mapsource

[Guest wapa2ee]

i used my map76 on the road today first time

and i cant believe how inaccurate the basemap was

i drove 40 mi on I74

and gps showed me on the hgwy maybe 4 of those miles

mostly showed me crossing back and forth and at times 100 or more meters away

is this typical of garmin maps

[Guest bwolv]

Yes It is... These maps are condensed, so that a curvy road frequently is displayed as a few shorter straight lines. You will also notice some areas with a shift. (all map points off in one direction a similar distance)

 

Use them for larger scale guidance. Don't try driving blind!

[Guest DaveA]

Mapsource is a generic term that applies to several map packages published by Garmin.

I assume you are referring to the Roads and Recreation CD which is utter crap for accuracy. The problem you described is present in all maps based on the US Tiger maps. The Tiger maps are frequently the maps used by Garmin and Magellan and others because they are free to license. The accurate USGS 7.5 minute maps cost a bundle to license since the taxpayer funding for USGS isn't enough for the Feds.

 

The Tiger maps were compiled for census workers and as a result the emphasis was on "Where is such and such street in relation to the street I am on now?" and not "What is the lat/lon coordinate of the intersection at Main and 5th?".

 

The 7.5 minute USGS maps were compiled to provide accurate geological information.

 

Here is the rub. The Tiger maps are relatively up to date for street listings whereas they lack enough precision(or consistency) to be used for navigation, and the 7.5 minute maps are dead on accurate for navigation, but lack current street information.

 

At the present time, the best map software for both uses is the Garmin Mapsource MetroguideII(recently released) which uses the USGS 7.5 minute maps and has fairly recent (less than 5 years old)street information which they obtained from a 3rd party source. As of this writing Magelllan has no comparable software. Their best to date is the Mapsend Topo, but is suffers due to being based on the Tiger maps.

 

I have heard rumors that Magellan is getting serious about putting out quality map software to accompany the launch of their Etrex killing Meridian line, but that information isn't confirmed. Magellan is being strangely quiet about what they are doing. Even the Meridian press release is fairly lacking in details.

[Guest RealDcoy]

Hmmmm... Maybe it depends alot on the area you are in then also.

 

I agree that the basemap in the Garmin units is sometimes poor, (I run a III+), but thew Roads & Rec CD works great for me. In fact, I was just searchuing out some new areas with a buddy of mine that has a Street Pilot colormap with the metroguide CD. Mine was just as accurate, and actually more so considering road names.

 

We were in a remote area, so maybe if we were in metro-Detroit area things would be different, but....

 

Besides that, what scale did you have the 76 showing? I believe that the basemamp on mine shows I-75 as 1 line. With the MapSource info in it, there are many areas where it shows the divided highway AS a divided highway. Remember, the lanes are only so wide, and the unit only so accurate! 30 feet is more than 2 full lanes!

 

If having your little vehicle show you DIRECTLY on the road, get rid of the 76. Buy yourself one of the street pilots and it will show you on the road, even if you are not. There is an option to show you at the true GPS position, or on the nearest road.

 

I am really surprised at the amount of people recently that think 30ft accuracy is bad!

[Guest Elwood]

also make sure your gps is set to the correct datum, i had the problem with showing me off the road by 100 feet or so and my datum was on nad 83 not wgs84 changed it and was back on the road where i should have been...ooops my mistake, lol

Elwood

[Guest rogerswin]

I recently covered a 2.5 mile switchback trail with my eTrex Vista, with MapSource U.S. TOPO. With a zoomed in view I could actually see my location travel on the switchbacks! I couldn't ask for anything more.

[Guest wapa2ee]

I havent purchased any mapsource product

I was using the basemap that came with the map76

and i really dont plan to use it much for travel navigation i plan to use it for geocaching

but at a 800' level traveling on I74 for a 40 mile stretch the cursor consistantly varied off the highway and at times more than 300'

and i got a gps with memory so i could load topo info for caching

 

but Iam hesitant to purchase topo maps from garmin if this basemap is a reflection of the quality and accuracy and especially at the high cost that they want to charge

[Guest gstrong1]

Been playing with the mapsource R&R & Topo software for about 4 months & have had no real problem.When I download a track from my Garmin III Plus,MAP76 or Vista onto one of the Topo maps, I generally have to zoom in to about the 800 ft. range before I can see the road because the road is covered by the track until that point.I don't need it much better than that for my purpose.Expensive software, but I want maps downloaded to my units & I guess for Garmins, mapsource is about the only game in town.

 

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Gary "Gimpy" Strong

Rochester,NY

[Guest Randy Freed]

This is a little off-topic, but since we are talking about Garmin maps I thought I'd throw this in...

 

If you purchase more than one Garmin map, you are really duplicating part of the software. All the MapSource programs use the same interface, but each has different data.

 

We need to convince Garmin to give us a discount for owning more than one product :-)

[Guest Elwood]

i second that thought Randy!!!!