Friday, Nov 11, 2005 at 20:45
Hi Pam/Noel.
1. Main digital maps used are :
1.1 Natmap Mosaic - covers all of Aust at 1:250K
1.2 Hema Maps - Aust Great Desert Tracks - for Inland Aust.
1.3 State maps for individual states - eg for Qld Sunmap Mosaic 1:25K
Have a look in the ExploreOZ
shop - heaps there.
2. There are 2 types of digital maps:
2.1 Raster Maps = digital form of paper map.
(for QLd this means over 400 small map files - pain in the....).
2.2 Mosaic Maps - seamless and borderless integration of the Rasters.
Lesson - buy mosaic digital files.
3. Oziexplorer then needs to 'Calabrate' the map.
Most 'map' files come with the file extension .ECW
(ECW means 'Enhanced Compressed Wavelets' - a compression format).
To a computer, an ECW file is simply a large ''graphic" (not exactly but read on).
To use the file as a MAP, Ozi needs to have several calibrated points that tell it
the Latitude an longitude of the points.
These calibrated files are called MAP files.
With OZI you can IMPORT the map, and as most ECW files have calibration info in their header, OZI can create the MAP file for you - all calibrated.
Yes there is a learning curve, but not too onerous. Give it a go.
The GPS plugs into the Laptop running Oziexplorer - in the car.
The moving Map feature of GPS units is simple to use, and perfect when you feel you are 'Geographically challenged' (= lost).
AnswerID:
139033