GPS Tracklog

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Magellan Triton custom maps

There's been a lot of progress recently on making custom maps for the Magellan Triton series. For any of you with these handhelds, here are some resources to check out...

UK to get raster maps for Garmin Oregon

UPDATE: Garmin UK has a page up on the product, dubbed called Garmin GB Active^TM.

Garmin Oregon owners in the UK will soon be able to view Ordnance Survey raster maps on their units. Raster aerial imagery has been available on marine units since the release of the Garmin Colorado and Oregon 400c/i models, yet we landlubbers have had to make do with vector maps.

The OS maps, due to be released early next month, will reportedly overlay vector data on top of raster imagery, allowing for turn-by-turn navigation.

Tip - selecting a point on a Garmin nuvi

Once in a blue moon I find myself needing to pick a point on the map screen of my nuvi. Maybe I know about where something should be on the map, but I don't have an address and there's no POI, or the nuvi has a strange road name. Whatever the reason, accurate placement of the selected point is important. But rarely do I get it right on the first try.

Here's a tip...select a point on the map. Now drag the map. The selection arrow will stay in it's current location on the screen, but the map moves underneath it. You can drag the map around until you get the arrow to line up with the location you're aiming for. You can see in the next image that I dragged the map to an intersection.

Is MSN Direct the best traffic service?

Is MSN Direct superior to TMC / TTN for live traffic info? Jack Yeazel of the well-respected site GPSInformation.net thinks it may be. He recently posted on the sci.geo.satellite-nav UseNet group:

"For a couple of months I've been comparing these two traffic sources in the Atlanta area with a nuvi 660 (TTN) and a 680 (MSN Direct)...

Well here, MSN Direct obviously uses more of the traffic monitoring stations than TTN, resulting in a more-detailed display of changing traffic conditions...  As for "reality", MSN Direct also seems superior...

(Not to mention that you also get Gasoline Prices, Weather  Forecasts, and Movie Schedules (not available with TTN) for $50 a year as compared to $60 for TTN)... And pardon for "beating this dead horse", you get one year trial subscription with MSN Direct as compared to three months with TTN."

GeoJournal - Geocaching software for Mac

GeoJournal is a new geocaching program for Mac that allows you to "plan, manage and record your geocaching activities." It includes the following features:

• .gpx and .loc support.
• Multiple custom categories allow you to group geocaches by type, location, etc.
• Multiple "home" locations allowed.  For all you folks with a vacation home or the need to get away from the in-laws!
• Built-in use of Google Maps.
• Itinerary generation to help plan caching expeditions. Viewable in Google Earth.
• Built-in journal feature allows you to attach photos to each found cache. hence the name, GeoJournal.
• POP3 importing for Pocket Queries.
• Paperless geocaching support features includes CacheMate compatibility.

Switching between highway and topo maps on Garmin handhelds

Oftentimes, handheld users will load both highway and topo maps to their unit.  Garmin handhelds will show the highway maps by default. The highway map (City Navigator or City Select) for an area must be turned off before you can see the topo map. This is especially problematic when you have a lot of maps loaded and you don't know the name of the map for your current location.

In the past, I've laboriously scrolled through long lists of highway maps, deselecting each one until contour lines appeared on the map. But there is a simple solution. The instructions below are for the Garmin 60CSx, but I'm hoping this works for the eTrex series too. Perhaps someone can verify that and comment below.

From the map screen, press Menu, then Setup Map, and scroll over to Map Setup - Information. You'll see your list of loaded maps with a check mark next to each one. But rather than de-selecting them one by one, press Menu again and you'll see two choices - Hide City Select (or Navigator) and Hide US Topo, as shown in the image. Pretty cool, huh?

Thanks to Hogrod on Groundspeak for this tip.

Video tutorial for making custom Garmin maps

A member of Groundspeak, Geocaching.com's message board, has posted a video tutorial showing how easy it is to make custom maps for a Garmin GPS. Unfortunately, it's hosted on MediaFire and I wasn't able to embed it here. Follow the link above and look for "click here to start download." That's the video tutorial, not the Paris Hilton video showing below it (the one I saw was family safe though)!

In the example, he traces the outline of a park boundary and lake in Google Earth, and uses it to create a map for his GPS as shown. The Groundspeak post links to the map making tools he used.

I covered many of these techniques in my 2005 book, GPS Mapping: Make Your Own Maps. The video only scratches the surface of what is possible. There is a ton of free GIS data on the Web that you can use to build custom maps. There's a bit of a learning curve but if you use a handheld GPS and like to play with hacks, you should probably check it out.

Confirmed: Garmin eTrex H series uses MTK chipset

UPDATE: Check out our MediaTek vs. SiRFstar III smackdown.

Two independent reports are confirming that the new Garmin eTrex H series is using a MediaTek chipset.

One is coming from Groundspeak, Geocaching.com's message board, where people are reporting good reception.

Another report, via GpsPasSion, includes screen shots comparing the MediaTek chipset in the Vista HCx with the SiRFstar III chipset in the 60CSx. While I can't read German, it looks like the Mediatek chipset holds its own pretty well in that comparison.

Firmware gone bad

Someone on Groundspeak recently posted about problems they had with a firmware upgrade on their Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, you might want read this firmware primer -- it's like getting a free upgrade for your GPS.

But what do you do when firmware goes bad? If your unit locks up and doesn't work following an upgrade attempt, before contacting support, try doing a hard reset. You can usually find the combination of keys that does this by searching online for your model name plus the word "reset."