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Mapsource - which to choose?


rhdy

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R&R map data is fairly old, refecting road layouts from approximately 10 to 15 years ago. It's derived from public domain Tiger map data, which is also prone to being fairly innacurate in areas. It does however contain better stream/river data than some of the more modern products, and in a few areas it has better rural data. The maps can be selected in smaller chunks helping in memory management.

 

The latest metroguide V5 is derived from the Nav Tech database which is quite up to date and accurate. They have also considerably improved their rural coverage over the last couple years. You can auto route with it on your PC, and it has more up to date POI's. The map chuncks are somewhat bigger however, and they eat up more memory.

 

If you go to garmins webpage, the have a map viewer utility that will let you preview the maps from the different products.

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rhdy,

Points of Interest, POI, does not contains any maps only points of interests such as businesses, marine buoys, boat ramps, etc.

 

Since Garmin GPS receivers can display layers of points over a single map concurrently, the POI CD is a great supplement to a mapping CD.

 

I agree about Roads and Rec being out-of-date. I recently purchased Fishing Hotspots, FHS, and was pleasantly surprised to find it included something called “Recreational Lakes” that includes detail very similar to R&R, including road names, only much more up dated. You only get one region of fishing hotspots with the purchase of the FHS CD, however, you get the entire US in Recreational Lakes. The really neat thing is that you only load those regions from Recreational Lakes that you want on your computer. You can add and subtract regions simply by re-running the set-up under the Recreational Lakes folder on the CD.

 

Note: Garmin hardly mentions the Recreational Lakes and it’s not in their map view. However, if you send me your e-mail, I can send you a screen shot. Just send the coordinates you want to see.

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The 'best' mapsource CD seems to be a matter of personal preference and needs. YOu're going to get a LOT of different opinions.

 

I noticed those people living in mountainous areas swear by TOPO. People living in large cities or near them seem to like City Select.

 

Me? I'm MetroGuide kind of guy. More emphasis on road detail (especially rural) and less memory hogged up by POI data. Contour lines are of little use in my area -- largely flat.

 

You shold go to Garmin and look at map samples from your area and compare the various mapsets.

 

Jolly R. Blackburn

http://kenzerco.com

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I agree with "Jolly B. Good" I like Mapsource "Metroguide"(only option recomended by Garmin for GPSmap76). As far as topomaps go...I don't like Garmin Topo maps (lacks the detail). I have yet to find any other topo software I can load directly load into our Etrex Vista (nor have I been actively looking either). I use ExpertGPS for topo maps then load them into my iPAQ fo viewing.

 

Bob

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