National Geographic topo maps

[acrsmedic316]

Can someone with experience tell me do the National Geographic topo maps, have road names on them. I know they will show the roads but would love good maps on my Explorist 500 with road names for caching.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

I do not believe that ANY National Geographic maps are loadable to a GPSr unit.

 

They have wall maps, travel and hiking maps, atlas maps, globes and educational maps... but nothing supported by GPSr units.

[+Mineral2]

I do not believe that ANY National Geographic maps are loadable to a GPSr unit.

 

They have wall maps, travel and hiking maps, atlas maps, globes and educational maps... but nothing supported by GPSr units.

 

Not entirely true. They used to have a digital Trails Illustrated series that I believe were compatible with GPSr units. Those were discontinued a few years ago, so they don't show up on the current list of products.

[+Team CowboyPapa]

I do not believe that ANY National Geographic maps are loadable to a GPSr unit.

....

Actually, I have done exactly that.

 

Any paper map, after scanning to a JPG file, can be processed with the DeLorme XMap software product and subsequently loaded onto a DeLorme handheld GPSr such as a PN-60w.

 

http://delorme.com/xmap/

 

http://www.amazon.com/DeLorme-AE-008372-201-Earthmate-PN-60w-America/dp/B005M0IKRI/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1377354739&sr=1-2&keywords=delorme+pn-60

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

I do not believe that ANY National Geographic maps are loadable to a GPSr unit.

....

Actually, I have done exactly that.

 

Any paper map, after scanning to a JPG file, can be processed with the DeLorme XMap software product and subsequently loaded onto a DeLorme handheld GPSr such as a PN-60w.

 

http://delorme.com/xmap/

 

http://www.amazon.com/DeLorme-AE-008372-201-Earthmate-PN-60w-America/dp/B005M0IKRI/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1377354739&sr=1-2&keywords=delorme+pn-60

Amazing... I had a look and those links and may very well utilize such. Well maybe not me exactly, but the geek son may do it for me.

THX!

[+Team CowboyPapa]

In practice, not all that difficult. Put the XMap app in split screen mode with the JPG image on one side and a corresponding area on a DeLorme Topo map on the other side. Select with a click the same feature on both sides and then repeat the pair of clicks for a second feature. It then scales the scanned image to be identical with the Topo and in the same format for importing to a DeLorme handheld GPSr.

 

IIRC, I did start with a screenshot, or print screen, instead of a scanned image of a printed map. I think it was from a Geocache description such as this:

http://msrmaps.com/image.aspx?Lon=-118.01822&Lat=33.69247&w=1&ref=G|-118.01822,33.69247

[+user13371]

Going back to the OPs's original request, I don't think there's a way to load NG Topos onto an Explorist 500, nor will other maps available for that device give the kind of detail he (she?) is after.

 

Here's another way to do it though, using a smartphone or tablet instead of a dedicated GPS:

 

 

Even without a subscription, Gaia allows downloading and offline caching of a lot of different high quality maps and imagery (including Google's). You don't need to scan a paper map, find screen shots, or click opoints to align them; just select the map type and region you want, and download it.

Edited August 25, 2013 by user13371

[+JohnnyVegas]

Can someone with experience tell me do the National Geographic topo maps, have road names on them. I know they will show the roads but would love good maps on my Explorist 500 with road names for caching.

The NG map loadable to the Magellan Triton GPS units, but the Magellan Tritons never worked properly.