help a newb - routing, poi, waypoint mgmt

[plarkinjr]

I'm definitely a newb to Garmins, but not to tech (Systems Engineer) or GPS (amateur cartographer, user of Blackberry w/ GPS+GoogleEarth)....

So, I bought a Garmin eTrex Vista HCx so that I can record tracks and waypoints when I'm out in the sticks and out of cellphone coverage... and I suspect it'll work just fine for that, but I'm a little disappointed:

* Routing on Roads:  I downloaded y'all's Ibacus USA and Topo maps for Texas (great stuff), but when I ask it to navigate to a point 100 miles away, it calculates it very broadly (go east [about 8 miles from my home in the 'burbs] to major highway X), and it skips more direct routes (US highways) in favor of Interstate (urban loops).  What's up with that?

* MapSource doesnt "synchronize": every time I pull in data collected from the eTrex, it duplicates data (waypoints in particular) already in my .gdb.  There's GOT to be a better solution out there.

* Mapsource cannot seem to route via roads.  Yes, I have 'Car/Motorcycle' listed, but when I create a route between waypoints 100 miles apart, it thinks I can fly directly; doesnt consider the roads I see on the map itself.  What am I missing?

* POI's vs Waypoints:  Some POIs load as waypoints (using POI loader).  Surely there's a good tool out there for creating POI categories, shuffling waypoints into them (or POIs on the Garmin) into the new categories and pushing them up to the Garmin.

[maps4gps]

Few if any of the mapsets available on this website are routable.  The routing you are seening is  using the built in base map which is primarly Interstates.

Garmin has a free POI loader on their website.  You can put POIs into different catagories and make a custom icon for each if you wish to do so.

[-Oz-]

You need routing maps such as the OSM maps http://garmin.na1400.info/ are the best free ones you can get

[plarkinjr]

Thanks for the reply....

So, what are the key words I need to look for in hunting down maps that route usefully?  I guess thats what the Garmin "city streets" maps, which cost about half of what I paid for the unit, are for?  Google maps/earth do this really well, for free.

Here's a crazy example:  a geocache is several blocks south of my house, at the end of my street.  Via "offroad" it has me dead-reckoning 0.2 miles (basically down my street) to it - easy enough.  Using road navigation though, it wants me to dead-reckon 2 miles south to the turnpike, immediately exit said turnpike and dead reckon north about 1.8 miles.  Not terribly useful.

I know about "POI_Loader".  How does one go about putting POIs into categories?   How can you convert a waypoint to a POI?  (e.g. over at "GPS Data Team [poidirectory.com]" the Love's travel centers  load as waypoints, whereas FlyingJ and Pilot load as POIs - cannot figure out why the difference.)

Are there third-party software or maps out there that bridge this gap?

[plarkinjr]

You need routing maps such as the OSM maps http://garmin.na1400.info/ are the best free ones you can get

OSM?  Cool.... I just poked around on that site... Looks promising. Thanks!

[plarkinjr]

Thanks for the OSM tip!  That did it!!!   

Interestingly, Mapsource ends up inserting weird routes and loopbacks, but the eTrex itself picks a usable, mostly direct route.  Thanks!

So now, is there a third-party tool which is more "complete" than Mapsource?  Meaning I can manage EVERYTHING in the Garmin like POIs, Waypoints, routes?
and by Manage, I mean move items between POI and Waypoint, delete POIs, routes, tracks, synchronize without causing dupes, etc etc?

[Boyd]

BaseCamp is Garmin's new software for managing your GPS. It does everything that Mapsource does, plus some new things. People seem to either love or hate it... you will have to decide for yourself. I just started using it myself and really like it so far. It is required for using their new BirdsEye image download service (but unfortunately that won't work on your GPS).

Download it here: http://www8.garmin.com/support/mappingsw.jsp