Mapsource Mapping Issue

[KeepOnTruckin]

Mapping Issue:

 

I have loaded into my Garmin 60cs the City Select v5 and US Topos for the areas of New England where I travel.

 

But when I do a find by Cities, many of the smaller towns do not show up. When I do a find by all POIs, and put in the name of the town, many POIs starting with the name of the town will show up, ie., Town School Department, Town, MA, or Town Bakery, Town, MA. Why not the town itself in the City search?

 

They show up by the town name in the find/city area of the MapSource software in the computer, but not in the GPS unit. In the gps, I can zoom in with the map, scroll around, and often find the town, then do a go-to, and I am off.

 

Likewise, if I look for addresses, many/most streets are not there. But if I zoom in on the map, I can see the streetnames, and scrolling around will often cause addresses (street and number) to show on the map. I can then do a go-to from that screen.

 

Did I not put the mapset together properly when readying for loading into the unit? Is a setting off re: size of municipalities or something? Any thoughts?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

KeepOnTruckin

[+Team DEMP]

Could be a couple of things. I use a GPS V with City Select and Topo.

 

One thing to make sure is that when you send the maps from MapSource on the computer to the GPS, you have the checkbox selected that it will send the routing info.

 

On the GPS unit when viewing the screen with the map displayed, (remember my keystrokes are for a V so it might be different on your unit), I hit the Menu button and select MapSource Info. It shows me the currently selected/loaded maps. I hit menu again and there I select Enable City Select or Enable Topo depending on which I want. When driving, I Enable City Select. When I get to the parking spot and ready to go after the cache, assuming I'm hiking to it, I select Enable Topo.

 

David

[peter]

But when I do a find by Cities, many of the smaller towns do not show up. When I do a find by all POIs, and put in the name of the town, many POIs starting with the name of the town will show up, ie., Town School Department, Town, MA, or Town Bakery, Town, MA. Why not the town itself in the City search? ...

Likewise, if I look for addresses, many/most streets are not there. But if I zoom in on the map, I can see the streetnames, and scrolling around will often cause addresses (street and number) to show on the map.

I have an eMap, but the behavior of the 60 series may be similar.

Searches for cities are only of the basemap by default. However, if I hit MENU when the list of cities is displayed I then get a choice to "Select Map" and can switch to the more detailed MetroGuide and get some of the smaller places that aren't on the basemap.

 

Do you have the problem finding street names with both City Select and Topo?

Topo doesn't support searches by address, but CS should work. But it can be very fussy about how the street name is entered. Also make sure you don't enter the "street" "road" "way" etc. after the name of the street or the "E/W/N/S" before it.

[Neo_Geo]

As far as searching for cities, they're a separate category. When I press "Find" on my 60C, I'm presented with the following categories:

Waypoints, Geocache, CITIES, Exits, Recent Find, Addresses, Intersect..., Shopping, Food, Etc. If searching for a city, select "City"

 

When I click on "Cities", I get the nearest ones in order of nearest proximity. I then press the "Menu" button and then I'm presented with the folowing options:

"Find By Name", "Nearest Containing...", "Select Map" and "Change Reference".

 

If I select "Find By Name", I can easily find Cass, West Virginia (whether using Topo or City Select). It doesn't get any more "small town" than Cass, WV!

[peter]

Cass, WV is easy to find since it's large enough to be included on the basemap. But the nearby 'suburb' of Deer Creek, WV is shown on MetroGuide-USA (v.4) but is not on the basemap. To FIND it you need to first choose Select Map and pick MetroGuide.

[KeepOnTruckin]

When I click on "Cities", I get the nearest ones in order of nearest proximity.  I then press the "Menu" button and then I'm presented with the folowing options:

"Find By Name", "Nearest Containing...", "Select Map" and "Change Reference".

 

If I select "Find By Name", I can easily find Cass, West Virginia (whether using Topo or City Select).  It doesn't get any more "small town" than Cass, WV! 

All of that works for me. Oddly enough, going through the sequence as described will show a map which then displays most (still not all, but many otherwise un-indexed ones) of the small towns on it. But from that map display, if I do a search for nearest cities, many of the ones actually showing on the map as Jones Twp., or Smith Twp. Will not be listed as nearby cities (I know—they are towns….)

 

But as I said, if I do a search through addresses: after the state, the next data bit it asks for is City. Many of the small towns (although still not all) that do not show up in a direct City search will show up here. Passing over Number and hitting enter over the Street Name will get the list of the Streets. Very frustrating.

 

Anyway, next issue:

 

After finding, for instance a street or address in a small town, then going directly to Map (when working at home to setup hikes, for instance), the display goes to the location, but at 30 or 50 mile zoom. Is there a way to change the default scale? Quite the pain to have to hit the In button 10 or 12 times every time I go to a different location.

 

And just for idle curiosity, in the map set-up area, does anyone know what “Land Cover” refers to? I keep changing the setting to try to figure it out, but no dice.

 

KeepOnTruckin

[Vlad]

do you have some examples of places you're trying to find - maybe someone here has those maps and can try to replicate the problem you're having?

[peter]

All of that works for me. Oddly enough, going through the sequence as described will show a map which then displays most (still not all, but many otherwise un-indexed ones) of the small towns on it. But from that map display, if I do a search for nearest cities, many of the ones actually showing on the map as Jones Twp., or Smith Twp. Will not be listed as nearby cities (I know—they are towns….)

So have you tried doing what I suggested above?

Hit MENU again at this point to get the option to "Select Map" . Choose the City Select Map and see if the smaller towns now appear. If you don't go through this step of specifying the map then only cities on the basemap will appear in a City Search.

[KeepOnTruckin]

All of that works for me.  Oddly enough, going through the sequence as described will show a map which then displays most (still not all, but many otherwise un-indexed ones) of the small towns on it.  But from that map display, if I do a search for nearest cities, many of the ones actually showing on the map as Jones Twp., or Smith Twp. Will not be listed as nearby cities (I know—they are towns….)

So have you tried doing what I suggested above?

Hit MENU again at this point to get the option to "Select Map" . Choose the City Select Map and see if the smaller towns now appear. If you don't go through this step of specifying the map then only cities on the basemap will appear in a City Search.

Peter,

 

Have followed your instruction, and…

 

A new discovery—not yet doing all I want, but getting there in a roundabout way…

 

As you suggest, at the Find, Cities, Menu, (containing Find By Name, Nearest Containing, Select Map, Change Reference) Select Map shows “RecretionalRoutable Hig”, North American City Sel, US Topo—East, and Use Best Maps. Entering on North American City or US Topo both give all Cities, even extremely small ones (including what I have been seeking), as well as non-municipality neighborhoods, villages, etc. Entering on RecreationalRoutable or Use Best Maps both give what appears to be the lackluster list which appears if you just do Find, Cities, and it then shows “All Categories Near Map Pointer”. It must default to the basemap. At least now I know how to find what I seek.

 

Any idea if this default can be changed? In the Setup, Map Setup page, I have usually Show-All selected unless I am going off-road. Turning off the basemap does nothing to change what I have just discussed.

 

Examples include Heath, MA and Conway, MA. These towns will not show up in a search by name, but can be found as explained above. Not that big a deal, as long as I can find them, but if I know a name, but not necessarily anything near it to get me in the neighborhood, it can be trickier to find.

 

Any thoughts on the following:

 

After finding, for instance a street, address, town, or whatever, then going directly to Map (when working at home to setup hikes, for instance), the display goes to the location, but at 30 or 50 mile zoom. Is there a way to change the default scale? Quite the pain to have to hit the In button 10 or 12 times every time I go to a different location.

 

And, just for idle curiosity, in the map set-up area, does anyone know what “Land Cover” refers to? I keep changing the setting to try to figure it out, but nothing seems to change.

 

Thanks for great input.

 

KeepOnTruckin

[peter]

Afraid I can't be of much further help. AFAIK the defaults you mention can't be changed and I've never seen any effect of the "Land Cover" option on any of my maps (MG-USA, US Topo, US R&R).

I believe someone mentioned that it did affect how some areas such as airports were displayed on his European maps