Lake Camelot Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 I have bought my first GPS. It should arrive in the next few days. They said it had Mapsource on it but no Topo US or the one with roads. Anyway I plan on purchasing those in May with birthday money. I was just curious are there any old versions or Beta test versions available for free ? I will be getting a Garmin Vista CX. I have never been on a catch, but from what I gather I can get by with just a local map until that time? Quote Link to comment
+StarBrand Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 The gps maps are not required to go geocaching. I found my first 500 with no maps loaded on my GPS units. I used my knowledge of local areas and just blind road driving to locate most of them. The maps make it a bit easier but are certainly not needed. Quote Link to comment
+Chuy! Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 There are no free maps to download into the Etrex or MapSource. You have to purchase them. But, there are some great tools out there, such as Google Earth. And if you install MapSource with the latest software update, the two interface with MapSource transferring all your waypoints into G-E. The new version of MapSource also enables you to create your own tracks. I've used G-E to 'copy' trails onto MapSource using these new tools. It's tricky zooming in to the exact zoom level of MapSource, but it can be done. Quote Link to comment
+tliuska Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 I have bought my first GPS. It should arrive in the next few days. They said it had Mapsource on it but no Topo US or the one with roads. Anyway I plan on purchasing those in May with birthday money. I was just curious are there any old versions or Beta test versions available for free ? I will be getting a Garmin Vista CX. I have never been on a catch, but from what I gather I can get by with just a local map until that time? Hello! I found out about this project called OpenStreetMap.org, seems like they have some kind of support to Garmin as well (see wiki.openstreetmap.org). Haven't tried to upload those to my GPSr yet, since it seems to be lacking the maps to my area (so I started creating some tracks there). I don't know how's the coverage in your area, but it doesn't cost anything to try it out, and if you get interested you can participate yourself in creating the maps. Best regards, Timo Quote Link to comment
+trainlove Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 (edited) Maps are not required for geocaching. Having Topo maps on the GPS though can be very helpful, Garmin Topo on a Garmin is a heck of a lot better than Magellan Topo on a Magellan. I have both. Street maps are great to have on a GPS if you are not familiar with an area. Streets are included in those Topo's but not automatic street routing, the human brain has to be used there. There are yahoo users groups on how to make your own maps for both the MapSend and MapSource users. The US government has available for free, the DEM files for the whole country. At 1:250K, 1:100K and 1:25/24K. The first will be gigabytes for the whole country, the last will be terrabytes or more. They can be used as the basis of maps you can make, as can the satellite photos of Google Earth and others. Free maps are not available as far as I know, but I have found used map software all over the place for next to nothing like $1.99 for the 16 CD's of MapTech Terrain Navigator New England+New York region. Edited to say, Salvation Army, Goodwill, library book sales, thrift shops... I have oh so many georeferenced spots of great places that are not geocaches. Edited January 7, 2008 by trainlove Quote Link to comment
+Chuy! Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 I found these also. cGPSMapper Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 Moving to appropriate forum Quote Link to comment
+IndyJpr Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 (edited) There are no free maps to download into the Etrex or MapSource. You have to purchase them. That's definitely not true... Try http://garminmapsearch.com/ http://mapcenter.cgpsmapper.com/ http://www.ibycus.com/ibycustopo/ (Canada) See this blog for more sites http://freegeographytools.com/2007/sources...g-gps-map-files If you're just wanting to play (and don't have to have IL data), you can play with the set I built for Colorado: http://www.miscjunk.org/mj/mp_cotopo.html Have fun! dfg Edited January 9, 2008 by IndyJpr Quote Link to comment
SiliconFiend Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 I have bought my first GPS. It should arrive in the next few days. They said it had Mapsource on it but no Topo US or the one with roads. Anyway I plan on purchasing those in May with birthday money. I was just curious are there any old versions or Beta test versions available for free ? I will be getting a Garmin Vista CX. I have never been on a catch, but from what I gather I can get by with just a local map until that time? Hello! I found out about this project called OpenStreetMap.org, seems like they have some kind of support to Garmin as well (see wiki.openstreetmap.org). Haven't tried to upload those to my GPSr yet, since it seems to be lacking the maps to my area (so I started creating some tracks there). I don't know how's the coverage in your area, but it doesn't cost anything to try it out, and if you get interested you can participate yourself in creating the maps. Best regards, Timo I'm glad word is getting out about OpenStreetMap (OSM). I've been involved with that project for a few months now. It seems like the best chance of getting wide coverage of detailed trail maps which can be auto-routed. Lack of good trail coverage (free or commercial) has been a point of frustration for me. As you found, there's currently a program (mkgmap) which creates Garmin IMG files from OSM data. My plan is to create auto-routing Garmin maps from OSM data (via cGPSMapper). OpenStreetMap is currently importing US map data from the US Census (over 80% complete). The coverage is good but the accuracy is bad. The streets need to be realigned to reflect reality. I'd encourage cachers to check it out and consider contributing some time to improving the map. In addition to "Cache in, trash out", you could "Cache & Map" Quote Link to comment
+Chuy! Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 There are no free maps to download into the Etrex or MapSource. You have to purchase them. That's definitely not true... Try http://garminmapsearch.com/ http://mapcenter.cgpsmapper.com/ http://www.ibycus.com/ibycustopo/ (Canada) See this blog for more sites http://freegeographytools.com/2007/sources...g-gps-map-files If you're just wanting to play (and don't have to have IL data), you can play with the set I built for Colorado: http://www.miscjunk.org/mj/mp_cotopo.html Have fun! dfg Ha, you were in such a hurry to correct me, you didn't notice I had posted a link to http://mapcenter.cgpsmapper.com/; see post #6, two posts before yours. Quote Link to comment
Shadowrider127 Posted January 16, 2008 Share Posted January 16, 2008 I DL the garminmapsearch but it wouldn't open. It says it doesn't know what program creaded it. When I copy to Map source it wouldn't copy, it said this is not a mapsource product. Will it open if I put it on my SD and put in GPS?? Or is something else wrong? Trying to put in on Vista HCx Thanks Dennis Quote Link to comment
+coggins Posted January 16, 2008 Share Posted January 16, 2008 I DL the garminmapsearch but it wouldn't open. It says it doesn't know what program creaded it. When I copy to Map source it wouldn't copy, it said this is not a mapsource product. Will it open if I put it on my SD and put in GPS?? Or is something else wrong? Trying to put in on Vista HCx Thanks Dennis Link Quote Link to comment
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