Re: Questions about maps / software

Len Philpot a écrit :
I'm new to GPS in general, having just received my new GPSMAP 76S two
days ago. I'm coming up to speed, but would like clarification on how
map handling and such is done. I've watched this newsgroup for a while
and have perused gpsinformation.net (which is a tremendous resource) as
well as a few other sites, but am still a bit unclear. Just slow, I
guess... :-)

Here's what I've been able to gather (correct me if I'm wrong) --

You buy MapSource from Garmin as well as a CD of maps (topo, highway,
POI, whatever). Once loaded on your PC, you can select the various parts
(segments?) of the overall map that you want (a mapset), which is then
loaded onto your GPSR. Right? I'm sure the software does much more,
but...

My questions --

Are there alternative programs to MapSource that do basically the same
thing? Not that I know anything about it, just curious if there's any
competition. I've seen a few that handle waypoints, track, etc., but not
specifically maps.

Likewise, are there any alternative (free?) maps available? I found
garminmapsearch.awardspace.com which looks to me as such but at the
moment the site seem unresponsive.

I'm specifically interested in topo charts and on Garmin's site, United
States TOPO looks like what I want. However, in the MapSource Viewer box
it's broken into Alaska/East/West/Hawaii. Is that just for the online
viewer, or would I have to buy both East and West to get the whole lower
48 states? Actually, TX, LA, AR & MS (and maybe OK) would cover it for
me.

I guess I've become somewhat spoiled by the amount of quality
freeware/OSS available in recent years that I was taken a bit aback at
the prospect of spending the cost of the unit again just to get some
maps.

Thanks for the help.
see TrackMaker
http://www.trackmaker-mania.blogspot.com

and TrackMaker courses http://trackmaker.lesrandoactifs.org/cours_gps_sommaire.html

English translation available online

Luc


--
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Le forum http://www.forum.lesrandoactifs.org
Le blog http://www.lesrandoactifs.blogspot.com
Les cours GPS http://www.trackmaker-mania.blogspot.com

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