A Garmin GPSMAP 76CSx for Xmas. Should I be happy? www.SandMarks.net *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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 *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
> 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 *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On Dec 27, 2007 4:35 PM, John Fereira <jaf30_at_cornell.edu> wrote: > > 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. Navigational charts produced by the U.S. Government are not copyrighted and are available free of charge on the Internet and also from companies which have made DVDs from this data and sell those relatively cheaply. Charts from Canada are under a copyright owned by the government of Canada and are not freely available. Companies which produce GPS units quickly realized that they could enhance their revenue stream (e.g.: make more money) by making their units so that they only accept proprietary mapping data. They they create that proprietary data from the free US charts and cut deals with the copyright owners of other navigational data. Garmin has their Blue Charts series and others use the C-Maps. What I'd like to know is if there are GPS units out there (or Chart Plotters - some of which may not have a built-in GPS - just so you know) that easily accept the non-proprietary navigational data. This is, of course, for my mutha.... er, mother ship project. :) Craig Jungers Moses Lake, WA *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Craig Jungers wrote: > What I'd like to know is if there are GPS units out there (or Chart Plotters > - some of which may not have a built-in GPS - just so you know) that easily > accept the non-proprietary navigational data. Craig, I use an older Nobeltec raster-chart-bsed plotting program on a laptop at home which has a GPS interface. That might be the easiest way to go on your mofo-ship. As to adapting raw charts to a GPS, I'd wonder about that for small units like the Map60C I own. The display is so small; the detail of a trad. raster-based chart would overwhelm the microprocessor; clutter on the screen might lead to mental distraction. It costs about $0.13K/region to get BlueCharts, and is a small cost, relative to the overall cost of cruising. I just pay the freight and go for it. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
> On Dec 27, 2007 4:35 PM, John Fereira <jaf30_at_cornell.edu> wrote: > > > > > 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. > > > Navigational charts produced by the U.S. Government are not copyrighted and > are available free of charge on the Internet and also from companies which > have made DVDs from this data and sell those relatively cheaply. Charts from > Canada are under a copyright owned by the government of Canada and are not > freely available. > One can only hope that the Canadian Hydrographic Service will eventually follow the lead of Natural Resources Canada and make their digital data available for free. I can understand there being a cost involved in updating the "notices to mariners" (or whatever it is called), but the basic islands and water depths do not change -- any more than the data on topo maps change -- and that stuff should be available freely. If you could get vector data, there are programs that will let you convert it into the formats used by Garmin, Magellan and Lowrance GPS units. (Not sure about the units used for in-car navigation, and not sure about other brands either. But there's lots of support of the Garmin GPS handheld units.) -- Darryl *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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