GPS - Discover Aus Versus Hema Great Desert Tracks
Submitted: Monday, Jul 17, 2006 at 21:40
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Member - James B (VIC)
Hi all,
Up until now I have always used the Discover Aus Streets and Tracks software that came with my GPS. Recently Ive started looking into Hemas Great Desert Tracks mapping software - as Ive read this is more accurate in desert regions comapred to Discover Aus.
Anyone here who has used both and care to comment?
Or anyone who is familar with Great Desert tracks and care to share their opinion on it?
Thanks
Reply By: pprass - Monday, Jul 17, 2006 at 21:57
Monday, Jul 17, 2006 at 21:57
Used the HEMA Australia's Great Desert Tracks map last year for our central Aus trip. The HEMA map shows all of
the desert main tracks as
well as a lot of the side tracks that may not even be in use anymore. The Discover Aus map doesn't have the same detail. For instance, have a look at
Oodnadatta Track or the French Line on DAST - if you can find them!
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Follow Up By: Member - James B (VIC) - Monday, Jul 17, 2006 at 22:08
Monday, Jul 17, 2006 at 22:08
Thanks....you pretty much reinforced what I thought.
I was trying to plot some waypoints for the
simpson desert on DAST the other day, and couldnt find many tracks!
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Follow Up By: The Explorer - Tuesday, Jul 18, 2006 at 10:54
Tuesday, Jul 18, 2006 at 10:54
From what I can see in the "desert" section DiscoverAus (DAST) actually has MORE tracks than Hemas Great Desert Tracks (GDT) - The claim to fame of the GDTs version is supposedly more accurate track represenation (of the tracks that they actually field checked - they didnt do all of them). A lot of the tracks shown on DAST are possibly no longer present ...which is why the GDT does not show them - but as mentioned they diddnt field check them all...so they have left of tracks that do actually exist in (some form)
IMHO if you already have DAST then GDT will be of limited value. If you have a choice - and are just sticking to main tracks GDT may be better as it is more up to date...as long as you dont mind missing out on a large number of tracks that may (or may not) be useful for exploring.
A lot of people make the mistake of thinking DAST doesnt show many desert tracks - but you have to zoom right in for them to appear as the default settings are not good for desert areas (designed for city stuff where you dont want all the small streest showing when zoomed out) - you can change this setting by modifying an *.ini file - and you can make all tracks show at any zoom level (which is why i know DAST has more tracks than GDT) - I have posted on this before - search archives.
Cheers
Greg
| I sent one final shout after him to stick to the track, to which he replied “All right,” That was the last ever seen of Gibson - E Giles 23 April 1874 Lifetime Member
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Follow Up By: The Explorer - Tuesday, Jul 18, 2006 at 11:05
Tuesday, Jul 18, 2006 at 11:05
See my followup in post 20304 on how to make tracks show at all zoom levels.
Cheers
Greg
| I sent one final shout after him to stick to the track, to which he replied “All right,” That was the last ever seen of Gibson - E Giles 23 April 1874 Lifetime Member
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Follow Up By: The Explorer - Tuesday, Jul 18, 2006 at 12:06
Tuesday, Jul 18, 2006 at 12:06
"For instance, have a look at
Oodnadatta Track or the French Line on DAST - if you can find them! "
Both these tracks are shown in DAST (though the French line has a bit of a gap in it!!) but you have to zoom in past 50,000 scale where as on GDT they appear at ~1,000,000 scale - as mentioned above this has been the source of much confusion for people who cant (understandably) find tracks in DAST easily.
Cheers
Greg
| I sent one final shout after him to stick to the track, to which he replied “All right,” That was the last ever seen of Gibson - E Giles 23 April 1874 Lifetime Member
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Reply By: Sand Man (SA) - Tuesday, Jul 18, 2006 at 08:18
Tuesday, Jul 18, 2006 at 08:18
I have both James and find that while Great Desert Tracks has more detail in the "desert" regions, it is not that easy to view. Sometimes you need to zoom right in. It does however have it's uses from time to time.
Similarly, DiscoverAus Streets is quite good for metropolitan areas of the Country, although the detail when looking at the GPS screen sometimes leaves something to be desired.
I use both on the GPS because I already have them, but I wouldn't buy a copy now that I have used Oziexplorer. Providing you have good maps, such as the Natmap Raster Premium DVD loaded, Oziexplorer leaves everything else behind for ease of viewing, albeit with the aid of a Notebook computer, or similar.
I usually have all three applications running on the Notebook when travelling, each sharing the GPS input via Franson GPSGate software. But usually Oziexplorer is sufficient for all known
routes.
DiscoverAus is handy for travelling, provided you have all areas of the country loaded into the GPS. For instance, I can fly to
Cairns, hire a car and use the GPS to find my way around because DiscoverAus is good for "Street Directory" type functions, all over Australia.
But Great Desert Tracks is less useful. You can buy Hema's Great Desert Tracks maps on CD and load that into Ozi and you will have better detail, more easily viewed.
Just one clarification.
DiscoverAus contains far more detail than the base map that is preloaded into the Magellan GPS' memory.
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Reply By: Member - Davoe (Nullagine) - Tuesday, Jul 18, 2006 at 18:23
Tuesday, Jul 18, 2006 at 18:23
I bought a Hema map a while back. They are Ok if you are travelling the tourist
routes but show little else - Wasnt really impressesd
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Follow Up By: The Explorer - Tuesday, Jul 18, 2006 at 19:59
Tuesday, Jul 18, 2006 at 19:59
Hello Davoe
Hema maps are very good for their intended purpose and it comes as no surprise that they do not have sufficient detail for some applications..they are very small scale. The Great Desert Track Maps are 1:1,250,000 scale !!
Will be up you way, nearly (
Newman) in a month or two - I shall keep an eye out for you.
Cheers
Greg
| I sent one final shout after him to stick to the track, to which he replied “All right,” That was the last ever seen of Gibson - E Giles 23 April 1874 Lifetime Member
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Reply By: pprass - Tuesday, Jul 18, 2006 at 23:04
Tuesday, Jul 18, 2006 at 23:04
Just had another look at the differences between the two maps and the HEMA Australia's Great Desert just has so much more detail. All the rivers and creeks are named; property airstrips shown (DAST only shows the major ones); state border lines are shown and remain at below 1:100,000; features are named such as
Chambers Pillar. To me AGD was worth it for the trip that we did.
And - yes I have altered the zoom level on DAST to get detail at 1:100,000. Have had it that way for nearly 2 years now.
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