Magellan Mapsend Direct Route Or Topo 3d Usa?

[medallionhunter]

I have a new Meridian Color and want to get the most out of it. I am wondering which software works best for Geocaching and getting to geocaches. Any thoughts on how I might use Magellen Topo 3D USA or Direct Route differently?

[+JohnnyVegas]

Direct route will give turn by turn autorouting, Topo 3D will not.

 

Topo 3D will give you topograhic information, Direct route will not.

 

If you are going to be doing lots of hiking Topo 3D might be a better choice.

 

If you are going to be doing caches in more of an urban area then direct route might be the better choice.

 

THey both include street names and both are going to have pretty much the same POI data base.

 

I use both, in my Meridian gold I use Direct route to get to the area of the cache and in my Explorist 500 I use Topo 3D.

[+Kerstin76]

I have a new Meridian Color and want to get the most out of it. I am wondering which software works best for Geocaching and getting to geocaches. Any thoughts on how I might use Magellen Topo 3D USA or Direct Route differently?

I have both maps on my GPS loaded (Meridian Color) and mostly use the DirectRoute map because I like the turn-by-turn instruction on driving to the cache. Very seldomly I am switching to the Topo map to see if I am on the right side of the creek. For most caches the Topo map is not necessary and the creek in front of you is often not listed...

 

My recommendation is the DirectRoute map.

[+ecd1211]

I've never used DirectRoute, but upgraded recently from the old Streets & Destinations software to Topo 3D. I just don't care much about auto-routing, so Topo 3D seemed like the right choice for me.

 

There are a few things that can be useful for geocaching, such as being able to do elevation profiles to preview what kind of climbing you might have to do reach a cache. It also lists some items, such as summit names and springs that you won't get with DirectRoute.

 

I've been pretty happy with Topo 3D -- it seems pretty up-to-date and accurate.

[+embra]

For someone who has no use for auto-routing, T3D is the way to go...it includes all the street detail and POIs that DirectRoute has.

 

That being said, most people find that the easily-generated turn-by-turn directions of autorouting greatly enhances the value of their GPRs. For that reason, I would recommend DR over T3D if one were to have only a single program.

 

For geocaching, you can use a DR autoroute to drive to the vicinity of the cache, and then re-route with a point-to-point route to finish up. It works pretty well.

[+JohnnyVegas]

I would be lost without Direct route in my Meridain gold, and I do mean lost. I having moved to an area I am not 100% familiar with there are times in which I have been out geocaching for the day and after finding several caches I have no idea which way to get home. What I do then is clear the current memory on my meridian gold and activate the file for caches I have hidden, then I set an autoroute goto to a cache close to my home and bingo bango, I am on my way home. Also for those that want to keep their fuel cost down, any type of auto route software is helpfull

[+Kerstin76]

There are a few things that can be useful for geocaching, such as being able to do elevation profiles to preview what kind of climbing you might have to do reach a cache. It also lists some items, such as summit names and springs that you won't get with DirectRoute.

Allright, that is true. But the help of this information depends on the area you are caching in. Here in Central Illinois, the Topo map just doesn't has any usefull information, as the little hill is not worth to plot

[+powaybob]

I prefer to do most geocaching out in the desert or mountains so the topo works best for me. Of course urban GCers would prefer the Streets version.

 

Using either on the computer helps plan the trip. The displays on any GPS are small and don't always provide enough context to help.

[medallionhunter]

I have seen research on the Tennessee GCA

 

http://www.mtgc.org/robertlipe/DirectRoute/

 

that the Direct Route software takes over some settings each time such as alarms, difficultty plotting a route to a cache (need a street) and forces you to re-route once you get to the park. Assuming urban/semi urban caching what have others seen after loading Direct Route?

 

Also, with either software, is the color better for parks & land masses? i.e. greens and yellows? I use Topo 3D now (older version) and the map is mostly white with blue lakes and roads are black or red. I've seen Garmin with much more robust colors. Wondering if it is the old Topo software....

Edited September 28, 2005 by medallionhunter

[Parsa]

I did an online comparison of both software packages on the Magellan web site. The street detail seems to be basically identical. The only difference is topo vs autorouting.

 

For myself, if I have a street map, I can find the way. Once in a while the street doesn't actually go through or something, but to me the topo is much more useful. There wasn't even a question in my mind about which to chose. Even in the urban areas of San Diego there is substantial topography to deal with. If you live in a city in the Great Plains you may not need the topo. Again, it depends on where you cache. Note though that unlike Garmin's topo, the Magellan topo does not show many hiking trails. Instead it has special X-shaped POIs for trail heads. It's very nice to see whether the cache is on a peak or in a canyon, etc.

 

Parsa

[+maritimedriver]

I also looked at both and picked the TOPO. I have noticed a large number of errors in some maps. Like Kelly Barnes Lake in Toccoa, GA. The dam burst in 1977 and killed almost 50 people. The dam and lake were never rebuilt, but it still shows the lake on the TOPO. I also wish major hiking trails were displayed. But oh well....

Edited September 28, 2005 by maritimedriver

[+GOT GPS?]

I live in a flat area, and I find that TOPO is very helpful, with water hazards.

I went to a Geocaching Event in Alma Michigan with my GPS with just autorouting maps in the GPS, and I should have had my SporTrak Color GPS, with it's TOPO loaded. I had flunked the cache hunt at the event because the water features had not shown up on my autorouting maps, and the temporary caches were scattered around the backside of a mini reservoir, and small river.

 

Major water features show up on autorouting maps, but the minor water features do not show up in areas away from metro areas.

 

This is a comparison of a TOPO map and an autorouting map

 

If you get the Direct Route mapping, also get a paper atlas, and those might cost about $18.

 

Geoff

[+geognerd]

I have both maps on my GPS loaded (Meridian Color) and mostly use the DirectRoute map because I like the turn-by-turn instruction on driving to the cache.

Posting a question I got from a co-worker about receivers that autoroute (a subject in which I am ill informed). Do the eXplorists (400-600) autoroute, like the GPSmap 60? For example, if you were to hit the Goto button and picked a point, would any of the eXplorists be able to calculate a route to the point using the roads? It sounds like they can take routable road data from MapSend, but can they actually use it to create a route on the receiver, and give turn-by-turn instructions?

 

The manual and Magellan's site didn't have much info, at least none that I could find that definitively said one of the eXplorists would give turn-by-turn autorouting. All the manual had was info about a straight-line goto route, and a multi-leg route connecting the waypoints.

 

Edited to show that I know the lower-level eXplorists don't map.

Edited September 29, 2005 by geognerd

[+embra]

Posting a question I got from a co-worker about receivers that autoroute (a subject in which I am ill informed). Do the eXplorists (400-600) autoroute, like the GPSmap 60? For example, if you were to hit the Goto button and picked a point, would any of the eXplorists be able to calculate a route to the point using the roads? It sounds like they can take routable road data from MapSend, but can they actually use it to create a route on the receiver, and give turn-by-turn instructions?

Yes, with the purchase of MapSend DirectRoute software you can autoroute with the explorists. It's a simpler autorouting than what the Garmin products offer, but it's still a helpful feature. Once you load a DR detail map file into the receiver, it will use it to calculate turn-by-turn directions at the time of route generation (i.e., on-the-fly).

[medallionhunter]

Now that I tested both Topo 3D and Direct Route I find that Parks show up better on DR. Parks are a solid green block which is easy to see. On Topo 3D they show up as small grid dots (not solid). When I checked with Magellan, they said it was because Topo had to draw the lines through parks and that is why the parks show up differently.

 

Anyone else experience this differences in the parks?

Edited February 9, 2006 by medallionhunter