nhfours

Using mkgmap is heavy, heavy hacking ... ask someone who has tried . For hard core hackers it gives you lots of control over the format of the map, but for non-hackers using pre-compiled maps seems much simpler: OSM Map On Garmin/Download. And if you find OSM maps useful, you might want to contribute to the project: Beginners' guide.

If you want to use OSM data in a Garmin context (GPSr or Mapsource/Basecamp) check out Free maps for Garmin brand GPS devices. No contour lines, but hiking trails are shown. These maps are optimized for car navigation. Users in Europe should look at either OSM-kowoma-Freizeitkarte - beta 2 or Garminkarten (Google Translate will help, but basically choose the region you want and double-click on the downloaded executable). Both sites use OSM data rendered in a more outdoors-friendly format.

Is there a consensus as to how much accuracy, if any, GLONASS adds to those receivers that use it? Specifically in canyons, urban or otherwise? Many thanks!

Or use GPSBabel on your desktop.

I am currently hiking in Switzerland, and often hike in valleys with moderately steep walls. My GPSr (GPSMap 60 CSX) often loses the signal, and looking at the satellite page shows many satellites rather low on the horizon. That led me to wonder how much GPS+GLONASS would help. A bit of Googling told me that the new Etrex GPSr line has (or will have) GPS+GLONASS. I would love to hear from the GNSS experts how much performance improvement this combination will have. Thanks!!

Almost exactly my experience in New Hampshire (and on a trip to Boston). Since I contribute (in a small way) to the mapmaking I posted a query on their forum: Strange (buggy) routing with routable map. It seems that the web site, YourNavigation.org, which uses OSM data, routes correctly, while my MapSource, whether on my computer or on my GPSr, gives weird routes. Since my original post I have observed several other cases of what seems like avoidence of a specific segment of a highway. Looking at the OSM data (I can edit it) does not seem to reveal anything. Is anyone getting consistently good routes from OSM in the US? OSM is far more advanced in Europe than on these shores.

Thanks!! Not surprising then that I was unable to figure it out It would really be nice to be able to add labels, but can't complain ... it's a great tool.

I am starting to put together a collection of Google Maps with the major trailheads to 4,000 footers in NH, as a navigational aid to those who do not have a GPSr (or have one without autorouting). Here is a map of the Franconia Notch trailheads. Clicking on the icon (either on the map or in the side panel) brings up a window from which you can get directions to or from the trailhead. The trailheads are nicely labeled in the side panel, but for the life of me I cannot figure out how to label them on the map Any other comments would be much appreciated.

Garmin has a page on Third-Party MapSource Developers, with links to both French and Spanish topos. I have used neither, but have been very satisfied with the Swiss product that I found from that page.

To split hairs, the "S" stands for "System". That, I believe, includes the whole set of satellites, plus the various ground stations and other infrastructure. Even harder to carry around in the woods

This summer I traveled from the US to Switzerland (six time zones) and my GPSr (a Garmin 60CSX) took all of 60 seconds to get a satellite fix. The one thing that needs adjusting is the time zone, if you care about times. Of course, you may want maps of the areas you visit

Thanks for the info! I found that another product I have, Swiss Map 1:25,000, comes with a directory of 24 by 24 bitmap icons, so my problem is solved. I wonder why Garmin decided not to put their bitmaps in a directory.

I am making custom POIs and would like to use the same bitmaps as Mapsource uses for their waypoint icons. A quick look around the C:\Garmin directory did not find and .bmp files, and a quick look with regedit did not give any pointers to where they might be hidden. Thanks!!

Garmin's Third Party Mapsource Developers page does not list anything for either Ecuador or Columbia. I am not sure how useful a GPSr is without maps ...

Back from a hiking trip in Switzerland with the garmin.ch topo software. It is unbelievably good! Trails on the USGS topo maps are often substantially off, on these maps, based on the Swiss Federal Topographic Office maps, the trails seem to have been recorded with GPS equipment. Almost every time I looked at the screen the circle indicating my position was centered on the dotted line! Crossing a meadow where the trail had not yet become well worn I lost it, but quickly found it exactly where my GPSr said it would be. Does anyone have any experience with the corresponding French product?

I ended up doing it this way, and got a fix in just over sixty seconds. Ditto on returning to the States.

I am, in fact, in no real hurry to get a fix, simply turning it on and selecting Automatic will get a fix long before I need it (will be inside airport/rail station for a couple of hours!!). But some of us like to fool around and do things the hard way!

Thanks, tried it and it seems to work!

I will be traveling from the eastern USA to Switzerland, a difference (I believe) of six time zones. Any hints on how to get a satellite fix reasonably fast? I have a GPSmap CSX60, and it has the Swiss Mapsource maps installed. The GPSmap 76cs manual has a very brief comment on the satellites page: Assuming this advice is valid for the 60CSx, how exactly do I "use the Map page to determine your general location ..."? Is it as simple as doing a Find by name for the location where I am? Many thanks.

I am trying to do something very simple: Just make a map of my accurate tracklogs to use instead of the highly inaccurate trails shown on the USGS maps. I found a good summary at How To Make Your Own GPS Map, and combining this with the MapSetToolkit for installing things was able to see my new maps in MapSource. I was, however, unable to send them to my GPSmap 60CSx; even sending a single segment of about 24 KB (yup, K, not M ) gave me a message: "The mapset is approximately 0.0 MB, but only 59.4 MB is available on your device. Please choose a smaller mapset and try again" Since MapSource can see them I would suspect that I have installed them correctly on my PC. Any suggestions?? Just to check that there is nothing wrong with my GPSr I have just sent a 45.6 MB mapset of pure Garmin maps; it was transferred with no problems. And yes, even if my problem is solved I would love to see instructions for making tracks and waypoints only with a .TYP file; I would like to color my correct trails red to distinguish them from the inaccurate ones on the topos.

Thanks, folks!! I found a friend who has the same maps on his machine, exported the registry entry to a USB drive, took it home and voila!!, all is back in good shape. The real moral of the story is not Beware when playing with the registry but the more useful: Back up your registry before playing with it. I was not as careful as I should have been, since I was not actually manually editing the registry but using a program to do so. Entering wrong data in a program that modifies the registry is just as bad as doing so manually!!

While attempting to install some tracks as a transparent map in Mapsource I screwed up and deleted the registry entry for my US TOPO 24K National Parks East. All the files are still on the disk, all I need to do is recreate the registry entry. I cannot find the Product Number, the Unoffical Garmin Product ID Database - UGPID does not list it. Can someone either simply post the Product Number, or perhaps the full saved entry? I also have a minor question: In my c:\Garmin directory I have two .img (and two similar .tdb) files related to that product: USTOPO24K_EASTV3.img dated August 20, 2004, and USTOPO24K_EASTV3_mdr.img dated August 21, 2004 I am tempted to use the newer one, but not very sure. Any help will be immensely appreciated!! Moral of the story: Beware when playing with the registry

Sad to say, but if you want to use your GPSr for both hiking and road navigation you almost certainly need both. You absolutely need the topo maps for hiking, and they are of limited use for road navigation as they are extremely old.

The garmin TOPO maps, like the USGS maps on which they are based, are only really reliable for natural features (contour lines and streams). Man-made features are often out of date. In New Hampshire they currently show the old location of a trail that was substantially relocated (trailhead moved several miles) in 1983 (the Osseo Trail up Mount Flume).

It is even easier to sew a 1" steel washer to the hat, magnet is strong enough to hold on to it. I thread the antenna cable down my back under my t-shirt to keep it out of the way, and carry the GPSr in a "belly pack" (fanny pack worn in front) for convenient storage/access. There is no doubt that the antenna helps a lot, but my older GPSr (76cs) still occasionally loses signal under heavy tree cover. I am reluctantly thinking of upgrading to the x series ... big bucks