GeoidPS Posted February 5, 2006 Share Posted February 5, 2006 Has anyone found the use of Delorme or National Geogrphic topo (others) sufficient to work with GPS units to justify the purchase? Quote Link to comment
HarryBlack Posted February 5, 2006 Share Posted February 5, 2006 Has anyone found the use of Delorme or National Geogrphic topo (others) sufficient to work with GPS units to justify the purchase? National Geographic is the best software for maps, the NG Topo state maps are scanned USGS Topographic maps and are going to give you best detail. But they are Topographic maps, not trail maps. If you want to load a topo map into your GPS you must use the software that is made by the manufacture of your GPS. What I have done is used the NG topo maps to print out detailed maps with the cache locations displayed on them. SOmetimes it can be easier to use a paper map than a map that is the size of a match book cover. Quote Link to comment
Grasscatcher Posted February 5, 2006 Share Posted February 5, 2006 I have,and regularly use 8 different mapping programs. For ease of learning/use and for map quality my favorite is NG Topo. ($99 /state) For compatibility with other programs (file types etc) my favorite is Topografix Expert GPS. Also Expert GPS has Aerial Photos($59 ) Every program has it's strong / weak points, but as a regular user of several different ones those are the ones I find myself using when I need to do something. Only as my personal opinion, DeLorme is kinda "Mickey Mouse".They like to tell you what you want instead of listening and providing a means to do it Quote Link to comment
GeoidPS Posted February 6, 2006 Author Share Posted February 6, 2006 Thanks. I didn't like NG state topo w/ 3D enhancement. The zoom level was not sufficient, and creating routes was unacceptable. No lock on feature except for the 3D roads. I hope digital (vector) quad maps will be made one day. Quote Link to comment
+JohnnyVegas Posted February 6, 2006 Share Posted February 6, 2006 Thanks. I didn't like NG state topo w/ 3D enhancement. The zoom level was not sufficient, and creating routes was unacceptable. No lock on feature except for the 3D roads. I hope digital (vector) quad maps will be made one day. They are scaned USGS 7.5 Min. maps, They cannot give you any more detail than a 7.5Min map. What do you mean by the The zoom level was not sufficient, Quote Link to comment
+fw_ord Posted February 7, 2006 Share Posted February 7, 2006 Has anyone found the use of Delorme or National Geogrphic topo (others) sufficient to work with GPS units to justify the purchase? I use DeLorme Street Atlas 2004 USA and Topo USA 5.0 and really like them. I use a program from this webpage to put geocache locations on the maps and create reports. From the DeLorme software I then load the locations to my Garmin GPS reciever as Waypoints. Once done with my trip, I reopen the DeLorme map and click the icons to get to the web pages to log my finds. Quote Link to comment
+Team Dubbin Posted February 7, 2006 Share Posted February 7, 2006 (edited) I use DeLorme Street Atlas 2004 USA and Topo USA 5.0 and really like them. I use a program from this webpage to put geocache locations on the maps and create reports. From the DeLorme software I then load the locations to my Garmin GPS reciever as Waypoints. Once done with my trip, I reopen the DeLorme map and click the icons to get to the web pages to log my finds. Wouldn't it be easier to just use GSAK? edit: OK I just tried doing it your way and I will say that it MUCH easier using GSAK. Edited February 7, 2006 by Team Dubbin Quote Link to comment
+Poidawg Posted February 7, 2006 Share Posted February 7, 2006 I know nothing about ease of use. I do know that REI brought in a rep from National Geographic and the guy set up his GPSr to his lap top with the NG software in there. He was able to go deeper into the topos than any other map system. He could put in and take out waypoints, determine altitude, and e mail his trail chose all from the same software, it was truly impressive. He had the system set up so that he could pinpoint waypoints he took photos at in order to print them out into a personal album later. The software was truly impressive. I think there were three levels of the map system he showed and then California had the last and best or most detailed Topo system, I live in California and dont know if the other states had this available or not. He had numerous GPSr's and did alot of travelling. He mountain biked and hiked everywhere. He had a detalied list of the trails he covered and of the travels he made. If you have an REI near you, you might want to find out if they have a National Geographic / GPS forum....Of course everyone in the class wanted the system. I realized I just dont travel enough to warrant the cost. I dont know about DeLorme... Quote Link to comment
+JohnnyVegas Posted February 7, 2006 Share Posted February 7, 2006 Hey Poidawg You must have been at the Corte Madera REI. You have had one of the better logs on my Thar Be Treasure cache. Quote Link to comment
Alphawolf Posted February 7, 2006 Share Posted February 7, 2006 (edited) I didn't like NG state topo w/ 3D enhancement. The zoom level was not sufficient, and creating routes was unacceptable. Well, if you are looking for topo maps, you can't get any better. I am not aware of any topo products that will do road "lock on". As far as zoom...You just aren't going to find anything better in commercial products than the 1:24000 maps. You could zoom into a gnats eye, but still not get one bit better detail than the quads. Closer isn't the same as more detail once you below the maximum detail/zoom level. This is just "overzoom" and serves no purpose. Edited February 7, 2006 by Alphawolf Quote Link to comment
+Alan2 Posted February 8, 2006 Share Posted February 8, 2006 (edited) NG Topo has a service call MapxChange on the web page. People post their tracks for all sorts of trails in parks they have walked with their GPS. You download the file and insert them into the NG Topo mapto view it. You can transfer the route to your GPS so you can follow the same route on your GPS. If you overlay cache waypoints onto the NG Topo map, you can see which route is closeby and follow that to the cache. Very neat. Edited February 8, 2006 by Alan2 Quote Link to comment
GeoidPS Posted February 8, 2006 Author Share Posted February 8, 2006 (edited) Well, at least mapsource brings down detail to 80 ft. NG zooms to about 1.5 mi. I'm not necessarily looking for detail, but I do want to route. Since Mapsource UStopo is not routable, at the 80ft. level, I can create a point to points route and at least follow the trails more closely. NG is like using Microsoft Paint to create routes. At the large scale, I decided this was useless. I did not like the see feature changes at each zoom level. It was merely substituting images. I was looking at park boundaries and at the best zoom level they dissappeared. I like the consistancy with Mapsource. Unfortunatnly, the best can be done is the 24K topo series which only has limited coverage. I'm hoping that Garmin will expand the 24K series to include more and more areas. This seems like the logical direction for Garmin to go. As far as locating waypoints, routes, and tracks on maps, Mapsource does this and you can toggle between City Select, UStopo, and 24K. Edited February 8, 2006 by GeoidPS Quote Link to comment
Grasscatcher Posted February 8, 2006 Share Posted February 8, 2006 Well, at least mapsource brings down detail to 80 ft. NG zooms to about 1.5 mi. I'm not necessarily looking for detail, but I do want to route. Since Mapsource UStopo is not routable, at the 80ft. level, I can create a point to points route and at least follow the trails more closely. NG is like using Microsoft Paint to create routes. At the large scale, I decided this was useless. Are you sure you were using NG Topo? NOT the same Topo that I have. Their maps are digitally scanned USGS 7.5min quads, which are the most detailed topo maps available. They are 1:24000 scale initially and then in the program you can enlarge up to 400%. What would make you think that "they" only zoom in to 1.5 miles? In addition to magnifing 400% you can also use a "Hotspot magnifier" to spot viewat an even greater magnification! Quote Link to comment
GeoidPS Posted February 8, 2006 Author Share Posted February 8, 2006 Yes, I'm aware of that, but its a bit repetitive to do this each time while drawing a route freehand style. Quote Link to comment
+Kit Fox Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 NG Topo has a service call MapxChange on the web page. People post their tracks for all sorts of trails in parks they have walked with their GPS. You download the file and insert them into the NG Topo mapto view it. You can transfer the route to your GPS so you can follow the same route on your GPS. If you overlay cache waypoints onto the NG Topo map, you can see which route is closeby and follow that to the cache. Very neat. Another added benefit for NatGeoTopo that the Sierra Club offers downloads of routes, and waypoints for all the peaks they list. This comes in quite handy, when I want to bag a peak or two. The feature of uploading your GPS tracks, and waypoints, is very handy for me. Y ou can also "right click" the maps and zoom them up to 300% Quote Link to comment
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