Re: [Paddlewise] Santa brought me...

> At 03:03 PM 12/27/2007, Mark Sanders wrote:
> >A Garmin GPSMAP 76CSx for Xmas. Should I be happy?
> 
> I've had a Garmin 76Cx for about a year.  It's essentially the same 
> as the 76CSx but without the compass.  I've been pretty happy with it 
> so far.  I've had it out in heavy rain but haven't really dunked it 
> nor checked to see if it floats as advertised.
> 
> As you may or may not have found out the base maps that come with the 
> unit are pretty lame.  There are a couple of options for getting good 
> base maps and there are different base maps which are appropriate for 
> how you're going to be using the GPS.   For street/city navigation 
> Garmin sells a "City Navigator" disc or micro SD card that covers the 
> US (there is a separate disc for Europe and other countries).  If 
> you're going to use it for hiking'/backcountry use, there is a Topo 
> map CD.  If you're going to be using it on the water Garmin sells a 
> Bluechart map disc.  Each will cost over $100 and the Bluechart DVD 
> only has a "Key" for one area of your choice.  Unlocking other areas 
> will cost more.
> 
> I have also been building my own maps using available GIS data and 
> have created some pretty good base maps with street/park/hydrology 
> and a few other features.  It's a pretty tedious process though.
> 
> 
> John Fereira
> jaf30_at_cornell.edu
> Ithaca, NY 

There's an active Yahoo! group called "map-authors" that discusses 
making custom maps for various brands of GPS units. The most popular 
is, of course, Garmin, but I have seen instructions for both Magellan 
and Lowrance units as well.

A fellow at the Univ. of Calgary has been busy creating topo maps for 
most of southern Canada using data from the GeoGratis web site where 
the vector data is freely available.

There are sites with instructions for creating your maps using data 
from the US government site -- I can't think of the name right now... 

Unfortunately, most other countries have restrictive policies 
regarding map data so the vector -- or even raster -- data is NOT 
freely available.

If you're interested in Canadian maps, take a look at:
  http://www.ibycus.com/ibycustopo/

Even if you're not interested in Canadian maps, per se, it will give 
you an idea of what is possible if you can get the vector data 
somewhere.

-- 
  Darryl
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