NATMAP Digital Maps 2008

GeoScience website says that this new version contains real time navigation & route & adventure planning. If you are running OziExplorer, then you already have that.

BTW, it only includes updated maps as at July 2006. So the maps are over 2 years old. If you want the latest maps for a specific area, then you would do better to download it directly from the GeoScience website. It is a bit fiddly to download, as you need to get a password each time for each download session. The downloaded maps are not right up to date, but they are the latest available. They dont have any white borders so they are very easy to join in map merge & each map has the metdata in the ECW header so you dont even have to calibrate them as Ozi will do that you you.

I downloaded all the Victorian maps a few weeks back and joined them up in Map Merge. It didnt take long.

John

I suppose it depends on where you live. I downloaded all the maps covering Victoria and they have all been updated as at 19 September 2006.

Actually the best way to see which maps have been updated is go to the GeoScience Australia website where you can see the last release date for each map.

I picked my copy up today. There is only one version not two as previously available, but it is cheaper. The main reason for me to update was that my old 2003 version was difficult to view on my Vista PC. The 2008 is Vista compatible so the map viewer works a treat. The seamless mosaic is nice to handle on the PC but I need to get the maps onto my IPAQ travel companion. I am told that sections of the mosaic can be loaded using the OZf2 converter but I haven't tried it yet. Actually I don't quite understand this step because the mapsheets are already ECW format. Perhaps one of our Map Gurus could explain. The sections can be split up along fixed longitudes, producing smaller file sizes.

As far as detail goes, the sections that I have looked at and am familiar with (Adelaide and points north to the Simpson) appear to be similar or the same. I was hoping for a clearer image. The satellite views are not great. There still appears to be some loss of clarity due to the compression used in production.

This whole map thing is all a bit academic for me. I think that the Hema Desert maps show an acceptable amount of road and track detail for the sort of driving I do. Contours would be handy. If you need more accuracy in plotting a particular task then you will need a scale of something like 1:50K.

Kingo

Here's the link for the product at Geoscience Australia's Website.

It sounds like a good product, with major changes being the software that comes with the product. As I use Oziexplorer I won't be running down to the shop just yet though.

I would think it would be good for people buying their first digital maps or maybe people who wish to upgrade from the 2000-2001 mapsets.