Basemap on Garmin GPS
Submitted: Tuesday, Mar 22, 2005 at 20:47
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ChrisO
I just purchased a Garmin 76 gps from e-bay. The basemap of Australia has very little detail of roads etc. is this normal ? On the bottom of the box it say 'Americas'
I am wondering if I have purchsed a GPS with the US basemap. How can I tell ?
Reply By: B0XER - Wednesday, Mar 23, 2005 at 00:19
Wednesday, Mar 23, 2005 at 00:19
Base maps are very poor - they are even based on 1970's maps. I bought an Etrex legend with Aus base map and only had main highways and no land/forest differentiation loaded.
It did say Int/Pacific on the box bottom howere. If you bought from ebay, I'd say its an American unit and the Ebay seller has loaded the Aus base map for you - otherwise you'd have no streets at all.
Buy MetroGuide - its fantastic and works
well with Garmins - much more detail
AnswerID:
103527
Reply By: Michael Carey - Wednesday, Mar 23, 2005 at 07:55
Wednesday, Mar 23, 2005 at 07:55
AND, there are new versions of both City Navigator and Metroguide coming in the next few months. Plus, be on the
lookout for a product called AussieTraks, which works with the Garmin software and provides much better detail away from populated areas.
I'm testing a beta version of AussieTraks and I am quite impressed so far...
But if you don't have a 'map' version of the 76, then you can't add to the base map anyway, it might be possible to change the basemap if it is the USA version, but I'm not sure on that one. You need a GPSMAP76 or the colour variants thereof to load any of the mapping products...
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Big Woody - Wednesday, Mar 23, 2005 at 08:13
Wednesday, Mar 23, 2005 at 08:13
Hi Michael,
I have a Garmin GPS Map62CS with the colour screen. It has been a great unit that I use both in the yacht with the Bluecharts and in the bush with Metroguide at the moment.
I am interested in what you have said about Aussie Traks. Are you able to tell me any more about it and when it might be available?
I have been waiting for sometime for Garmin to produce topographical land based software that is equivalent to the Marine Bluecharts which show every detail for marine applications.
If they do, obviously they will have you pay individually to unlock specific areas which means for a trip around Australia it could be quite expensive for your maps tobe unlocked but the advantages would be worth it.
Best regards,
Brett
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361057
Follow Up By: Michael Carey - Wednesday, Mar 23, 2005 at 09:56
Wednesday, Mar 23, 2005 at 09:56
Hi Brett,
The data used to "make" AussieTraks is licenced from Geoscience Australia. I'm not sure on when it will be available to buy. Discussions have been around two versions, a free one that has limited data and a full version for a nominal fee. You do need a Garmin Mapsource product, or Garmin Trip and Waypoint manager to download AussieTraks to your GPS.
I suggest you email Graham at "aussietraks (at) iinet.net.au"
He might be able to answer your questions better than me. This is a very exciting product, users can submit their track/plot files to improve future versions with more accurate data.
Regards,
Michael.
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361070
Follow Up By: ChrisO - Wednesday, Mar 23, 2005 at 12:38
Wednesday, Mar 23, 2005 at 12:38
My GPS is a Gaarmin GPSMAP 76cs.
Will this Aussie Tracks be able to be loaded onto the GPS unit itself ?
FollowupID:
361092
Follow Up By: Michael Carey - Wednesday, Mar 23, 2005 at 13:13
Wednesday, Mar 23, 2005 at 13:13
Yes, the data is treated just like Mapsource data, eg. City Navigator, Metroguide or Bluecharts. Just like you can have both City Navigator and Bluechart in the same GPS, you can select what AussieTrak map tiles you want downloaded as
well as Garmin maps. Depending on the memory capacity of your GPS, you can mix and match what you want. In my case, I have to turn off the City Navigator maps of the area I want to use AussieTraks in the map setup menu. City Navigator over rides AussieTraks. You need some sort of Garmin software to download the maps. This can be the basic Trip and Waypoint manager, you don't need to buy any other Garmin mapping product, but if you have it, you're half-way there....
FollowupID:
361102