Mapsend S&d In Light Of Waas Discussion

[dmj625]

I am relatively new to GPS and have a few questions. I have a Meridian Marine w/ BlueNav and have been very happy with the units and the Marine charts. I was looking at both Mapsend S&D and Topo on Amazon for use in my car. The consumer reviews on there are pretty negative, with much of the complaints focusing on the accuracy of the maps.

 

As I was reading the WAAS thread, I began to wonder if some of the accuracy issues might be related to the signal rececption that these folks were getting while in cities, woods, cars, etc.

 

Does anyone have experience with these maps?

 

Has anyone benchmarked them?

 

Are the maps as bad as the reviewers on Amazon say, or is it likely that these folks did not have a good position fix?

 

Thanks for your input,

 

David

[+roasteroo]

It is not the position fix. It is the accuracy of the maps. You can lay the same track log out on Mapsend topo and Usa Photomaps and see how bad they really are. It depends on your location but sometimes these maps are really bad. However they are the only maps uploadable to the gps.

"Does anyone have experience with these maps?"

Using Mapsend Topo since 04/02

 

"Has anyone benchmarked them?"

?????????????????

 

"Are the maps as bad as the reviewers on Amazon say, or is it likely that these folks did not have a good position fix?"

It most likelt is not posision fix. Magellans are very accurate with good signal. Most likely the are speaking the truth do a search here on the forums, you will see.

[+embra]

I think many of the complaints on Amazon are associated with unrealistic expectations of how accurate GPS maps should be, so I take those with a grain of salt. But, that being said, there are errors in S&D and Topo that seem to vary by geographic area. Here around Gettysburg they seem pretty good.

 

DirectRoute, using the NavTech maps, seems to be very accurate. I have observed that a few deadend residential roads are missing, but 99+% of them are in there. This is supposed to be the replacement for Streets& Destinations. Some people are complaining about the copy-protection scheme that renders the program not usable with DVD readers, but otherwise I think the program is a great improvement over S&D.

[+Warriorrider]

As roasteroo stated, it depends on your location. I have both S&D and Topo. In my area ( No. Calif.) I find the streets to be pretty accurate.

[+Stunod]

Yes, those maps are pretty bad in some locations. The DirectRoute maps are much, MUCH better.

[+Warriorrider]

Yes, those maps are pretty bad in some locations.  The DirectRoute maps are much, MUCH better.

Thanks alot Stunod.

You too embra.

.... now I have to go buy more software All kidding aside, this sounds like a very cool program. I can't wait to get my hands on it.

[robertlipe]

Check out the "what's the deal with the maps" entries in the FAQs at http://www.mtgc.org/robertlipe/

 

They don't contain a lot of DirectRoute information yet, but as I mention in my review on that same page, the maps are the best I've seen yet. I should disclaim that, even though the other maps weren't 100%, I was never worse off with them that I was without them. I was always able to resist the urge to drive on the median, through some dude's yard, hike through the stream, etc.

[Kerry.]

It takes some time to upgrade maps and generally much of the mapping used with GPS is compiled from older survey "methods".

 

Apart from the scale of the map one should also look at the resolution of the map as for example a 1:250,000 map the pixel resolution could be around 30 metres and yet one is using a device probably capable of less than 10 metres.

 

Really until maps can be "viewed" at 1:1 rather than zooming a map designed for hard copy production at a set scale then there will always be some differences as depending on the scale of the map features are sometimes distorted (displaced relative) for definition of the printed product.

 

Cheers, Kerry.

[+DustyJacket]

You may want to view this comparison I did with early MapSend maps and NG Topo! and DirectRoute.

 

http://www.dustyjacket.com/geocache/tracks.html

[dmj625]

All thanks for the links and input. I still haven't decided whether or not to spring for S&D or Topo. I'll keep reading...

 

David

[+Warriorrider]

All thanks for the links and input. I still haven't decided whether or not to spring for S&D or Topo. I'll keep reading...

 

David

Topo has everything that S&D has plus the topo elevations. The only other difference is the points of interests. S&D is hotels, restaurants, casinos, etc., the things you might need in the city. Topo has mines, arches, falls, beaches, etc., etc., all the POI you would expect for hiking, off road travel etc.

Edited December 16, 2003 by Warriorrider

[+Quoddy]

As others have said: if you're going for road/route maps, skip S&D and get Direct Route. It is really good . Since getting DirectRoute, I sometimes switch "chips" to Topo, but only when I'm going into the woods for the whole day. I should mention I use a MeriColor.