Legend mapping

[+Deepdiggingmole]

I have a Garmin etrex Legend (blue) and have noted an oddity when some distance from my home town (in Kent)

In and around the local area the marker/pointer on the mapping page is very accurately on the right part of the road as it tracks my movements - however I have noticed when not in the SE of England (Cambridge is an example, also happened in Tamworth) the pointer is some distance off the true location - although it is correctly tracking the course it is considerably out which made it very difficult to pinpoint which road I was on

Is this a common thing with Legends mapping - it is odd that it doesnt do it in my local area - but I move up north and the pointer is in the wrong position

[+gazooks]

I have a Legend too and live around Cambridge. The only time I noticed any oddity with the map was when I first got it using the supplied basemap. It would not follow the road I supposed to be on.

 

Once I changed to mapsource maps - its been very accurate roadwise.

[The Birches Head Hunters]

We have an eTrex Legend, and noticed recently that when driving down the M1, the map showed us driving in the middle of a field about half a mile away! This might be related to the topic discussed here?

[+Deepdiggingmole]

It seems others are having a similar problem - I went to great Yarmouth on Friday (11 May) and experienced the same problem - I was shown driving in a field 1/4 mile away from the road which happened to be the main A12 - also I noticed in Great Yarmouth the roads were not shown or named as they are in the South East

If this a a common problem how can i sort it out

[+The Blorenges]

The supplied 'basemap' is not very accurate and you'll find your position won't always be correct, sometimes quite a way out. You simply can't rely on it. You need to use the Mapsource maps (Metroguide/City Select etc) that are proper maps for the unit and give you very accurate street level mapping (and turn by turn navigation on the 'C' versions using City Select).

 

If however you are using a Mapsource map and still find it 'out' then check the accuracy lock you have (how many satellites and the accuracy). You should get 15' to 18' feet on a good day - 6' if you have WAAS enabled. In city streets or wooded areas you can find it hard to get a good signal from the satellites.

 

Chris

[+Bambography]

I've got the Legend and not noticed any strange variations when out and about. 'Home' is Basingstoke in Hampshire and i've cached quite widely including the Lake District and never thought 'this seems way out'.

 

I agree with Chris above that the pre-installed mapping is rather vague and the supplied Mapsource data is far better!

[+Pharisee]

The base map as supplied, on my 'blue Legend' at least, is very crude indeed. Towns are just 'dots' and the major road seem to be represented as straight lines between a few key points like major road junctions. They make no attempt to follow the roads actual route.

 

With only 8Mb of memory, the best option for that particular model Etrex is a copy of MapSource 'Roads & Recreations' if you can find one. It's been out of 'print' for quite a while now but you can load a much bigger area on the country into the small amount of memory available. Don't bother with Topo of City Navigator as you'll be forever uploading new 'pocket handkerchief' size sections of map.

[+Alice Band]

I have a Legend and have experienced this too, but only when the accuracy signal was very very poor. It quite often told me I was on the side of a hill or in the middle of a lake when I was in a certain part of the Lake District. You may find the problems stems from being in an area where trees or many buildings interfere with the receiver in the Legend. Oddly it does get a signal if I turn it on indoors to upload something

 

The Topo map point is interesting. I've always wanted a copy of it but have heard nothing but tales of woe about it. Is it really that bad? I simply can't afford to buy my own copy and don't know anyone who has it to find out for myself.

[+Pharisee]

The Topo map point is interesting. I've always wanted a copy of it but have heard nothing but tales of woe about it. Is it really that bad? I simply can't afford to buy my own copy and don't know anyone who has it to find out for myself.

 

Topo really would be a bit of a waste if you only have a monochrome Legend as opposed to the Legend Cx. To be honest, I can't remeber the size of a map segment in Topo but as it takes 1.6Gb to load the whole country, you're not going to get much into 8Mb.

 

I've got it loaded onto my GPS60CSx and I recon that combination is the mutt's nuts. I have a 2Gb micro SD card and it holds the whole of the UK with space to spare. For cache hunting it's whole order of magnitude better than the City Navigator maps that I had loaded previously.

I don't know what tales of woe you've heard but I've had absolutely no problems at all. It installed, loaded and runs a treat. Demonstrations availble at no extra cost

[+Alice Band]

I don't know what tales of woe you've heard but I've had absolutely no problems at all. It installed, loaded and runs a treat. Demonstrations available at no extra cost

Basically it consists of 'poor detailing' and missed bits of roads/footpaths/topography. I looked it up on Amazon once and many of the reviewers said 'Don't buy it, its a waste of money'. But if you are lucky enough to own a GPS with expandable memory I suppose it really is the mutts's nuts I'll reserve judgement then till I get a copy to upload into my meagre Legend memory

 

You're welcome to demonstrate next time I meet you. I promise I won't insist on finding micros

[+Pharisee]

Basically it consists of 'poor detailing' and missed bits of roads/footpaths/topography.

The detailing is superb, bearing in mind that it's intended to display on a screen that only about 2.5" x 1.5". It's true that not 'every' footpath is shown but then again, there are a lot of 'permissive' footpaths and smaller obvious paths through woods etc. that aren't shown on OS maps either. It's not perfect but if you own a Garmin unit, it's the best you've got. The much better accuracy of rivers, canals and railway lines plus the display of trig points far out-ways the odd path that's not shown. It's very much colour orientated, though. Don't know how well it would display on a monochrome GPSr.