Tell me about birdseye

[gitarmac]

Is it like rhapsody? Do people generally like it? How does it know I have the subscription? Can you overlay other maps on top of the images?

[+mpilchfamily]

Birdseye is a sat image that overlays over your map much like the hybrid map on the site. Garmin's site keeps track of the subscription. You get some birds eye imagery when you buy a Garmin Device that supports it. But your only allowed a limited area. If you pay for a year subscription then you get as much imagery as you want from anywhere. When your subscription runs out you just can't get updated images. But what you have you keep.

[+Team CowboyPapa]

Is it like rhapsody? Do people generally like it? How does it know I have the subscription? Can you overlay other maps on top of the images?

I like Rhapsody:

http://www.rhapsody.com/

but I don't rent the songs, I buy them at 99¢ each.

[+ecanderson]

How does it know I have the subscription?

Because you paid for it. Really. But "it" is the server back at Garmin. Your subscription allows you to download the images from their server providing the device you registered is connected when you run BaseCamp to get the images. If your subscription expires, BaseCamp won't receive any new images, so you won't get any new ones for your unit. Whatever you already have when the subscription expires is yours to use. Just no updates available.

[+dfx]

And this is what it can look like:

 

[gitarmac]

That would be so cool! I could have my hunt club stuff, and down town images for geocaching! Is there a way to save sets of images on your computer? So you can swap the images around if you are not online? I used to do this on my venture, cause it doesn't hold as much. I would load parts of the seus map on it depending on where I was when on vacation.

 

I will probably try it, I've spend 30 bucks and gotten less.

[gitarmac]

Can you switch them on and off, like the other maps that are loaded? Or do they simply replace the garmin background?

 

Will it overaly my topo maps so I have to choose beteen a map with names and stuff on it and a sat image? I only see screen shots of the garmin screen with the image, I never see it with a map as well.

 

Does it write the birdseye maps to the sd card or the unit? Because if it's the SD card then I think I need to reload the seusa map that is already on there each time I want a new map cause it overwrites it all. Is that correct?

 

Sorry for all the questions. I don't have my oregon yet, some of this will probably be obvious when I start fiddling with it. It sure as heck isn't obvious from the pdf documentation.

Edited September 3, 2011 by gitarmac

[+ecanderson]

Is there a way to save sets of images on your computer? So you can swap the images around if you are not online?

Yes, that's where they're stored - you'll be using BaseCamp (not MapSource) to do it.

 

Can you switch them on and off, like the other maps that are loaded?

Yes.

 

Will it overaly my topo maps so I have to choose beteen a map with names and stuff on it and a sat image? I only see screen shots of the garmin screen with the image, I never see it with a map as well.

That's because things can get too cluttered if you have everything on at once.

 

Does it write the birdseye maps to the sd card or the unit? Because if it's the SD card then I think I need to reload the seusa map that is already on there each time I want a new map cause it overwrites it all. Is that correct?

They will have different names on your card - you can keep maps with any name you like on your unit to begin with, but Birdseye images are stored in a different folder on your SD card anyway. If you tell it to write to the Oregon on-the-fly, BaseCamp always writes stuff only to internal memory - a PITA - so I write everything to the computer without writing to my uSD card, then tell BaseCamp to put them on the uSD card as a 2nd step. It's faster than copying everything from internal back to the uSD on the Oregon. You'll see when you get there.

[+elkein]

Can you switch them on and off, like the other maps that are loaded? Or do they simply replace the garmin background?

 

Will it overaly my topo maps so I have to choose beteen a map with names and stuff on it and a sat image? I only see screen shots of the garmin screen with the image, I never see it with a map as well.

 

Does it write the birdseye maps to the sd card or the unit? Because if it's the SD card then I think I need to reload the seusa map that is already on there each time I want a new map cause it overwrites it all. Is that correct?

 

Sorry for all the questions. I don't have my oregon yet, some of this will probably be obvious when I start fiddling with it. It sure as heck isn't obvious from the pdf documentation.

 

Here's a topo 100k map on top of birdeye, wilderness area.

That's pretty dang usable in my opinion, but thehn I upgraded from a twelve year old non mapping unit.

[gitarmac]

I got my gps in 2 days! I've been messing with it non stop, it's getting easier and easier. I subscribed to birdseye. Not sure what I'm doing though.

 

High images wasn't that great so I am trying highest. I am somewhat confused as to the limit I can have. There is a download limit for each file but I guess I can do this up to 200 times?!? It would seem like you don't get as many files if your files are highest definitioin. What determines the limit? If you keep some unactivated will that keep the gps from having problems? I hear too many files makes it lock up.

 

I am going to save pieces of map that I might need someday somewhere on my computer. That way I can easily update my gps if needed. Hopefully easy.

[+dfx]

You can get as many files as you want, for as long as your subscription is active. Each single download is limited to a certain size though. To get larger areas, you have to download them as separate tiles. Personally I've found that "high" gives sufficient detail, assuming the source material is detailed enough of course.

[+BStheTech]

Related thread. If you try SEARCH you`ll find a few other good ones.

 

Birdseye

Edited September 4, 2011 by BStheTech

[gitarmac]

Wierd, I downloaded a couple of sections, the maximum size for the best defninition, and in some places this is 7000 images and only takes several minutes to download, and others have over 15000 images and is taking hours.

 

I've been selecting the best resolution, then making the square as big as I can. You would think they would be similar sized files.