Geocaching Australia

Cheesy pigs wrote:Craig you need to stop admiring the maps on the GPSr and actually go get those caches

I've easily spent 100x the amount of time this past 24 months working on OSM maps than caching. (In fact I'm doing some mapping right now)
I should be able to sit back and admire the maps for a while

Considering I'm about to download the maps then go looking for a micro sd card I can agree with that

CraigRat wrote: Free Opeenstreetmaps with Contours:

So how do you get the OSM with contours , I don;t see it on the download page. My old SD card has them installed with shonky maps, someone did it for me and I've only ever used the OSM maps for travel os, never used the Aussie site, how can I get the whole of Aus onto the card???

All of Australia on one SD or microSD might be a challenge, but for a contour overlay, Dooghan's maps at lizarddrinking.net are good.

tronador wrote:

CraigRat wrote: Free Opeenstreetmaps with Contours:

So how do you get the OSM with contours , I don;t see it on the download page. My old SD card has them installed with shonky maps, someone did it for me and I've only ever used the OSM maps for travel os, never used the Aussie site, how can I get the whole of Aus onto the card???

I got the contours from another site http://www.lizarddrinking.net/(doohgan's one that I think he's closed/closing down) and you just turn them on and they appears as an overlay. It appears he doesn't offer them for free download at all now.

Started with an Etrex Legend which is fine if your vision is good but the screen is now dying after 11 years. Now have a Mont ana but would love it to have WiFi!

OK so I can't download the whole of Australia, too big???? onto 1 SD card but do I download the routable maps for the state I want.? There are a lot of choices on the OSM Aus page and there are no instructions on how to get them into your GPS.

Hi. It'll depend somewhat which model Garmin GPSr you use. Modern era of Garmin handhands and Nuvi model# above 1000 should* be straight forward Copy&Paste from PC to a preferably new SD or microSD.

* http://www.osmaustralia.org/howto.php is probably as good a meathod as any (with regard to IMG maps from osmaustralia).
Cheers.

I think this is the best place to download OSM maps from
http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/
To select small tiles, enlarge the map.

gmj3191 wrote:I think this is the best place to download OSM maps from
http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/
To select small tiles, enlarge the map.

Yes this is where I get them from, for OS travel, and you can install the whole country if you want but I heard that OSM.au is updated more often. I have an Oregon 550 and currently have Shonky maps, nothing wrong with them, I have the whole of Aus on the one card, so why can't you get the whole of the OSM Australia ones ?

Is it possible to separate out the OSM maps discussion into a new thread? I don't read this thread normally (I already have a Garmin handheld GPS ) but accidentally clicked on it this morning to discover an interesting discussion about the maps which might be useful for a broader audience.

Hi. For OSM maps used with Garmin software on PC, I do use the installer for Windows, from Lambertus.

To simply plonk a OSM(Australia) map/s on my GPSmap62S, I download one two or more states to PC, from osmaustralia, then Copy&Paste to
1. GPSr (to the Garmin folder where the other IMG maps are), or to the
2. microSD card inside a folder called Garmin.
It would be wise to first ensure your new map/s have unique name/s.

I guess it comes down to available memory, and personal preferences, etc.

PesceVerde wrote:Hi. For OSM maps used with Garmin software on PC, I do use the installer for Windows, from Lambertus.

To simply plonk a OSM(Australia) map/s on my GPSmap62S, I download one two or more states to PC, from osmaustralia, then Copy&Paste to
1. GPSr (to the Garmin folder where the other IMG maps are), or to the
2. microSD card inside a folder called Garmin.
It would be wise to first ensure your new map/s have unique name/s.

I guess it comes down to available memory, and personal preferences, etc.

Thank you. I will try that.

I killed my eTrex H in January and have been relying on my unsatisfactory smartphone since. I'm expecting a few hundred dollars back from my tax return, so am looking at upgrading. I've not been seriously looking for yonks though, so hardly know where to start.

I'd like something that I can go running with i.e. carry nothing but the GPS and a pen and find caches along the way. If it could function as a car GPS it'd be a bonus.

Any suggestions? Or any other features I should decide whether I need? The Oregon 450 looks pretty decent, but the cheapest price on shopbot.com.au is $428, which is rather hefty.

RobWinmar wrote:I killed my eTrex H in January and have been relying on my unsatisfactory smartphone since. I'm expecting a few hundred dollars back from my tax return, so am looking at upgrading. I've not been seriously looking for yonks though, so hardly know where to start.

I'd like something that I can go running with i.e. carry nothing but the GPS and a pen and find caches along the way. If it could function as a car GPS it'd be a bonus.

Any suggestions? Or any other features I should decide whether I need? The Oregon 450 looks pretty decent, but the cheapest price on shopbot.com.au is $428, which is rather hefty.

The biggest problem with handhelds as a car GPS is lack of voice directions/instructions - a beep to tell you to look at it when you should especially be looking at the road/surrounds isn't that helpful... But the trouble with car-GPSes is lack of battery life and some quirks dealing with cache data (eg. Nuvi persistant memory for caches as favourites/POIs). I suspect Garmin etc have deliberately avoided making a direct bridge GPS that does both car and caching well to sell you (and me) two devices...

I guess a comprise would be an inexpesive car-GPS (with spoken directions) and an inexpensive handheld (pay more for the handheld, which more than likely you'll have to anyway, as expandability (for maps and cache data) and extra features will make more difference in the field I find). If voice isn't really going to be a problem for you, definitely go the handheld providing it handles routing and address lookups well.

2c worth