htwhlzz Posted October 23, 2004 Share Posted October 23, 2004 Is it worth the money for the mapsouce software? Is it really much more detailed than the base map? Any input would be appricated. thanks htwhlzz Quote Link to comment
+welch Posted October 23, 2004 Share Posted October 23, 2004 (edited) hmm... nevermind the viewer doesn't work as well as I thought Edited October 23, 2004 by welch Quote Link to comment
+xt Posted October 23, 2004 Share Posted October 23, 2004 I have used the topo Mapsource in Southwest Pa. and found that it has almost all of the roads (if not all) that I know. Some of them are not passable by car and at time maybe not by 4X4. I used it with my RINO 120 and the base map was lacking alot. So all said- I would not want to go without it. Go for it and have fun! XT Quote Link to comment
+Go JayBee Posted October 23, 2004 Share Posted October 23, 2004 Is it worth the money for the mapsouce software? Is it really much more detailed than the base map? Any input would be appricated. thanks htwhlzz Yes, it is much more detailed than the "base map".....besides, you get all the POI (Points of Interest). Ask your GPSr to find the nearest Motel or Place to eat, based on your location. It ill give you the distance /direction....even the phone number. Have fun.......... Quote Link to comment
peter Posted October 23, 2004 Share Posted October 23, 2004 (edited) Garmin's MapViewer usually works quite well, although it takes a while to zoom in far enough to see all the detail ('welch' must have tried it at a time when it was a bit flaky). Sometimes it times out before redrawing, but you can usually choose to refresh it. You can find it at: http://www.garmin.com/cartography/ Pick a particular map product and then zoom in to a few areas with which you're familiar. Click on the 'More Detail' and zoom way in. I've found the MapSource products to be very worthwhile software purchases. Note that MapSource covers lots of different mapping products so you'll have to decide which is best for you. If your GPS does autorouting and you want to use that capability then City Select is usually the one to get first. For non-autorouting units but still being used largely for road and city/town navigation I'd recommend MetroGuide. OTOH, if you'll only be using it for hiking, 4x4 off-paved-road, etc., then the US Topo maps would be more useful, especially in hilly areas. In addition to locating POIs like restaurants, stores, hotels, campgrounds, etc. the City Select/Navigator and MetroGuide maps let you enter street addresses and show you where they are. Edited October 23, 2004 by peter Quote Link to comment
+welch Posted October 23, 2004 Share Posted October 23, 2004 I think 'peter' must be right. Yesterday when I tried viewing CS6 it wouldn't show me anything but major highways, even zoomed to 500ft. But today its back to even having icons for food stores and gas stations. Quote Link to comment
+4-Unpaved Posted October 23, 2004 Share Posted October 23, 2004 I use the map source software all the time. I download the maps for the area I'm going to before I leave. I used it exclusively to navigate and find geocaches in Texas last week. I'm from IL. The TOPO maps are 1:100,000 instead of the 1:24,000 that we usually use. Quote Link to comment
+Alan2 Posted October 24, 2004 Share Posted October 24, 2004 You didn't mention which Garmin unit you have. That might efffect the software you should buy. Also, if you have a PPC or Palm Pilot, you might want to spend money on a autorouting program that you can install on your PPC and only use the GPS mapping with Mapsource Topo. I have a VIsta with Mapsource Topo, Metro and R+R and now that I have road mapping and autonavigation on my PPC< I almost never use anything but Topo on my Vista. The PPC in color and voice activated command is so much better than the GPS for these purposes. Quote Link to comment
+Night Stalker Posted October 24, 2004 Share Posted October 24, 2004 I am using a Garmin 60CS. If you don't have City Select loaded forget about auto-routing. With that said I recently took a vacation to Glacier National Park. I knew that the capground I wanted to stay in was near the west entrance so I auto-routed to the west entrance of the park. The GPS took me right there. On the way home we weren't sure how far we would get before we stopped for the night. It turned out to be butte, so I had City select list the hotels in Butte while we were still driving. I picked on and called and made reservations (the address and phone number is included in the listing). I also have the topo maps. I can switch over to the topo for an area when I am off road geocaching. I am currently working in Houston and forgot to load part of the area I am working in. You can't believe the difference when I go from and area that is loaded to the base map. It's almost like having no maps at all. Quote Link to comment
Phoenix2001 Posted October 25, 2004 Share Posted October 25, 2004 I didn't set this page up as a comparison between mapping products and the basemap but a look at the first two screen samples (at somewhat different scales) might give you an idea of what you get with a mapping product over the basemap..... http://www.gpsmap.net/GarminScreens.html Quote Link to comment
The Foster Clan Posted October 26, 2004 Share Posted October 26, 2004 (edited) We have the MapSource software and it's great. I print maps of the area where we hunt with waypoints for each blind, stand, gate, special area's of interest, fence lines, property lines and hand them out to people who don't know the area by heart. They are really nice when printed on "map" paper. My buddy (Shubbed) bought some of the waterproof map paper for a long hiking trip he made to Manitou island (Michigan) this summer. He said they were perfect. He had everything that was planned out on the maps and was able to find everything in record time. Each person had their own copy as well. Jon. Edited October 26, 2004 by The Foster Clan Quote Link to comment
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