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uk maps for the oregon


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I was going to post this in the gps section, but know i will end up with a lot of american related maps and not uk. Does anyone use any paid for maps and which ones do they recommend>? garmin seem to do a discoverer series in 1:50 and some in 1:25 and ive also seen some from memory maps too.

 

looking really to see if someone has used them all for their honest opinions, currently im using the OSM maps which are good, but do have some rather blank areas (but are free).

 

many thanks in advance.

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Brief summary.

The discoverer ones are the OS 1:50K maps you know and love specifically for the Garmin. They are a bit pricey. If you already have Memory Map for the PC you can't transfer the maps to the Garmin.

Garmin's own Topo UK is very good but no where as detailed as the OS maps. Again bit pricey.

Talkytoasters Openstreet maps are very similar to the Topo, detail does vary but they are good and best of all..... free!

 

Chris (MrB)

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I was going to post this in the gps section, but know i will end up with a lot of american related maps and not uk. Does anyone use any paid for maps and which ones do they recommend>? garmin seem to do a discoverer series in 1:50 and some in 1:25 and ive also seen some from memory maps too.

 

looking really to see if someone has used them all for their honest opinions, currently im using the OSM maps which are good, but do have some rather blank areas (but are free).

 

many thanks in advance.

 

UK Topo is a little expensive and coverage is variable, but on the whole it's pretty good.

 

I've found sometimes a path that's little more than a worn patch along grass is marked on it, other times a gravel track wide enough for two cars to pass and that leads to a car park isn't marked.

 

Where actual roads are concerned it's pretty good although like any other map it gets dated as roads change. It lets you do turn-by-turn routing and with a 2GB memory card (assuming your GPS takes memory cards) you can put the whole of the UK on it and have room left over).

 

I haven't tried the other ones, they too seem pricey and so far I haven't seen the need to spend more money on more maps.

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Father Christmas was good to me an I have and use the Garmin OS 1:50.000 and also all their National Parks 1:25.000. Brilliant to say the least. They did cost, but well worth it and have certainly enhanced my Oregon. However still find the 60 CSX that bit more accurate, but no OS maps regrettably. on this we use Toasty mapping. :rolleyes::anibad::D

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I was going to post this in the gps section, but know i will end up with a lot of american related maps and not uk. Does anyone use any paid for maps and which ones do they recommend>? garmin seem to do a discoverer series in 1:50 and some in 1:25 and ive also seen some from memory maps too.

 

looking really to see if someone has used them all for their honest opinions, currently im using the OSM maps which are good, but do have some rather blank areas (but are free).

 

many thanks in advance.

It depends on which GPSr you want to use them with.

 

I use GB Topo on my eTrex, though that is pretty much retired from active service since I bought the Oregon 550t. The GB Topo maps aren't brilliant, but they are considerably better than nothing. You will find the quality is less variable than the OSM maps - I found those could have good detail in some places and gaping holes in others. The GB Topo coverage of roads is fairly uniform. Paths aren't quite as good, it has more paths shown than OS 50000, but makes no attempt to identify rights of way. They don't show buildings, power lines or any of that stuff, really just roads, paths, rail, river, woods and contours. I find them considerably less useful than OS 50000 or 25000 maps. They do routing, if you need that.

 

On the Oregon 550t I use the Discoverer maps. As well as giving you OS 50000 coverage of a third of the country, they provide routing for the whole country. The maps don't look as good as MemoryMaps on a PDA. This is partly because they made the rather odd decision to use JPEG to store the maps, and frankly that just doesn't make sense to me. It's great for photos, but maps aren't photos. There are lossless compression algorithms that give better performance AND look better. It means you can see the artefacts when you zoom right in, and it just doesn't look very nice. But it doesn't stop you from getting the information off the screen.

 

The Oregon can also accept custom maps. I've been a bit critical of this in the past, because there are severe limitations on the number and size of the maps. But there are now some programs for generating them automatically, and if you have enough time to prepare in advance, you can get enough OS 25000 detail on the screen to make a useful improvement on the 50000 maps. They still suffer from the same issues when zooming in, but not to the same degree.

 

As others have said, MemoryMap is for WinMobile PDAs. The maps on a PDA do generally look a lot better, but the Garmin has the benefit of better robustness and weatherproofing.

 

Rgds, Andy

Edited by Amberel
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Exactly what Amberel says........ :rolleyes:

 

Same here, I use the Talky Toaster OpenStreetMaps and use program (try searching forums for Bingmap) to get personnel OS maps. It does me fine and with this combination I need to spend no money, I can fit more than enough personel OS maps in to take a days walking. I have a standard set lined up for my home area and it covers ALL I need.

 

With practice it does not take to long to get the maps...

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many thanks so far, i have been looking at the discoverer maps as they are os ones, £130 seems a lot but i guess cheaper than buying £7 maps each time we go into a new area.

 

@gerritS hi there ive taken a quick look at bingmap could you explain the process of getting a map from when you get to the site to when you get it on the gps (i have a garmin oregon)

 

again many thanks in advance and to all who have answered so far.

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Just copy the ???.kmz file that the Bing-map gizmo generates into the Garmi/Custom Maps folder of your Oregon - alternatively create a Garmi/Custom Maps folder on your memory card in the unit. The unit will look in both.

 

Edited to add:- you also have to enable the map on your Oregon - Setup>Map>Map Information Select a Map>Custom Maps>Enable

Edited by FollowMeChaps
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many thanks so far, i have been looking at the discoverer maps as they are os ones, £130 seems a lot but i guess cheaper than buying £7 maps each time we go into a new area.

 

@gerritS hi there ive taken a quick look at bingmap could you explain the process of getting a map from when you get to the site to when you get it on the gps (i have a garmin oregon)

 

again many thanks in advance and to all who have answered so far.

 

If you are still struggling let me know I wil write a step by step guide post is let others tell US how we can do it better LOL.

 

Then we can get a good guide, I work at sea and 2 months later when I come back I like htee guides as I have forgoton what ot do myself...

 

PS If some one has a similat guide to putting caches intoand Ique3600 for free I would be most pleased..

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I have the Oregon 300 with Garmin's OS maps, 1:50 for the country and 1:25 for my local area.

 

I don't have experience of anything else I'm afraid, so can't compare, but they seem pretty good to me!

Only think is, it gets quite fuzzy if you zoom in close - although this could be something I'm doing wrong? I read somewhere about downloading updated firmware?

 

One question - When you have more that one type of mapping installed, do you select them both in the GPS preferences or just the best one or one you want to use?

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