Maps for Delorme GPS

[Sourdough_Al]

Today my good old Garmin Extrex Venture HC fell to its death from the top of my car. I am shopping for a new and better GPS. I really like what I see when I look at Delorme. It looks like they are far ahead of Garmin in technology and feature set. They are way ahead of Garmin when it comes to price/performance. The Delorme maps for the USA are very good (I have used Topo USA before. The problem is that I travel with the GPS in Asia a lot. I have been relying on some very good free GPS maps for that area. All the maps I find work in a Garmin, but I see nothing for Delorme. I see very little for Delorme anywhere unless it comes from Delome. Am I missing something? Is Delorme essentially 'locked' when it comes to maps? That would be a real show stopper for me as Delorme would be out of the question for a new GPS.

[+embra]

The show stops here...DeLorme is the effective gateway for bringing in maps that will work on the PN devices.

 

The closest one would come to "free" maps is a purchase of DeLorme's XMap Pro product (available for half-price of $99 to PN owners). That program allows the compilation of scanned images or images garnered from other sources into the format that the PN's require. The compiler opens up the way for creation of a potentially large number of maps that could be used, but they are limited to PN's that are registered to the generating XMap program. Wide-scale distribution of maps as we see at gpsfiledepot.com is not currently possible with DeLorme GPS's.

 

DeLorme's offering of international maps is pretty limited at present. They have announced that they plan to make their prohibitively-priced worldwide vector map data available in more affordable regional packages...but it's not going to be free.

[+RRLover]

Perhaps you aren't aware, perhaps you are; DeLorme's PN-XX devices

ship w/Topo NA 9. This software contains mapping data available to

the user that pretty much all the competition sells over and above

their handheld offering's base maps. So DeLorme sorta supplies you

w/the free maps, and the software to manipulate data on your

Windows computer. They have limited offerings presently for those

who insist on native Mac use, and remain mum about any future

offerings beyond CacheRegister 2(or is that II). BootCamp is an

kluge that DeLorme quietly recommends, though a few have had

varying levels success using the different Windows emulators,

Delorme stops short of recommending their use.

If one doesn't need the features of Topo as a whole product

Mac users do have the ability to load pre-cut vector maps to the

device natively via Mac. I've not pursued knowledge regarding

the various flavors of Linux.

 

Norm

Edited September 9, 2010 by RRLover

[+dakboy]

Mac users do have the ability to load pre-cut vector maps to the

device natively via Mac. I've not pursued knowledge regarding

the various flavors of Linux.

Should be the same. Mount the DVD, connect the device in "copy to internal/SD" mode (or pop the SD card into a reader), copy the files.

[Sourdough_Al]

The show stops here...DeLorme is the effective gateway for bringing in maps that will work on the PN devices.

 

The closest one would come to "free" maps is a purchase of DeLorme's XMap Pro product (available for half-price of $99 to PN owners). That program allows the compilation of scanned images or images garnered from other sources into the format that the PN's require. The compiler opens up the way for creation of a potentially large number of maps that could be used, but they are limited to PN's that are registered to the generating XMap program. Wide-scale distribution of maps as we see at gpsfiledepot.com is not currently possible with DeLorme GPS's.

 

DeLorme's offering of international maps is pretty limited at present. They have announced that they plan to make their prohibitively-priced worldwide vector map data available in more affordable regional packages...but it's not going to be free.

 

Thanks for the great info. It looks like Delorme isn't going to be getting any of my money in spite of their superior product. I spend a lot of time out of the country and use the gps extensively while there. There are some great maps for SE Asia and many of them are even free.

[+embra]

Yeah, it's always been the case that one has to take a look at the maps available and go from there. DeLorme has always been pretty USA-centric, which have left other vendors more desirable for those with international needs. Anyway, good luck in your search.