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How useful are aerial photos? I am contemplating upgrading from Geoniche on my palm to a new unit. It needs to be inexpensive and have paperless. I like the explorist GC due to price but the Delorme PN-30 was mentioned in another thread and looks intriguing.

 

How much do you all use the aerial photos? Are they worth the extra money?

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How useful are aerial photos? I am contemplating upgrading from Geoniche on my palm to a new unit. It needs to be inexpensive and have paperless. I like the explorist GC due to price but the Delorme PN-30 was mentioned in another thread and looks intriguing.

 

How much do you all use the aerial photos? Are they worth the extra money?

I guess that it depends.

 

My first GPSr was my PDA, which has a SiRFstar III receiver built in. It wasn't very good under trees etc. The geocaching app I use offers a variety of mapping and I elected to use Virtual Earth hybrid as the satellite view let me identify objects (like individual trees, park benches, turns in the trail, etc.) and use those to triangulate GZ where following the arrow didn't work.

 

My latest GPSr is a Dakota 20, which has a much better receiver. Although I made hybrid view custom maps using Mad Prof's "Garmin Bing Maps" utility, I switched them off as I found the basic Open Street Maps contoured mapping more useful and triangulation from known objects was unnecessary since the GPSr retained its satellite lock under cover and took me to within six to ten feet of the cache each time.

 

So I guess that (for me, at least) a better receiver is worth extra money and I'd rather have that than aerial view given a choice.

 

HTH,

 

Geoff

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What Rich said...aerial imagery for heavy forest is pretty worthless; it all looks the same. OTOH, if you are using it in the more open areas it can be pretty helpful at times. For example, it's very apparent from the display when pulling into a parking area at the rear of a business establishment to locate a cache where to park and where to look. You can figure that stuff out without aerial imagery, of course, but the imagery can make it a snap.

 

One thing to beware of is that the memory needs of the imagery can be intense. I discipline myself in terms of coverage and detail. On my PN-40, for example, I cut aerial imagery for two zoom levels only (the ones where it looks the best and is most helpful). And I try to be selective; just because I can download and cut imagery map files for everything within a hundred miles of home doesn't mean I do it. Like all tools, you learn to use it for your own needs.

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I've been disappointed by the aerial images I've seen. They look great if your zoom level is around .3 miles but zoomed in much more - all you get is blurry pixels.

 

I really wanted to like the PN30 when I first got mine but I just can't recommend it to anybody. It eats batteries, uses a propritary cable, is poor at routing over distances, requires software to load Geocaches, Only hold 1000 caches at a time (more can be loaded by swapping GPX files in and out of memory from a card but 1000 is max at any given time) - kind of a pain when travelling. Great maps and a very accurate unit otherwise.

 

Might looki at the Lowrance Endura units and the Garmin Oregon units. Mapping isn't as good but lots else to like.

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I cache in urban areas. Parks are there but all in the city. I looked at the Garmins but really don't want to spend the money. I am not out caching much as allergy season dictates when I can do it. For this reason, budget is the number 1 consideration. With that in mind I still want an upgrade from geoniche. I mainly want it to be easier to load and have more details than the geoniche screen.

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I cache in urban areas. Parks are there but all in the city. I looked at the Garmins but really don't want to spend the money. I am not out caching much as allergy season dictates when I can do it. For this reason, budget is the number 1 consideration. With that in mind I still want an upgrade from geoniche. I mainly want it to be easier to load and have more details than the geoniche screen.

You can get a Garmin Colorado 400i new for about $200.00 online and load images for free with software such as mapc2mapc as Garmin Custom Maps. There are plenty of custom made vector and raster maps available such as those from GPSFileDepot and others. Edited by coggins
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I've been disappointed by the aerial images I've seen. They look great if your zoom level is around .3 miles but zoomed in much more - all you get is blurry pixels.

 

I really wanted to like the PN30 when I first got mine but I just can't recommend it to anybody. It eats batteries, uses a propritary cable, is poor at routing over distances, requires software to load Geocaches, Only hold 1000 caches at a time (more can be loaded by swapping GPX files in and out of memory from a card but 1000 is max at any given time) - kind of a pain when travelling. Great maps and a very accurate unit otherwise.

 

Might looki at the Lowrance Endura units and the Garmin Oregon units. Mapping isn't as good but lots else to like.

It depends on your data source. The USGS orthoimagery (the best available for DeLorme units as of a year ago) is pretty low resolution - 1 meter/pixel I think.

 

Most states have significantly better aerial imagery. New York State is 2 feet/pixel at worst, 1 foot/pixel in most cases, and 6 inches/pixel in some areas. The orthoimagery is available for free from the New York GIS website, and can be loaded into Garmin Oregons/Dakotas using gdalwarp + mapc2mapc.

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would you know where I can get 6 inch/pixel or better, imagery for California?

Google 'California GIS'. I see lots of datasets available; however, from the 'names' I do not think any of the imagery is 6 inch resolution, but I do not have the time to check it all out.

Also contact them and ask what the best resolution they have available.

Remenber the post same 'MOST' States, not all.

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I cache in urban areas. Parks are there but all in the city. I looked at the Garmins but really don't want to spend the money. I am not out caching much as allergy season dictates when I can do it. For this reason, budget is the number 1 consideration. With that in mind I still want an upgrade from geoniche. I mainly want it to be easier to load and have more details than the geoniche screen.

 

If not in a hurry, you may want to wait and see what DeLorme may have for it's PN-60 release! I know I'm waiting patiently!

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...Only hold 1000 caches at a time (more can be loaded by swapping GPX files in and out of memory from a card but 1000 is max at any given time) - .....

Old stuff, no longer a limitation.

With the latest firmware, 2.7, I can have thousands of waypoints and geocaches loaded on my SD card in a number of GPX files without swapping.

.... uses a propritary cable......

This is true, it does use a proprietary cable.

Which doesn't seem to be much of a disadvantage to the multitudes that use iPads, iPods, iPhones and iEverything.

Does anyone have a cellphone whose cable is standard USB on both ends?

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......

Does anyone have a cellphone whose cable is standard USB on both ends?

Yup.

 

I still maintain the limit on the PN's is 1000 loaded in memory and showing at any given time.

 

My most heartfelt apologies, I was hallucinating - I never held my PN-40 in my hands and really done it myself.

Watch me on the Dr. Phil show on Monday for the start of my therapy. :P

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How useful are aerial photos? I am contemplating upgrading from Geoniche on my palm to a new unit. It needs to be inexpensive and have paperless. I like the explorist GC due to price but the Delorme PN-30 was mentioned in another thread and looks intriguing.

 

How much do you all use the aerial photos? Are they worth the extra money?

Now that you've had the hearsay,

look here for the screenshots of the aerial photo imagery:

http://www.amazon.com/Delorme-AE-7985-201-...8014&sr=8-1

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......

Does anyone have a cellphone whose cable is standard USB on both ends?

Yup.

 

I still maintain the limit on the PN's is 1000 loaded in memory and showing at any given time.

 

My most heartfelt apologies, I was hallucinating - I never held my PN-40 in my hands and really done it myself.

Watch me on the Dr. Phil show on Monday for the start of my therapy. :P

Actually, I just counted: 1634 geocaches and non-geocach waypoints contained in 10 GPX files on my SD card.

Anything else? Legal deposition from my CPA, tax accountant with signature witnessed by a Notary Public?

 

Oh yeah, anyone want to try it for themselves, FW 2.7?

http://forum.delorme.com/viewtopic.php?f=178&t=21288

Edited by Team CowboyPapa
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Yes you may have that many in 10gpx files but only a 1000 or viewable at a time just like he stated.And as far as the proprietary cable thing.Most smart phones and digital cameras etc now use the usb to mini usb cable which is the standard cable for 1000's of consumer electronics.I dont even think I have opened any of my Garmin cables for this reason.

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And what, prithee, has this to do with the original inquiry of how useful aerial imagery is on a GPS in general or for geocaching specifically?

 

Look: Garmin beats DeLorme by every measure that StarBrand listed. DeLorme beats Garmin on unit price. Now can we get back to the usefulness of aerial imagery?

 

I had a DeLorme subscription but did NOT find it useful -- because every where I went I had equal or better maps and imagery available on my iPhone.

 

I am very curious about Garmin's Birdseye offerings but from what I've read and the few screenshots folks have posted it looks like it would be on par with DeLorme's offerings. But that's only from some pretty sparse reporting. Has ANYONE had a chance to do a real hands-on, side-by-side comparison of the D and G offerings?

Edited by lee_rimar
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I dunno, I like my aerial imagery....some don't! To each their own! You could always give it a try and return it if not to your liking, DeLorme has a full refund 30 day policy! Not sure how that works on a map subscription, and not sure if they still insert a trial subscription or not!

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Yes you may have that many in 10gpx files but only a 1000 or viewable at a time just like he stated.And as far as the proprietary cable thing.Most smart phones and digital cameras etc now use the usb to mini usb cable which is the standard cable for 1000's of consumer electronics.I dont even think I have opened any of my Garmin cables for this reason.

Another wannabe lawyer in the mix. No, he did not say "showing" the first time.

He said "swapping" the first time, which is totally not true; I do not swap files in and out of the SD card, which is memory, to host more than a thousand.

Regarding the 1,000 limit to one screen at a time: yes, it takes all of 6 keystrokes to bring up the next file.

And who finds it useful to have thousands visible on the screen at a time?

When you go caching, do you really have more than 1,000 showing and focus in on one?

 

Nitpicking, anybody?

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Yes you may have that many in 10gpx files but only a 1000 or viewable at a time just like he stated.And as far as the proprietary cable thing.Most smart phones and digital cameras etc now use the usb to mini usb cable which is the standard cable for 1000's of consumer electronics.I dont even think I have opened any of my Garmin cables for this reason.

Another wannabe lawyer in the mix. No, he did not say "showing" the first time.

He said "swapping" the first time, which is totally not true; I do not swap files in and out of the SD card, which is memory, to host more than a thousand.

Regarding the 1,000 limit to one screen at a time: yes, it takes all of 6 keystrokes to bring up the next file.

And who finds it useful to have thousands visible on the screen at a time?

When you go caching, do you really have more than 1,000 showing and focus in on one?

How about a screenshot with 1,001?

 

Nitpicking, anybody?

Edited by Team CowboyPapa
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Birdseye screenshots? To compare with those of the PN-40 on Amazon?
A few Birdseye screen shots have been posted in the forums already. They're not impressive compared to Google Earth -- but about even with what I've seen from DeLorme - no clear advantage so far. As for the promo screen shots on Amazon or the vendor's own websites - for both D and G - those are usually hand picked to show off best advantage.

 

There's a representative example of Birdseye against Google Earth comparison in this thread: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...t&p=4347445. By "representative," I mean the marketing wonks didn't pick the spot to show off -- I picked it so I could count things like roof features and parking lot lines. How does N45.520913, W122.6726447 look from DeLorme's subscription? It's a parking lot in downtown Portland Oregon -- one of the "high res" cities DeLorme offers.

 

In reviewing that thread, I did notice one distinct Garmin advantage: Considerbale imagery outside of North America. Might not matter to a cowboy but it might to a stockman :P

Edited by lee_rimar
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