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Snooker's GPS Page: General Map Info and Garmin Montana (also 60CSx)
Maps
Free GPS Maps:
Garmin Branded Maps:
- City Navigator is a must buy map (if you want routing). Also at GPSCentral.com. City Navigator North America NT is current one (aka CNNANT). It has autorouting, POI's (Points of Interest), spoken street names and turns, all in the data in the mapset. Best is DVD as it is installed onto any number of PC's to see in an app (MapSource or BaseCamp) for planning, but it is then locked to only 1 GPSr.
Other options are micro SD card (uSD) or a download straight to a uSD card in the GPSr device. Buying it on a uSD card is not locked to one GPSr but you cannot copy it and you cannot see map on PC app unless your GPSr device is connected to PC. Updates come out several times a year but are only available with the DVD type and you can buy a lifetime update for not too much. Usually labeled by year, CN NA NT 2013, etc.
- TOPO U.S. maps come in a 100k map for all of the US but it is not auto routable. Or 24k maps that are all auto routable and come in 2 or 4 state regions usually. Also at GPSCentral.com. The same format as above applies, DVD or uSD or download, but DVD is the best. However I think I read people say the 24k maps can be put onto multiple devices? New versions come out every few years but you cannot buy a lifetime update, you just buy a new version.
- Map Updates: GPSCentral.com map updates - overview of choices and how to perform the update. Get the Garmin nuMaps lifetime updates for CNNANT. (Will not work on uSD card packaged maps).
Other Map Companies:
Newer Garmin Info (Montana and Basecamp)
Terminology:
- GPSr: Means GPS receiver, or the Garmin hardware itself, like the Montana, etc.
- Firmware: I will call it Firmware when it is installed on the device itself, although it is often called Software by Garmin.
- Software: I will call it Software when it is installed on a PC and not the GPSr.
Garmin GPS Buying Advice - Routes vs. Tracks, Best Models, Maps (12/2012):
Garmin Montana 600 / 650 Info:
- Main Sources of Info:
- Common Tasks:
- Firmware:
- (Wiki): All about Firmware. How to check version, how to update, list of FW versions and fixes.
- MyDashboard at My.Garmin.com.
Connect via Mass Storage mode, login here and check your GPSr.
To update firmware, do a backup first then 1 click at MyDashboard will first install the WebUpdater app on your PC (see below also), then it will automatically use it to install the latest FW download.
- Garmin.com list of latest FW downloads. As of 12/1/2012 latest FW is ver 4.60.
- Advrider - alternate directions for updating FW by first doing a Master Reset.
- JaVaWa: Highly suggested to install this 3rd party app to manage your GPSr content including firmware and maps.
- What size micro SD card to buy? For what I've read, an 8MB is a good size, some have reported slower performance with larger devices. For me 16MB would be max. For speed, the Class 4 basic card sounds adequate based on reports.
- Software:
- (Wiki): Giant list of links to Software for PC and Mac: Garmin software from USB drivers to BaseCamp, WebUpdater, MapUpdater, etc. Also 3rd party apps and tools.
NOTE: some Garmin.com links require your GPSr to be present on USB in Mass Storage mode.
- Some notable apps - installation links, from above Wiki link:
- Garmin.com WebUpdater. Used to install firmware in your GPSr, see above under MyDashboard.
- JaVaWa, a 3rd party tool that helps from the start with looking at your GPSr contents, both in the built-in memory and the micro SD card.
- download Garmin MapUpdater app or if your device is connected, simply go to the Garmin.com MapUpdater page to see if there are any available updates for Garmin maps installed in your GPSr. (mainly City Nav, not TOPO).
- Garmin.com BaseCamp. Transfer waypoints, tracks, and routes between your PC or Mac and newer Garmin devices. Automatically installed during newer City Navigator install.
- Garmin.com MapInstall. Simple app you can use to install GPX and some other map types direct to GPSr or uSD card (invoked from BaseCamp or can use it standalone).
- Maps - How To:
- Profiles:
Garmin BaseCamp Usage (could be Montana centric):
- My Overview:
- The free BaseCamp app is recommended for newer Garmin GPSr devices and is an app so you can create and manage map segments, routes and tracks on your PC on a large screen before loading them onto your GPSr.
- BC is installed automatically when you install a newer Garmin mapset from DVD (like City Navigator).
- BC considers all of its data to be part of one main database called My Collection (vs. individual files you have to manage yourself on the hard drive ala MapSource).
- You can use Backup and Restore to save your entire data including the list organization and other options into different databases for different users or purposes. Or export anything (route, track) to a single GPX file.
- Then you organize Lists with List Folders as a way to view your data in different ways.
- BC is activity based. Each activity has options (like Routing options) set unter Utilities->Options then Utility Profile.
- Each route created then has an attribute you set to choose which specific activity profile applies to it. This determines the routing algorithm used.
- Look at ma info including name, version, if they are lockable and where exactly they are located by using Utilities->Manage Map Products.
- Let BaseCamp use MapInstall to install maps where it wants (normally uSD first), then use Windows Explorer to move the *.IMG map files where you want them. You can also copy them to back up.
- In BaseCamp under Help it points you to BaseCamp tutorial videos from Garmin at Garmin.com or on YouTube. See Introduction video first.
- GlobeRiders.com overview of BaseCamp.
- BaseCamp tutorial on a 2nd Wiki: Garmin-Mapsource.WikiSpaces.com with screen shots. Nice example of actually doing things.
- BaseCamp tutorial on a 3rd Wiki: GarminBasecamp.WikiSpaces.com with details.
- Advrider Bill Murray has BaseCamp workflow overview. Very short.
- Advrider Emmbeedee how to tell if map is auto routable using JaVaWa downloaded app
- BaseCamp Forum on Garmin.com
- GpsInformation.org has BaseCamp odds and ends
- Routes:
GPX Files - Syntax and Explanation:
Sometimes you can learn a lot in how routes are constructed if you create a GPX file and look at it:
Bluetooth HW for Montana:
Older Garmin Info (60CSx and MapSource)
Garmin 60CSx Info:
How to use Garmin MapSource:
The free MapSource app is for older Garmin GPSr devices (like the 60Csx). It's an app to manage maps, routes and tracks on your PC to then load onto your GPSr. I am a beginner but this is what I've learned:
- Map installation: For a simple CD like Roads and Recreation which is from 1999 and has no restrictions (can be installed on more than one computer):
Copy the entire CD to your hard drive, then run setup.exe and select the Compact install, and install on your hard drive.
The advantage is that it won't require you to keep inserting the CD into the drive!
- Unlike some apps, note that you can run MapSource more than once and see more than one MapSource window, which is handy for copying things from one window to the other, like to collect multiple Tracks for downloading to your device.
- Note on the left there are tabs for Maps, Waypoints, Routes and Tracks. I have not used Routes, but mainly Maps and Tracks, also some Waypoints:
- Maps will show specific portions of different maps that you have selected for this map set.
- Tracks can be one or more tracks that you can either download free off the web or save from your own collected tracks captured on your GPS.
- Waypoints are single GPS points that you have saved and named (like pins stuck onto a map to locate places).
- Maps - How to create:
- Every time you install a new map into MapSource, it is added to the drop down box in the upper left (or under View->Switch to Product), however only one map at a time can be displayed.
- A key thing to know is "Map Set": To build a small subset of maps for a short trip, you want to select specific sections of available maps to build a specific "Map Set" and save it.
To do this, you have to enable the Map Tool button (or under Tools->Map) then click to select specific sections of any of those various maps to build a "Map Set".
I usually combine basic maps along with topo maps, picking only ones from the areas I will be in.
- Also in MapSource do a File->Save As to save the mapset as a .gdb file for loading again later.
For a different trip (like Colorado-Utah, etc) you could later then select and send a different Map Set to your GPS.
- I suppose if you have a huge flash SD card then you could just make one huge mapset and ignore this entire section!
- Maps - How to send to device:
- Every time you send a specific Map Set to your GPS device (by checking Maps under What to Send), on a 60CSx it goes to the removable Micro SD card and wipes out any maps that were there before.
- This is why you need to create map sets and install them (or just keep everything always installed I suppose).
- Tracks - How to create:
- I have used 2 main sources for tracks:
- from the Internet (places like traildamage.com have .gpx track files (GPS Exchange file)) which you can download and open directly...
- OR tracks I have taken myself and received from my GPS device.
- Once you have a set of 1 or more tracks in MapSource, you can send them to your device, or save them in a .gdb or .gpx file for use again later.
- How to create your own tracks from your device:
- Receive the tracks you have collected from your device to MapSource.
- You can then select the track in the Tracks tab and right click and select Track Properties:
- From here you can delete individual points, change the color and most importantly: use "Filter..." to minimize the number of points:
- This is because older devices like the 60CSx have a max limit of 500 points per track and if you send a track to it with more than that it will simply truncate after the first 500 points.
- So to avoid this, in the Track Properties window select "Filter..." and then pick Maximum Points and set it to 500.
- A common problem with this is that 500 points is too coarse of a resolution for a long track, so you may have to break it into multiple shorter tracks:
- To do this, open up a 2nd MapSource window and copy the track from the 1st to the 2nd window and edit it in the 2nd window:
- Select the track in the 1st window and right click and pick "Copy" then in the 2nd window pick "Paste".
- You can delete individual points from the track and save a partial track file. Or you can copy a range of points from the 1st Properties window and paste into an empty track in the 2nd window.
- Repeat over and over, saving a different portion of the track points to a new track file (either .gdb or .gpx, but I think .gpx is more flexible).
- In this way you have saved a long track from your GPS into multiple track files, each one being less than 500 points each.
- When you are ready to send tracks to your GPS, each file is less than 500 points so it will not truncate it, however...
- a problem with this is it is really tedious to send 1 track at a time, so instead you can put all the individual tracks together and save them in one file:
- Load a single track file into the 1st window.
- Right click and "Copy" the track from the Tracks tab, then "Paste" it into the 2nd window Tracks tab.
- This will append to Tracks and you will have all of them listed at once, then do File->Save As and save as a .gpx file (preferably).
- Tracks - How to send to device:
- Every time you send a specific Track or set of Tracks to your GPS device (by checking Tracks under What to Send), on a 60CSx it does NOT wipe out any maps or tracks that were there before.
- So you could first send Maps then later Tracks from multiple file, or have a single .gdb file you have created that has everything in one file - Maps, Tracks and even Waypoints.
- I prefer to have one .gdb file with my Maps in it, and a separate file will all the tracks in it for the specific ride I'm going on, so this is 2 sends to the device.
GPS Misc: SW tools, Discussions on Tracks, etc:
Advice copied from a post somewhere:
- GPSFileDepot is a great resource... and been around a long time.
- GPSExchange is another great source for 'riders' of all types.
- GPSVisualizer is yet one of the best conversion programs thats free, and online.
- GPSBabel... close second for conversions
- OZIExplorer is a great 'moving map' program, and one that'll allow map overlays from digitized photos. Very nice program, and one I use extensively with scanned in paper maps (AAA, BLM, BAJA ALMANAC, ...etc).
- LBMaps/BICIMapas - great Baja maps for the Baja lover.
- *.GPX (XML Data Format) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPS_eXchange_Format) is the best file extension to save any Garmin GPS file as, being it'll cross over to most all other applications/conversion programs.
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