkytoaster.com (this adds a second physical hosting server in the UK, effectively adding redundancy to the existing, original one in the US). I will continue to run both servers as long as I can afford to. Regards, Martin

Sometimes I can't hence why there are sometimes only one update a month, other times there may be two or three in a month. I often work 60+ hours a week on my full-time job which includes lots of travel. The maps, sites and geocaching are fitted in where I can in my very-limited spare time. I occasionally get some sleep too. Regards, Martin

Both sites are now up and running (talkytoaster.info on the original hosting service and talkytoaster.co.uk and talkytoaster.com on the new one), please report any problems directly to me via email. This new site will help spread the load, as my original site has a massive amount of downloads every-month. This new site and the Torrents should make things somewhat more server friendly. Both sites will be kept in synch with maps and pages, so it should be fairly seamless for you to use either one. Thank you all for your patience and support. Hope this helps? Regards, Martin