Best maps

Discussion about software such as GSAK, OziExplorer etc, as well as all things hardware, GPSrs, laptops, PDAs, paperless caching, cables etc
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Steamy Moose
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Location: Tasmania

Best maps

Post by Steamy Moose » 03 May 12 11:10 pm

About to pick up my first GPS (Garmin 62s). I was wondering what’s the best map set to get? Should I go for the Garmin topo's or something else? Are the Shonkys any good for caching?

My main use will be for off road adventure riding but when I'm not I’ll be out on the cache hunt.

Any info would be greatly appreciated :)

Matt

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quiet1_au
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Re: Best maps

Post by quiet1_au » 04 May 12 6:53 am

Shonky's topos are good, but they're contour-lines - can be handy for mountainous areas, not so useful in surburbia perhaps.

Open Street Maps are free but excellent - an alternative to Garmin City Navigator maps. The details are very good, excellent in the urban areas but they drop off in remote areas. Address lookups for routing has been a problem for me, but I use the car GPS for that so it doesn't affect me, and so I haven't tried these recently - maybe things have improved. There are various sources for them, you can even roll-your-own from raw-data if you're keen! I've been using the German-based openmtbmap.org maps for as long as I've had a GPS as they come in an easy to use installer for Windows (you can unpackage them for Mac use too with a bit of a fiddle) after having some trouble getting an Australian-based map package to work for me - YMMV


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Steamy Moose
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Re: Best maps

Post by Steamy Moose » 04 May 12 11:01 am

Thanks for the reply. Have you had much to do with oziexplorer maps?

Was hoping for a map with good detail for both in town and out of town area's.

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quiet1_au
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Re: Best maps

Post by quiet1_au » 04 May 12 4:38 pm

Steamy Moose wrote:Thanks for the reply. Have you had much to do with oziexplorer maps?

Was hoping for a map with good detail for both in town and out of town area's.
I know of the oziexplorer maps, but have never used them.

You may well find OSM maps have good detail for the non-urban areas, I've used mine in the Strzlecki Ranges and had no problem with them at all. Have a look at "the other geocaching website" and try their maps - one of the options (like 5th or 6th in the list) is Open Street Maps and would presumably give you the much same details as you're likely to get from a downloaded GPS map. Or just give the download a go and check it out on your GPS :mrgreen:

One of the things I liked about the openmtbmaps maps is it offers you the option of a few styles to suit different GPSs. For instance I use the Wide version as thats best for dull Oregon/Dakota displays. Plus as I want to use it off-road it has a lot of tracks and other MTB friendly trails that regular car maps often don't have. Plus being crowd-sourced data, the maps are updated often - and free to update too. (Although I liked and used these maps so much I became a paid-up subscriber :) )


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mtrax
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Location: Weston Creek, Canberra

Re: Best maps

Post by mtrax » 18 June 12 9:30 am

I have just return from o/s where I used the OSM maps for Hong Kong, USA, and Canada, and I'd like to say these where excellent, I only came across one small town which hadn't been mapped.
The only other issue I had with OSM which I'm not sure if it was OSM but searching for street addresses was a bit hit/miss again not sure if it was a Garmin or OSM issue but I suspect its an OSM issue, but on the plus side they are free and constantly being updated.
I've even update the said down in Novia Scotia which was missing, just need someone to populate the street name.
All in all I think its a great alternative to the paid maps.

ian-and-penny
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Re: Best maps

Post by ian-and-penny » 18 June 12 11:44 am

Steamy Moose wrote:Thanks for the reply. Have you had much to do with oziexplorer maps?

Was hoping for a map with good detail for both in town and out of town area's.
You can't put Ozi maps into your GPS
Last edited by ian-and-penny on 18 June 12 6:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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caughtatwork
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Re: Best maps

Post by caughtatwork » 18 June 12 1:11 pm

mtrax wrote:I have just return from o/s where I used the OSM maps for Hong Kong, USA, and Canada, and I'd like to say these where excellent, I only came across one small town which hadn't been mapped.
The only other issue I had with OSM which I'm not sure if it was OSM but searching for street addresses was a bit hit/miss again not sure if it was a Garmin or OSM issue but I suspect its an OSM issue, but on the plus side they are free and constantly being updated.
I've even update the said down in Novia Scotia which was missing, just need someone to populate the street name.
All in all I think its a great alternative to the paid maps.
It's both Garmin and OSM.
The Garmin address API is secret.
So OSM can't (doesn't know how to) provide the address details to find it on the map.
It's Garmin being secretive about how their API works and there's not much OSM can do about it.

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The Explorer
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Location: South West Western Australia

Re: Best maps

Post by The Explorer » 20 June 12 9:39 pm

ian-and-penny wrote:
Steamy Moose wrote:Thanks for the reply. Have you had much to do with oziexplorer maps?

Was hoping for a map with good detail for both in town and out of town area's.
You can't put Ozi maps into your GPS
Hi - just to clarify for readers "Ozi maps" are raster maps which you can use in many other programs besides Ozi...there is not really any such thing as an "Oziexplorer Map" (except maybe ozf format). You can use raster maps on most new Garmin gps units by converting to kmz format (and put in CustomMaps folder) or jnx (and place in birdseye folder)....with limitations/pre-requisites. If you are keen on using raster maps give Garmin the flick and use something like a TwoNav Aventura.

Cheers
Greg

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