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Explorist 500 basemap issue


rjfunk

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I just received an Explorist 500 and tested it out. I live in Manitoba Canada, and the nearest hwy on the base map was Hwy 59. When I was on the highway, my GPS showed that I was 4 kms east of it and the GPS showed accuracy of under 10 metres!

 

I found one cache already and the GPS put me within 4 yards so it's not the accuracy of the GPS. Is there anyway to calibrate the base map or is the base map just off by 4 kms in some places?

 

Has anyone else had this trouble with the Canada part of the base map (it is very sketchy)? I could not rely on this map when hunting or camping.

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I just received an Explorist 500 and tested it out. I live in Manitoba Canada, and the nearest hwy on the base map was Hwy 59. When I was on the highway, my GPS showed that I was 4 kms east of it and the GPS showed accuracy of under 10 metres!

 

I found one cache already and the GPS put me within 4 yards so it's not the accuracy of the GPS. Is there anyway to calibrate the base map or is the base map just off by 4 kms in some places?

 

Has anyone else had this trouble with the Canada part of the base map (it is very sketchy)? I could not rely on this map when hunting or camping.

I never used the basemap on my eX600, so I can't really vouch for the accuracy. I purchased the Direct Route and Topo Canada maps and use those instead. I've found them to be pretty accurate, a good investment.

 

Scott

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Are any Basemaps really accurate? I remember when I used the basemap on my Magellan SporTrak Pro and according to the unit my entire vacation in the old part of Quebec city was spent underwater, it kept registering me in the middle of the Saint Laurence seaway. Things only got more accurate when I installed MapSend maps.

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I haven't put my 500 down since I got it and I've noticed that the basemap is mostly close. In general terms it gives a pretty good indication, but I wouldn't use it to get myself out of a sticky situation. I've also noticed that it moves around quite a bit.

 

I will learn to live with it for now until I can take a second loan out on the car to buy the Topo software.

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I know what you mean, I was around Quebec city and Lévis last week and spent lots of time geocaching underwater. And I used hwy22 (instead of hwy20) to get from Quebec to Montreal. I have started a list of discrepancies.

It is a little infuriating to see that the detail level of "North America" drops by 10-20x when you cross the US border. The map doesn't seem to be shifted, just wrong, incomplete or done by somebody with a bad aim. Sometime a road will be North, South, East or West or where I am. Intersections are rarely in the good place...

 

Think that if we complain enough, they will give us the Canada topo for free????

 

Anybody knows of a good technique of converting the traces (that I assume are pretty accurate) into parts of the base map? I rely often on previous traces, but I think they max at 2000.

Any other advice?

Thanks,

Pierre

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For the most part the amount of work that goes into the maps we have to buy is considerable. However i do agree that they should at least get the main roads right. The truth is they are a US company and proably wont give better detail away for free any time soon. I went overseas earlier this year and there all you get is a dot telling you that a town is somewhere here but not a single road and a rough outline of the coastline and international borders is all I had.

 

It is possible to create your own maps, here is how you do it for a garmin http://www.keenpeople.com/index.php?option...=4&Itemid=3

 

Here is a link for magellan users http://www.msh-tools.com/exploristmain.html

 

Now I have never tried this as I have Mapsource already for the garmin (even that can be off). For instance the 407 between burlington and mississauga in Ontario has a section where the highway is a few KM away from were it really is. Regardless I have read how to make your own maps before and I think the more difficult part it to get hold of a digital map that is accurate in scale. However it is unfortunate that after spending the money on the GPS you end up spending more to make it useful.

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I too just got a Magellan Explorist 500LE for Christmas just passed. <_<

 

I have been using it and finding it great for the most part, however without the Canada Topo maps it's graphical aspect seems wasted.

 

Just today I scanned across Lake Ontario to the Buffalo area and was shocked at the level of basemap detail in the US as opposed to Canada.

 

Does anyone else notice this too with their Explorist Canada basemap? When I first saw it this evening, I thought mayve I got one with a US "package" by mistake. :huh:

 

Tomek

a.k.a. maleficarum :D

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Canadian Tire must have sold a ton of these units in the pre-Christmas sale!

 

I bought the Canada topo maps - It's better. The issue I am having is getting the map software to run on my PC. Just installing it took hours due to what turned out to be a conflict with Norton Anti-virus. There are so many similar conflicts it's not funny. Half the time my GPS is not detected. I have to go through all the services running on the PC shut them down and cycle the gps on to see if it works. Pain in the butt.

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mfmchen101,

What OS are you using? Are you USB ports 2.0?

 

I haven't noticed any issues with the GPS begin recognised with WinXP Pro. Are you going through the USB connectivity manager to "shut down" the connection to your GPS? If so, you might have to physically unplug the cable, and replug it back in. ..you shouldn't have to do anything with the system services.

 

I know what you mean about Norton...pain in the butt if you ask me. I gave up antivirus about 1-1/2 years ago and just made sure I was browsing more carefully...haven't had one problem and my computer is a lot faster from not having Norton get it's "fingers" into everything.

 

Tomek

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I also recieved one for X-Mas. I initially e-mailled them about the issue and reiceved no answer. I phoned Megallan about the problem and got little or no help. The service rerpesentive was of little help and never did answer my question as to why the map is off across Canada. I'm from BC The closets mine has been is .67 Kilometers off. I believe if the selling feature of the Unit is that it has a N America base map then what they display should be accurate. If we were Americans we would be filing a class action suit by now.

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mfmchen101,

What OS are you using? Are you USB ports 2.0?

 

I haven't noticed any issues with the GPS begin recognised with WinXP Pro. Are you going through the USB connectivity manager to "shut down" the connection to your GPS? If so, you might have to physically unplug the cable, and replug it back in. ..you shouldn't have to do anything with the system services.

 

Tomek

 

Hi - I have WIN XP Pro. The unit shows up as a Windows drive (i.e. "D:\") that is available in MapSend but MapSend can't see it to "Upload to GPS" or "Download from GPS". What happens is the application cycles through all the available Com Ports checking them for a GPS - it never finds one. I have uninstalled and re-installed the Meridian drivers but it hasn't made any difference.

 

One thing that I would have expected, but do not see in Control Panel, is some sort of serial-to-USB driver. Under USB devices I see a USB Enhanced Host Controller; then a couple of host controllers, then the "USB Mass Storage Device" that is the GPS. The GPS itself is not explictly identified.

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Make sure you have the newest firmware from the Magellan website for starters.

 

Why is it checking on COM ports? I didn't think the GPS was even able to connect to a COM port...was pretty sure it's all USB.

 

It won't explicitly identify the GPS in the Device Manager under the USB Controllers necessarily.

 

Just a question; why were you expecting a "serial-to-USB driver" in the Control Panel?

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I was in LeBarons in Ottawa last week and was talking to one of the staff regarding Magellan maps (MapSend) and he told me the issue is not Magellan, but rather the fault of Canada. He told me that the government department who is responsible for mapping in Canada is reluctant to release detailed map data to the company that produces maps for Magellan. Don’t know how true this is, but it could explain as to why the detail of Canadian base maps is limited.

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I was in LeBarons in Ottawa last week and was talking to one of the staff regarding Magellan maps (MapSend) and he told me the issue is not Magellan, but rather the fault of Canada. He told me that the government department who is responsible for mapping in Canada is reluctant to release detailed map data to the company that produces maps for Magellan. Don’t know how true this is, but it could explain as to why the detail of Canadian base maps is limited.

But they do have detailed and accurate maps that you have to buy.

 

The reason basemaps are crap is because they are there just so you have something to look at on your maps page rather than a blank screen.

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If that was the case why is the Garmin Base maps so much more accurate even on the basics like highways and rivers.

 

The Explorist has the ability to be upgraded if you have the technical know how. It has a built in modem and can function as a com port. I don't have the knowledge but there is some places on the internet to take advantage of these features.

 

I found a link on the B.C. Geoacaching assocition web site.

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I recently was out in New Brunswick and found a few infuriating quirks with the Mapsource (garmin)

 

Hwy 11 is a limited access highway with proper exits however the software had no idea so it kept telling me I can get off right at a road that was really an overpass

 

Even better was many "roads" were not roads at all but either foot paths, snowmobile trails, or were roads in 1935! Even around hamilton there are a few cases of these long gone roads. (I know becuase there is a cache on one)

 

That all may be due to the fact the maps are provided by the government but yes why would one company have different detail when they all get the maps from teh same place. I bet they both got the maps from the same place but did it at different times. My mapsource map does seem out of date as I noticed in NB HWY #2 was showing the old part of the road when they redid a section a few years ago.

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I also got the cdn tire model, (came with the $10 topo usa and the wall free charger offer) the base map is very sparse but it seemed to be accurate.

 

I picked up a topo canada and found it really accurate even on recent ski trip to tremblant. But I did unfortunitly pick up the map for the older model (not for explorist -doh!- but it still works don't know why :huh: ) the problem i find with loading info to and from comp using the old topo software is you have to save it then transfer using the map lite software because the topo canada software goes looking for the com ports instead of the usb connection.

 

-the topo can indicate transmission line when driving along, you look up and theres a transmision line, kinda cool.

 

Tough time getting accessories for it though, had to get them from the dreaded evilbay.

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