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I've picked up a 76CSx in Canada. I spend a great deal of time in the UK and will be back there next week.
As of now, is it possible to buy or order the Topo GB maps? Can anyone suggest a retailer or mail-order dealer?
And given that I will have installed some Topo Canada data on the 76CSx, should I make my life easier by picking up a new card as well? Any recommendations on capacity of card?
I think I saw somewhere that the full UK database is 1.5Gbytes.
However, do take a close look at the specification and the demo viewer on Garmin's website. Garmin say that the product "adds ELEVATION data from the Ordnance Survey to Navteq mapping", and it looks as if that's all you get. So, if you're interested in walking/hiking, don't expect anything that remotely resembles the quality of a "proper" OS map .
Joined: 20/08/2002 11:51:57 Posts: 3859 Location: Essex, UK
Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 11:51 pm Post subject:
Yo can expect something that resembles very closely the OS maps. I have just been away on holiday and returned to find the TOPO GB software waiting for me. I will be installing it in the next day or so and will be able to give some more feedback.
What we saw at the launch though was pretty impressive. _________________ Mike Barrett
I've picked up a 76CSx in Canada. I spend a great deal of time in the UK and will be back there next week.
As of now, is it possible to buy or order the Topo GB maps? Can anyone suggest a retailer or mail-order dealer?
And given that I will have installed some Topo Canada data on the 76CSx, should I make my life easier by picking up a new card as well? Any recommendations on capacity of card?
Whew. That's four questions. Many thanks -
JacobTwoTwo
Looking at Bristol and London[Heathrow] on the viewer on Garmin's website I would find this software of limited value while driving. Just look at the roads confused with the elevation!!
Even the Pembrokeshire Coast Path is difficult to follow with chunks missing!
Joined: Feb 23, 2005 Posts: 376 Location: Catford, London, UK
Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 12:41 am Post subject:
Hi Mike,
I guess it depends if the viewer on Garmin's website is an accurate representation of the data! I compared a region that I know, using Memory Map 1:50k (Landranger) and Garmin Topo, and was very disappointed (for use walking/rambling).
Particular deficiencies that you might like to look for are: Is Yeovil Junction station marked (on the main line from London to Exeter), or even Weymouth station? Does it have most COUNTRY Pubs and Churches marked? FYI I've noticed that you have to zoom into at least the "500m" scale for most POIs, and even the more minor roads, to apppear.
Garmin themselves admit that it doesn't differentiate between tracks, bridleways and footpaths. The majority of paths that I looked at just disappear "in the middle of nowhere", making them useless for country walks (and as Strumble comments, very difficult to differentiate from all the contour lines).
Joined: Feb 23, 2005 Posts: 376 Location: Catford, London, UK
Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 3:53 am Post subject:
Hi again,
OK, I did eventually find Weymouth station(s), but not Yeovil Junction (hint: it should be just north of Stoford, ST 570 141). The snag with railway stations being shown as POIs is that they can get buried among dozens of hotels and restaurants, etc. (at least on Garmin's viewer). In some cases, stations are not even marked near to the the railway line! BTW, on the viewer you have to select the Detail as "more" to see these even on the 500m scale.
The point is that the Mapteq data is intended for a very different purpose to OS maps. If you want to find a particular named hotel or road, or a nearby petrol station, then the Mapteq data may be fine. But if you want to plan a country walk (or mountain bike ride) from a railway station, taking in a few viewpoints and a pub lunch, then IMHO you're going to be very disappointed with "Topo".
Joined: Feb 11, 2006 Posts: 109 Location: Zurich, Switzerland
Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2006 2:15 pm Post subject:
Good Day all together.
I've read this thread a few times and can't make up my mind about the TOPO map. To get started a small introduction of what I'd like to achive. With a Quest 2 and a booked holiday in Cornwall I'd like to do some hiking. I've been in in that area once and used the map browser to get a picture of what this map will look like.
I've zoomed in on Crackington Haven down to the 150/200m level with "Details" set to more. From there I've went a little up to North-East, there you'll find the point called Tresmorn. This area I know as I've stayed there for a few days. I've seen some of the costal path, but esp. near the village Crackington Haven it's quite unclear where those path head to and from my memory, some of the path continue further on but on the map they just end "in the middle of nowhere".
Can anybody how has a similar setup as I've described above give me some info on how this looks on a real Garmin device and if it's an exact replication on the web as you'd see on the device itself. From what I've found in this and other threads this seems not always to be the case?!
What do you think, is it possible to do some hiking say with the GB TOPO loaded into the Quest 2 and some basic description found on the leavelets given out by the tourist board without getting a "real" paper map for that region?
The other possibility would be to load the SMC data into my Quest 2. But from what I understand, you don't have any path information in there.
What I've read too on this board is that there is a combination of the TOPO layer and road map layer already loaded in the device anyway. Does this mean, that to get a complete picture, you need to view those two maps together? As an example, comming down into Crackington Haven, the costal path continues on a small village road. Meaning, do you only get the complete picture if those two layers of mapping are working together?
The price tag is quite high. So any thoughts are very welcome!
Joined: Feb 23, 2005 Posts: 376 Location: Catford, London, UK
Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2006 8:37 pm Post subject:
Hi BeatO,
Sorry, I don't have Garmin's Topo (and have no intention of buying it), but the "Mapsource" viewer on Garmin's website did seem to correspond well with the version I have on my PC (I don't have a mapping GPS). However, I have looked at the same region of OS 1:50k map using Memory Map (just typed in Find Place : Crackington Haven) and IMHO, there's absolutely no comparison, with "Topo" not showing any of the following details:
The eastward-heading path on Topo which just stops, actually goes on to a church, a further network of footpaths, "white" and "yellow" roads and woodland. At Crackington Haven, the OS map shows a pub, a car park and public telephone, etc. Perhaps someone with Topo can say whether any of these appear as "Points Of Interest" there. Furthermore, I really can't understand Garmin's colour scheme, with paths, tracks and minor roads all as black lines, and almost indistinguishable from contour lines in brown. Then there are assorted patches of yellow, orange, green and pink, etc., which don't seem to correspond with anything on the OS map!
It depends how much of the UK you want maps for, but I think you'd be much better spending £7 each on some paper OS Explorer maps. You can see how the region looks by typing in "St Gennys" on the OS Getmapping website (and then zoom in):
Don't get me wrong, I'm basically a great fan of Garmin and their GPS hardware. But IMHO their products are rather "American", and you should not underestimate the exceptional quality of British OS mapping.
There's not a great difference between Fugawi and Memory Map on a PC (I have previously posted some of my own views, on this site), and both effectively give you the equivalent of 50 Landranger maps for about £1 each . But I think MM is generally a "safer" recommendation (e.g. easier to use, with better technical support). However, for use on a Pocket PC, I think MM is *far* superior to Fugawi.
Joined: Feb 11, 2006 Posts: 109 Location: Zurich, Switzerland
Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2006 10:44 pm Post subject:
Thanks to strumble and AllyCat.
It always a pleasure to get such usefull information in a public forum from the English, Thanks!
strumble, I've got your email, the maps look very good, that's about what I expected them to look on the device itself.
AllyCat, thanks for the hint with the MM, I've taken a tour around their website to get some more information about it.
But some points are stil a mistery to me. strumble writes in his email to me, that he's got a iQue 3600. To my knowledge, this is a PocketPC based model.
For both products, Fugawi and MM, the ability to download maps to PocketPC devices is mentioned. Further more they advertise the possibility to download Waypoints to GPS devices like the ones from Garmin. But what I did not find out is, if it's possible to download these maps to a mapping GPS devices like Quest 2.
I'd like to get the maps for Cornwall and then download them to the Quest 2 to have them ready for use. I won't bring my Notebook with me, so I won't be able to do any up/downloading while in the UK.
Can somebody shed some light on this topic, is it possible to download these maps to the handheld mapping GPS like Quest 2?
Joined: Feb 23, 2005 Posts: 376 Location: Catford, London, UK
Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2006 1:37 am Post subject:
Hi BeatO,
No, it is not possible to transfer the "raster scan" maps from MM, etc. to a mapping GPS which requires "vector" maps. In addition nearly all manufacturers use their own proprietary data formats for copyright reasons (or just to make money for themselves ). Similarly the maps for MM and Fugawi (and others like Anquet and Tracklogs) are not compatible with each other, which is why it's important to make a good choice.
Furthermore, I should warn you that the OS are very protective of their copyright. So software that uses OS data has to be a "special" version that generally works only with OS maps (there are different versions for the rest of the world). However, you are normally considered to be buying the maps (or technically a license to use them) and the software is "free".
I hadn't noticed that you are in Switzerland or I would have said a little more about OS maps (at the risk of going slightly off-topic). Large-scale OS maps are maked in 1km squares of the Ordnance Survey Grid (OSGB or BNG) so it is very easy to locate your position on a paper map from a GPS reading (which is in one metre units).
Cornwall is covered by about 5 "Landranger" (1:50k) maps or 10 "Explorer" (1:25k) maps. They both show all "Rights of Way" (footpaths, etc.), but the Explorers also have field boundaries and gradually the new "Right to Roam" areas marked. Many churches (various symbols) and pubs (PH or a "beer glass") are shown, which make good waypoints because footpaths very often lead to them (and you might want refreshments ).
If you've never seen an OS map, I strongly suggest you get one by mail order from, say, Amazon. Or the following site gives details of OS maps (I bookmarked it only because at the time they were cheapest for MM):
If you are really contemplating spending £150 on "Topo", I seriously suggest you consider spending a little more on a cheap PDA, a GPS-PDA connecting cable, a region of Memory Map and a 4xAA "battery extender" box. Oh, and a 128M SD card should be enough for Cornwall (but I'd buy bigger). And whether you go "paper" or "electronic", a good waterproof map case for the British weather .
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