Atlantic Canada - good maps (I have a mac)?

[Gold-Bug]

I'm looking at getting started. There are lots of discussion topics about different GPS's you can get for paperless. I'm looking for a good map to add to whatever gps I get where I can download it and leave the card for pq's. My problems are that I have a mac and the garmin topo's are pc dvd's and I live in Nova Scotia, Canada and there don't seem to be any free maps for this area of Canada. Alternately are there any good gps's that don't cost the earth with a large internal memory for pq's, so I can use the MicroSD slot for the 'Backroad GPS Map of Nova Scotia' preloaded on microSD.? Also what apps work well on the mac for getting the pq's to the gps?

[+mpilchfamily]

Don't buy maps. you can find planety of free maps on the web. Check out GPSFileDepot. You may have to do some digging but there should be a map of your area in there. Be sure to try the one marked as Editors choice.

 

As for the GPS. Most that have an SD card slot only use it for maps and can only hold a pre set number of geocaches. For the most part the average unit can hold about 2000 caches. Plus many units have a pre defined amount of memory in them set aside for maps. So unless you need maps to cover a rather large area, i.e. 50+ mile circle around your home, then you may not need to put anything on an SD card. I suggest looking at a Garmin unit. They have the better selection of free maps on the web and GPSFileDepot caters to Garmin units. As do many other map sites. The eTrex 20 may suit your needs without breaking the bank.

 

Keep in mind if you want to take advantage of paperless caching you will need to get a premium membership in order to dowload PQs and have the paperless data. For the most part you don't need an app to get PQs loaded. Most GPSr act as an external drive once you plug them into you PC/MAC. Then its just a matter of dragging and dropping the PQ into the correct folder.

[Gold-Bug]

Don't buy maps. you can find planety of free maps on the web. Check out GPSFileDepot. You may have to do some digging but there should be a map of your area in there. Be sure to try the one marked as Editors choice.

 

As for the GPS. Most that have an SD card slot only use it for maps and can only hold a pre set number of geocaches. For the most part the average unit can hold about 2000 caches. Plus many units have a pre defined amount of memory in them set aside for maps. So unless you need maps to cover a rather large area, i.e. 50+ mile circle around your home, then you may not need to put anything on an SD card. I suggest looking at a Garmin unit. They have the better selection of free maps on the web and GPSFileDepot caters to Garmin units. As do many other map sites. The eTrex 20 may suit your needs without breaking the bank.

 

Keep in mind if you want to take advantage of paperless caching you will need to get a premium membership in order to dowload PQs and have the paperless data. For the most part you don't need an app to get PQs loaded. Most GPSr act as an external drive once you plug them into you PC/MAC. Then its just a matter of dragging and dropping the PQ into the correct folder.

 

I have looked at GPSFileDepot and they don't have anything for my part of the world. All they have are the 'World Shaded Relief' and the 'World Topo'

[+mpilchfamily]

Don't buy maps. you can find planety of free maps on the web. Check out GPSFileDepot. You may have to do some digging but there should be a map of your area in there. Be sure to try the one marked as Editors choice.

 

As for the GPS. Most that have an SD card slot only use it for maps and can only hold a pre set number of geocaches. For the most part the average unit can hold about 2000 caches. Plus many units have a pre defined amount of memory in them set aside for maps. So unless you need maps to cover a rather large area, i.e. 50+ mile circle around your home, then you may not need to put anything on an SD card. I suggest looking at a Garmin unit. They have the better selection of free maps on the web and GPSFileDepot caters to Garmin units. As do many other map sites. The eTrex 20 may suit your needs without breaking the bank.

 

Keep in mind if you want to take advantage of paperless caching you will need to get a premium membership in order to dowload PQs and have the paperless data. For the most part you don't need an app to get PQs loaded. Most GPSr act as an external drive once you plug them into you PC/MAC. Then its just a matter of dragging and dropping the PQ into the correct folder.

 

I have looked at GPSFileDepot and they don't have anything for my part of the world. All they have are the 'World Shaded Relief' and the 'World Topo'

Have you downloaded them and looked at them on Basecamp? I'm sure there will be a tile or 2 covering your area.

[+T.D.M.22]

 

I have looked at GPSFileDepot and they don't have anything for my part of the world. All they have are the 'World Shaded Relief' and the 'World Topo'

HAve you tried looking by country-Canada? there are like 5 results. try the third one by clicking HERE

[+chuck4564]

 

I have looked at GPSFileDepot and they don't have anything for my part of the world. All they have are the 'World Shaded Relief' and the 'World Topo'

HAve you tried looking by country-Canada? there are like 5 results. try the third one by clicking HERE

The Ibycus Topo 4.0 is a nice set of free maps. When I look at the map in MapSource there is a fair amount of road detail, and many lakes in Nova Scotia. I don't have any local knowledge to know whether it has minimal or good coverage of backroads as the OP desired.

 

The Ibycus Topo 4.0 is a huge download at 4GB that presents some challenges. It can be difficult to chase down a download location.

Download Ibycus Topo 4.0

[+NYPaddleCacher]

There are also free *routable* maps available from Open Street Maps at http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/ The coverage for Nova Scotia appears to be pretty good. I've used the OSM maps numerous times and they're generally quite good. The package of files that is downloaded includes a file that can be copied directly to a SD card. Perhaps the best thing about the OpenStreetMaps is that, with the demise of Google maps from the geocaching mapping page, the use of OSM maps is going to become more common and the geocaching community is starting to become more engaged in adding data to the maps themselves.