topo, raster, planimetric? is there some introduction to each kind of map?

[+gaijinboricua]

I am searching in gpsfiledepot for map files to load in my oregon 450. I am lost as there are many options on what map to get. What are each type of map for? what information they offer?

[snowfleurys]

Planimetric - Hydro, transportation, named features - no contour lines

 

Topo - Hydro, transportation, named features, and contour lines - expect these mapsets to be 2 - 4

or more times larger than a planimetric map of the same area.

 

planimetric and topo are in vector (line) format. Different map authors will included data from different

sources and may process the data differently.

 

Raster - this is a pixel image, usually of a printed map. Garmin limits these "Custom Maps' to about

96 cells for 1024x1024 pixels. How much ground area can be included depends on the pixel

size being used.

 

Garmin's Birdseye imagery - Pixel imagery of the earth's surface. Size appears to be limited to available

memory on the GPSr.

Edited May 8, 2010 by snowfleurys

[+gaijinboricua]

Thanks for the great input. What maps should I use for geocaching? I used to have my iphone provide the geocaching information. I used to use both the map and satellite imagery from google maps when geocaching. I am now going to start using an Oregon 450.

[-Oz-]

topo, and planimetric; topo for off trail planimetric for while on the roads (since they're the most up-to-date most likely).

[+Entropy512]

topo, and planimetric; topo for off trail planimetric for while on the roads (since they're the most up-to-date most likely).

Yup, depends on your area.

 

At least for New York and PA, the latest topos were created before the Census released their 2009 TIGER dataset in the fall of 2009, and the notes for at least one planimetric release say they used the 2009 TIGER data. In some counties (like mine) the 2009 set has major improvements.

 

Another option is that there is a map set generated from OpenStreetMap data, which should have the highest quality road data of any noncommercial source. I forget the URL - as they update weekly direct from OSM, they aren't listed on gpsfiledepot if I recall correctly, but I could be wrong. URL is something like garmin.na1400.info or something like that?

 

Topo is clearly best when not on a road.

[+Entropy512]

Edit: Removing dupe, previous post went through despite timeout error.

Edited May 10, 2010 by Entropy512