making a map with my GPS 12 while MTN biking?

[+Cleenjeep & Danger Girl]

I would like to make my own map of my favorite mountain biking trail, especially since the park maps are so wrong that people get lost all the time. What is good software to use for this? I do not own any software currently, but I have the cable. If it could overlay the track onto a topo map, that would be sweet. Then I could print it out, and provide them at the trailhead, with the other maps.

GPS: Garmin GPS12

thanks in advance,

Michael

[OFF RODE]

National Geographic TOPO! will do it. But its about 100$ per state.TOPO! Web Page

 

"You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there." Yogi Berra

JeepNAz@aol.com

[JDMC]

You could use USAPhotoMaps. It now can upload tracks to a Garmin. And you could get the contour data and over-lay it. And you can add text for any purpose.

[JDMC]

And USAPhotoMaps is free. And you can save the screen to a .jpg file, and print that with any image managing program.

[peter]

Some other options are GarTrip which will let you overlay tracks on any map imapge you have on your PC (i.e. scanned in or already in jpg, bmp, or similar form). Download at www.gartrip.de - there's a demo version which may be sufficient but otherwise registration is pretty reasonable. OziExplorer also supports this capability.

 

ExpertGPS downloads USGS topo maps from the web and lets you plot tracks as an overlay - it's about $70.

[+PDOP's]

Have a look at GPS Trackmaker at http://www.gpstm.com

 

It will do what you want and it's free

[Buckaroo Banzai]

I've had good results with DeLorme's Topo 2 and 3. For ~$100 you can have Topo maps of the whole US. The detail is not great but it works.

 

I also found that I wanted Topo information while riding, so I use Gramin's Mapsource TOPO (~$100)for "heads up display" of the trail. Keeps you from riding into that swamp at trail's end

 

I have been looking at MapTech Terrain Navigator to provide better detail for hard copy, the cost is ~$130 per area of corverage and cannot be downloaded into your GPS.

 

If cost is not a problem I would recommend that you go for MapTech Terrain Navigator and then Garmin for downloading into the GPS12.

 

If cost is a concern and you only one to buy one package then National Geographic TOPO, DeLorme, or Garmin should do the trick.

 

There are also other very good options in the other posts. These do not provide turnkey solutions, but most act more like middleware, providing the interface between your GPS, Computer, and the source of map data your using (user selectable).

 

[Moun10Bike]

I have done exactly what you are looking to do -- make mountain biking maps -- using OziExplorer and USGS DRGs. After laying the track over the map, I then usually open up the image in Photoshop for effects editing. Here's an example from a bike ride, and here's a similar map from a snowmobile ride.

 

[Max Wedge]

Would this apply to Lowrance units also?

 

_ __ ____________________________________________________________ __ _

On my first day of school, my parents dropped me off at the wrong nursery -- there I was, surrounded by trees and shrubs.....

[Moun10Bike]

quote:

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Originally posted by Max Wedge:

 

Would this apply to Lowrance units also?

 

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It should. I believe that most if not all of the software discussed above supports Lowrance. I know for sure that OziExplorer does.