GPS Tracklog

Garmin TOPO U.S. 24K goes nationwide

I knew something was up when Garmin named their last topo product with the soon to be dated moniker TOPO U.S. 2008.  Now it's official, Garmin will be releasing 1:24,000 scale topo maps of at least the 48 contiguous United States, complete with routable roads and trails. Previously available only for some National Park areas, this software will be known as TOPO U.S. 24K.

These will be available by region -- the Pacific Northwest (WA & OR) is already out, with California / Nevada scheduled to be available in July. The remainder of the U.S. is "coming soon." The maps will come pre-loaded on micro-SD cards with an SD card adapter at $99.99 a pop.

Moagu brings USGS maps to your Garmin handheld

Last month, Leszek Pawlowicz of Free Geography Tools hinted at a new project code-named MOAGU. He may ascribe a different meaning to the acronym for legal reasons, but let’s call it what it is — MOAGU is the mother of all Garmin utilities. What Leszek has created is a utility that will place a USGS topo map on your Garmin GPS. Actually, it will put any scanned, georeferenced map on your Garmin. It won’t work on just any Garmin mapping handheld yet; I haven’t been able to get the maps on my Colorado 300, though I’m hoping some of our more technically inclined readers can figure that one out.

I have used it on my Garmin 60CSx and I have to say that Moagu rocks! This really is revolutionary. Handheld users have been asking for 1:24,000 scale USGS maps for their GPS units for years. The DeLorme PN-20 and Magellan Triton series have implemented this, more or less successfully (respectively), but we haven’t had an easy solution for Garmin devices until now.

Open Street Map on a Garmin handheld

In last week's Waypoints, I issued a challenge to Free Geography Tools' Leszek Pawlowicz to check out Open Street Map (OSM) on a Garmin handheld, now that OSM has incorporated U.S. TIGER data. He good naturedly accepted the gauntlet and posted his findings. The screen shot at left shows a sample.

I'm disappointed that using OSM data in this way doesn't allow for autorouting. Still, for those of you with Garmin handhelds that don't want to lay out the bucks for MetroGuide or City Navigator, this is another option.

Thanks Leszek!

Free hi-res topo maps of CO and WY (and Utah soon)

One of the great things about Garmin units is the wide range of free maps that are out there for them. I recently became aware of another source, this one offering 40-foot contour interval maps of Colorado and Wyoming. The not quite accurately named site, Miscjunk, will soon add Utah to the mix too.

The screen shot at right shows a sample map loaded onto the new Garmin Colorado series. If you load a custom (U.S.) map onto the unit and have Topo U.S. 2008 (which has DEM data) loaded too, you'll get the nice shading effects seen here.

Free maps for your Garmin GPS

Free user-generated U.S. and international maps

This was originally intended as a follow up to my international maps for your Garmin GPS post. Yet those sticking closer to home should investigate this too -- the sources below include road maps of U.S. cities and some very nice topo maps of greater detail than you can find elsewhere. The image below is from a 1:24,000 scale Lake Tahoe map.

International maps for your Garmin GPS

One of the more common questions I receive relates to international (non-U.S.) maps — where can I find maps of a particular country? There are actually many options, and I suspect that most people aren’t aware of them all. Some are even free. I’m going to focus on Garmin in this post, which has the greatest variety of international maps readily available, at least for any of the top selling GPS receiver brands in the U.S.

Lets go through the options one by one...

New blog: TOPO! Hacker

I've written before about National Geographic TOPO!, which remains my favorite program for generating high-quality printed topo maps. I was recently turned on to a new blog centered on this program -- TOPO! Hacker, focusing on hacks, workarounds, tips and hidden features.

Software for Triton released by Magellan and National Geographic

Magellan has released their VantagePoint software, which will be used to send National Geographic TOPO! maps to the new Magellan Triton series. There is a discussion thread with screenshots at Groundspeak. No manual has been posted for the software yet.

On top of that, National Geographic has released their TOPO! version 4.4.1 upgrade that makes their maps compatible with the Triton series.

Now we just need the hardware!

UPDATE: Read my Magellan Triton 1500 review.

Mio POI loader

Mio has posted a Mio POI loader that allows you to transfer .csv or .xls POI files to an SD card and have them show up under My POI on your Mio device.

The POI loader may work with newer devices beyond those listed. I'm currently testing a Mio C720t and it worked fine with it.

I'm adding a link to this on my custom POI resource page, where you can find lots of POI sources to use with your GPS.

Free TOPO! upgrade for Magellan Triton coming

I know there are lots of us anxiously awaiting the new Magellan Triton lineup, so I couldn't resist posting another tantalizing bit of news, no matter how small.  Contours, a new National Geographic Maps blog, has said that they will soon post a free upgrade to allow National Geographic TOPO! maps to work with the Triton series, and they've linked to a TOPO! for Magellan Triton GPS page where they say they'll be posting more info. It sounds like you'll need this upgrade and the new Magellan VantagePoint software too.