Maps for Garmin Venture HC

[+whobdah]

I've been hunting around for maps for my garmin venture. I don't really understand how to use/install them. I know some are free and some are not. Can someone point me in the right direcion? I did some searching, but the subject is broad and I'm having trouble narrowing it down.

[+60CGarsee]

I've been hunting around for maps for my garmin venture. I don't really understand how to use/install them. I know some are free and some are not. Can someone point me in the right direcion? I did some searching, but the subject is broad and I'm having trouble narrowing it down.

GPSFileDepot has free maps for about everywhere in US. You can find instructions for loading maps just look through the pages carefully to find what you want.

[seldom_sn]

GPSFileDepot has free maps for about everywhere in US. You can find instructions for loading maps just look through the pages carefully to find what you want.

 

With a Venture HC, you'll probably need to be careful about file size. You only have 24MB of map storage available. You'll probably want to limit your map loads to county size.

[+GrnXnham]

We have the Venture HC. We found most of the maps files at file depot to be too large for the 24mb of memory of this unit.

 

We found an old copy of Garmin Roads & Recreation maps on eBay for cheap. The map size is much smaller and we were able to get our entire state's road maps on the unit. They aren't routable and they're older maps but still MUCH better than the basemap on the unit.

[seldom_sn]

We have the Venture HC. We found most of the maps files at file depot to be too large for the 24mb of memory of this unit.

 

We found an old copy of Garmin Roads & Recreation maps on eBay for cheap. The map size is much smaller and we were able to get our entire state's road maps on the unit. They aren't routable and they're older maps but still MUCH better than the basemap on the unit.

 

The planimetric maps at GPSfiledepot aren't routable, but they're probably more current and as good as any non-routable road maps you could buy.

[+GrnXnham]

We have the Venture HC. We found most of the maps files at file depot to be too large for the 24mb of memory of this unit.

 

We found an old copy of Garmin Roads & Recreation maps on eBay for cheap. The map size is much smaller and we were able to get our entire state's road maps on the unit. They aren't routable and they're older maps but still MUCH better than the basemap on the unit.

 

The planimetric maps at GPSfiledepot aren't routable, but they're probably more current and as good as any non-routable road maps you could buy.

 

The problem once again is lack of memory.

 

I just checked out the planimetric maps and they are more up to date but they also, for some reason, take up about 4 times the memory of a comparable number of map tiles of Roads & Recreation.

 

Unfortunately, we are severely limited with the Venture HC with 24MB of map space.

[seldom_sn]

We have the Venture HC. We found most of the maps files at file depot to be too large for the 24mb of memory of this unit.

 

We found an old copy of Garmin Roads & Recreation maps on eBay for cheap. The map size is much smaller and we were able to get our entire state's road maps on the unit. They aren't routable and they're older maps but still MUCH better than the basemap on the unit.

 

The planimetric maps at GPSfiledepot aren't routable, but they're probably more current and as good as any non-routable road maps you could buy.

 

The problem once again is lack of memory.

 

I just checked out the planimetric maps and they are more up to date but they also, for some reason, take up about 4 times the memory of a comparable number of map tiles of Roads & Recreation.

 

Unfortunately, we are severely limited with the Venture HC with 24MB of map space.

 

There are two possible causes for the size difference: different compilers or, different level of detail. Hopefully the individual tile size would be small enough to permit a useful download.

[+whobdah]

Where does that leave me? I can choose different tiles, less detail, might fit into my limited mb? I am still lost.

[+GrnXnham]

We have the Venture HC. We found most of the maps files at file depot to be too large for the 24mb of memory of this unit.

 

We found an old copy of Garmin Roads & Recreation maps on eBay for cheap. The map size is much smaller and we were able to get our entire state's road maps on the unit. They aren't routable and they're older maps but still MUCH better than the basemap on the unit.

 

The planimetric maps at GPSfiledepot aren't routable, but they're probably more current and as good as any non-routable road maps you could buy.

 

The problem once again is lack of memory.

 

I just checked out the planimetric maps and they are more up to date but they also, for some reason, take up about 4 times the memory of a comparable number of map tiles of Roads & Recreation.

 

Unfortunately, we are severely limited with the Venture HC with 24MB of map space.

 

There are two possible causes for the size difference: different compilers or, different level of detail. Hopefully the individual tile size would be small enough to permit a useful download.

 

Well now that I've compared the two, the planimetric maps have a LOT more info associated with them. For example, when I place the cursor on a street, the planimetric maps tells you what the house number range is for that city block. Roads & Recreation does not do this. This is quite a bit of info to store and would probably account for the huge difference in size.

 

Despite the tiny number of maps that I can load onto the Venture, I like the planimetric maps better overall. We will use the planimetric maps and simply reload different areas onto the GPS as we travel around.

[+GrnXnham]

Where does that leave me? I can choose different tiles, less detail, might fit into my limited mb? I am still lost.

 

Not sure why you are still lost. People here have given you a couple of different options with the Venture.

 

With only 24MB of maps, you are going to have to make some compromises. We have, and we are still satisfied with our "cheap" GPSr.

[+whobdah]

I think I'm asking the wrong question. How do the maps help my Venture? What does it help me see? Topography? Trails? When you talk about selecting maps, I rarely leave Ohio, Do you think an Ohio map would fit on a Venture? Half Ohio?

[snowfleurys]

I think I'm asking the wrong question.

You will likely benifite by going to a store which sells GPSr units and asking questions as you see things demonstrated and in use.

 

How do the maps help my Venture?

Not sure what you are really tyring to ask; however, it does give the electrons in the unit a lot more to do.

 

What does it help me see?

What does a printed topo or otherwise) map help you see?

 

Topography?

If the map has contour lines and you are skilled in 'reading' them.

Trails?

Not much trail data is publically availabe to use in creating mapsets. There are a few sites which collect trail info from users and make them available as an overlay map. These will display with the built-in base map, and/or any other mapset on the GPSr.

 

Do you think an Ohio map would fit on a Venture? Half Ohio?

A 24k scale topo map of Ohio would be at least 120Mb. A more generalized mapset would be smaller. A very general one without contour lines may be close to 20 or 30Mb - if such a map exists, I do not know.

Be aware that most mapsets are composed of many individual quadrangle/segment files which may range in size from under 100K to 5 or 6 Mb each. One of more of these can be sent to the GPSr, so all 4 adjacent quads will likely be under 20-24Mb if your area of interest is partially in each of the quads.

Edited December 28, 2011 by snowfleurys

[geep999]

The whole of Ohio is about 136 Mbytes from here: http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/

Select "North America" > "Ohio" and you can see that Ohio is divided into 15 rectangles.

So one might guess that your 24 Mbytes might hold 2 or 3 of these rectangles.

Maybe try selecting and downloading a coupe of rectangles and see how you get on.

 

The website provides a zipped copy of the file gmapsupp.img.

On my Vista HCx I just copy this file into folder Garmin on the SD card.

I suppose that on a Venture HC you copy it to somewhere in the internal 24 Mbyte memory.

Guess you need to take care to backup any existing gmapsupp.img.

 

If you look at Ohio on OpenStreeMap http://www.openstreetmap.org/ then you'get an idea of

the level of detail you'll get in the file gmapsupp.img.

 

Cheers,

Peter

[+coggins]

The 24 Mb Etrexs don't appear as drives, so you can't simply 'copy' map tiles into them, or indeed any .img file.

 

You need to use something like Mapsource or Basecamp to send the file to the Etrex.

That unit doesn't autoroute either, so the routeable OMS maps might be overkill for that unit

[+whobdah]

I really appreciate the help with all the input. I've looked over the maps. I like to use my gps units to their fullest potential, but in this case, I may skip it. I don't get to go geocaching as much as I want. When I do get to go, I try and do easy ones, not much hiking, I don't really have the time. I want to be a super cacher one day. I want to be able to scale tall buildings and rock climb to the highest peaks by doing flips, writing in logs all the way, but let me tell you, that ain't going to happen.

Anyway, my units do a great job for what I need, so I'm just going to enjoy caching this way for awhile. If someday I do become a "super-cacher", I'll let you guys know.

[+PouserKeith]

Whobdah -

 

I too have a Garmin Etrex Venture HC and the darn "only 24 mb internal" non-expandable memory is ONE heck of a limiting factor for the unit. I ended up getting a new Oregon 450 last month for the additional memory capabilities and larger screen, but all told, the Venture HC has a brighter screen and I would have NOT bought the Oregon 450 had the Venture HC was more expandable. (Guess the new Etrex 20 & 30 would have fit the bill better than the Venture HC)

 

ANYWAY - I looked at the Ohio maps in my 2012 MapSource and if I was looking at it correctly, the two (2) parts that Ohio State is broken into are each too large to load into the Venture HC as they look to both be over 31.x MB for each half of the State.....

 

I wonder if someone has ever made an small adapter for us users of the Venture HC like a micro flashdrive so we could get more memory....

 

Good Luck....

 

Keith in Renton, WA

[+GrnXnham]

Whobdah -

 

I too have a Garmin Etrex Venture HC and the darn "only 24 mb internal" non-expandable memory is ONE heck of a limiting factor for the unit. I ended up getting a new Oregon 450 last month for the additional memory capabilities and larger screen, but all told, the Venture HC has a brighter screen and I would have NOT bought the Oregon 450 had the Venture HC was more expandable.

 

+1

 

I hate the 24mb of memory on the Venture but I have 6 GPSr's and the Venture has the brightest screen of any of them. I REALLY like the bright screen. I guess you just have to take the good with the bad.

[+gpsblake]

 

I hate the 24mb of memory on the Venture but I have 6 GPSr's and the Venture has the brightest screen of any of them. I REALLY like the bright screen. I guess you just have to take the good with the bad.

 

With City Nav 2011, the sections of the map are just too large for the Venture HC

 

With Mapsource, I can get in the entire state of South Carolina in 24mb....

 

With gpsfiledepot.com, I can get about 2/3rds of South Carolina with US Planimetic

 

With gpsfiledeport.com, I can get about 1/3rd of South Carolina with their free Topo Map.

 

It doesn't sound like a lot, but I spent 95 percent of my driving within just a few counties, so if you do most of your usage locally, it's not horrible, and it's easy enough just to load sections you need. But of course, if you do a lot of cross country or live in a huge metro area... then yea, 24mb is not much at all..... The Venture doesn't auto-route so the fact that gpsfiledepot's maps don't auto-route is a non-factor.

 

And yea, the brightness of the Venture HC can't be beat.

Edited January 1, 2012 by gpsblake