Garmin GPSMAP 60CSX And Spain

[lazymanp]

I'm going backpacking in the Spanish Pyrenees. I'm told the 60CSX needs to be "adjusted" when I fly from California to Europe but no-one seems to know how or by what. I also can't find any graphic map support for this device for the Pyrenees (either French or Spanish). Anyone have any recommendations?

[alpamayo]

Hi, I don't think you need to make any adjustments

 

As for the map, this link might help you.

 

Mike

[+SnoWake]

There should be no 'adjustment' required. I had my 60CSx all around Europe, including 12 days in Spain, and it worked flawlessly. I was using the Garmin Europe NT mapset - probably no value to you, backpacking in the Pyrenees, but it did an amazing job of accurately representing the tiny, winding 'streets' of Toledo, Granada, and Seville - as well as help us get around via mass transit (by identifying stations) in the larger cities.

[rvrichardson]

Apart from any mapping software, all you would need would be to change the time zone

[nhfours]

I also can't find any graphic map support for this device for the Pyrenees (either French or Spanish). Anyone have any recommendations?

Garmin has a page on Third-Party MapSource Developers, with links to both French and Spanish topos.

 

I have used neither, but have been very satisfied with the Swiss product that I found from that page.

[Motorcycle_Mama]

You can also check out MapCenter.

 

http://mapcenter.cgpsmapper.com/catalogue.php?country=66

[lazymanp]

Interesting responses all around. The "adjustment" is accessed via the Setup>Units option which defaults to WGS84. Some geographic areas recommend entering an adjustment which consists of a series of numbers entered after "User" is selected in "Map Datum." In the specific case being related, by someone who had recently returned form the field, the topo map of northern Greece provided the Map Datum which increased accuracy by perhaps as much as a hundred meters. As yet, it isn't clear that any such Map Datum adjustment exists for the Spanish Pyrenees.

 

There is a complete DVD of MapSource for Spain distributed by the third party vendor (for Spain) recommended on Garmin's website. They also distribute from a Brussels based e-business - who won't ship to the U.S.A. I contacted the vendor who said they were very happy to direct me to a direct distributor - who would supply me once I arrived in Spain. Not very practical since I'm hiking in from France and not cheap either.

 

I followed up with Topohispania by Sinrenkor. There was one posting by a guy who bemoaned buying the DVD because the same information was available free, but he didn't indicate how. Eventually I downloaded the required topo as an .IMG file, as suggested in one of the responses to this posting which appears to be in the same format as the files on the Garmin MapSource CD - which is hopeful - but the IrfanView product I'm using won't read it and I have no idea as to how to open the thing.

 

I still have five months to figure this out.

[gallet]

Interesting responses all around. The "adjustment" is accessed via the Setup>Units option which defaults to WGS84. Some geographic areas recommend entering an adjustment which consists of a series of numbers entered after "User" is selected in "Map Datum." In the specific case being related, by someone who had recently returned form the field, the topo map of northern Greece provided the Map Datum which increased accuracy by perhaps as much as a hundred meters. As yet, it isn't clear that any such Map Datum adjustment exists for the Spanish Pyrenees.

 

The 'adjustment' you are talking about is if you want to make your own map datum. I'm not an expert but I can't see how this has any bearing on anything. Aren't the map datums settings for when you are using paper maps and you have set your gps to use UTM UPS as the position format, and you want the northings and easings on the paper map to match the gps.

[+ivanidea]

Some of the Spanish (paper) maps use longitude, with Barclelona as the start point, and not Greenwich, which makes it interesting trying to work out where you are on the map from GPS co-ordinates.

 

Also, some (if not most) Spanish walking maps are very inaccurate. I think the best I have used (in the Picos area) were based on military maps.

 

I have not yet had any experience of the Spanish or French Topo maps for the Garmin.

 

Ivan

Edited March 5, 2008 by ivanidea

[+GPSlug]

The datum you need for paper maps might be some flavor of ED50 (European 1950).

 

If not, or if the transformation in the receiver isn't good enough, you might be able to calculate the user grid offset from this utility, which has a pretty big list of datums in it.