Somewhat Confused & Dizzy.

[+casea4me]

I'm a new guy here so please have a little mercy I belong to a Jeep club and many of the members have GPS units. The last time we were out near Red Rock, CA. I was impressed by one one guy who when we stopped for lunch, whipped out his (careful now, this is a family site) GPS and there it was, this little skinny line and a label of the site we were at.

 

I purchsed a Meridian Color and also picked up the Back Roads Explorer Topo by Nat'l. Geo. My question (finally!) is how do you get such detailed info.? I've d/l the area we were at but the details are just not the same. We were on some pretty small trails (all marked/posted) but they don't show up when I zoom in. Is it me, the topo maps or unit?

[+welch]

"My question (finally!) is how do you get such detailed info.? "

 

I don't understand what your asking. You want to find routes for 4x4ing???

[2oldfarts (the rockhounders)]

Look at your map program on your computer and see if it has the details while viewing on the PC. If it shows the details you want check the program to see what details you're downloading to the GPSr. If everything is fine on that end then go to the map screen on the GPSr and click on the menu button. This should give you an option for the amount of detail to be shown on the GPSr.

 

We use the Magellan Mapsend Topo program and are happy with the amount of detail it shows.

 

Hope this helps.

 

John

[+gallahad]

I'm not flush enough to afford the color model, but my Platinum should function fairly closely to your model. After you ignite your Meridian, press "menu" and select "map setup" from the next screen. Move the cursor to the section "detail" and see if you can set it to "high". Let me know if that doesn't work for you.

[+Renegade Knight]

You could of been looking at the guys tracklog and the waypoint he marked for where you are at.

 

Or he had a different map uploaded to his GPS.

[+Warriorrider]

You can't load the actual maps from National Geographic software. The only maps that you can upload to your unit are the MapSend software maps. You can transfer waypoints/routes to and from NG and download tracks to it though. I use MapSend Topo in my GPSr and NG Topo on the pc for back country planning/travel. I hope I understood your question correctly.

[+casea4me]

I'm not flush enough to afford the color model, but my Platinum should function fairly closely to your model. After you ignite your Meridian, press "menu" and select "map setup" from the next screen. Move the cursor to the section "detail" and see if you can set it to "high". Let me know if that doesn't work for you.

Thank you all for the warm and informative welcome. I've obviously got a lot to learn. I used the MapSend Direct Route software. It must not have enough detail of 4wd or trials on it. I going to p/u a magellan topo. Do you if that will have the detail I'm looking for?

[+rusty_tlc]

I use mapSend Topo with my platinum and do a lot of four wheeling. Plenty of detail for my area, but sometimes a little off. We were cruising down Jumbo Grade from the Comstock to Washoe lake and the GPS/software showed us about 40 feet off the road. Since I can find caches or other lat/lon coordinates it must be inaccuracies in the maps. Jumbo Cahe

[The_Brownies]

The Magellan comes preloaded with a generic set of us street maps. If you want the detailed TOPO info you need to buy some SD Memory and then the Magellan Mapsend Topo program. If you want more detailed city maps, you will need the Mapsend City/Street Program. Eitherway, you have to use the Mapsend program to load in the more detailed maps. Have a Meridian Gold and Megallan lists all this in the manual for your GPSr.

[+TeamK-9]

Yah, the magellan topo map is great, but you really have to be careful, cause they're not to accurate, like it shows my street (which is not even on my state atlas) but it also shows the street fifty feet away from where it show be and my house as being on the wrong side of the street, so they're good for getting a general idea, but not for knowing exactly where you are...

[+briansnat]

I'm not sure about how the Magellan software works, but with Garmin's Mapsource, you can use the cursor to pan to certain waypoints, geographic and manmade features (roads, dams, etc...). When you let the cursor settle, it will often tell you the name of the feature you panned to, whether its a stream, road, town or other waypoint. Using the same feature it will tell you where you are.

 

Perhaps Magellan works the same way.

Edited February 4, 2004 by briansnat

[+gallahad]

I'm not flush enough to afford the color model, but my Platinum should function fairly closely to your model.  After you ignite your Meridian, press "menu" and select "map setup" from the next screen.  Move the cursor to the section "detail" and see if you can set it to "high".  Let me know if that doesn't work for you.

Thank you all for the warm and informative welcome. I've obviously got a lot to learn. I used the MapSend Direct Route software. It must not have enough detail of 4wd or trials on it. I going to p/u a magellan topo. Do you if that will have the detail I'm looking for?

 

Not sure we actually helped you very much, but if you got anything at all out of this I suppose it was worth the time. I use Mapsend but I haven't had to use it for off road yet. I'll be doing that in 29 Palms in April. Hope I have enough experience after that trip to provide a better answer to the next inquirer.

Good luck with that Meridian.

Edited February 4, 2004 by gallahad

[2oldfarts (the rockhounders)]

The Mapsend topo program works very well when we are out 4 wheeling. You need to zoom in to the 2 mile scale to see many of the less used roads and jeep trails. Some of the map section are very accurate and some are off a bit. When you compare your track with the roads they may or may not line-up. The main thing is you can compare the shape of your track with the road you want to be on and see how well they match. A little pratice and you will have no problems following the map.

 

My wife thinks it works very well and has no trouble using it.

 

The Mapsend Topo is worth getting.

 

I believe that Magellan has now combined the Mapsend Topo and Mapsend Streets into one program.

 

John