Hello,
I am new to GPS other than my Garmin in my car. I just bought a GPSMAPS 60CSX and installed Basecamp on my PC. I keep seeing tutorials and screenshots of cool maps with trails and the ability to click a start and end point and Basecamp plots a route that you can download - just what I'm looking to do.
I'm going hikng in Idyllwild next weekend so I type that in the Find, but in my Basecamp all I see is is a white screen with a few black lines for highways (no topos, trails, etc.). I think I'm missing a big step somewhere. I tried downloading a mapfile from this site but it was a .img file that Basecamp doesn't recognize. Do I need to buy Garmins West Coast Topo or something? I don't mind spending the money if that will get me what I want, but I've read some pretty bad reviews on the Garmin 24K series Topo maps (West Coast at least) and I'm not sure if that's even what I need to do. I don't want to do anything too fancy, just be able to plot a course on my PC then download it to the Garmin and perhaps upload my trip to see where we actually hiked after the trip is done. Sorry if this has been discussed already, but I'm frustrated and just need someone to tell me what I'm doing wrong. Thanks in advance for any input. ???
I s
Be patient, Grasshopper and all your questions will be satisfactorily answered. The mighty ones who freely give their wisdom here will be back shortly. They are on a coffee break at the moment..... :)
First, install Mapsource since you may want to use it as well: http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=209
You can download some maps from this site and install them like this: http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/tutorials/how-to-open-maps-in-mapsource/
Then send a portion of a map to your gps like this: http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/tutorials/how-to-load-maps-on-my-garmin-gps-unit/
Very few of the maps on this site support routing, they will only show your position and let you display tracks and waypoints. If you want to create routes you will need "real" Garmin products. The 24k topo series has routable roads and trails as well as POI's for things like restaurants, gas stations, stores, etc. City Navigator also has all this, but no topo features.
But play around with the free maps here first and you may find they are adequate for recreational activities (as long as you don't need the GPS to give you turn-by-turn directions).
Sounds like you downloaded the CA topo. That mapset is two mapsets in one; one with contour lines, the other all other data. A common occurence is only selecting the planimetric (non contour) data. Use the marque tool to select both at the same time. I have not tried BaseCamp; but in MapSource the large window on the left will list the quads/segments selected. One of the 'subsets' uses numeric file names, the other alpha.
OpenStreetMaps are routable. You can use my California contour overlay mapset to add contour lines to CityNavigator and other mapsets which do not include contour lines. The West Coast was Garmin's first 24k topo and many have reported little or no trails even though they advertise it as have trails. The website www.outdoor-resources.com offers trail data for the Southwest.
BaseCamp/MapSource will not 'see' a mapset until it is installed. Be sure to restart BC/MS if you installed a mapset while they were active as they only check for installed mapsets when they start. See the tutorials which Boyd mentioned.
The links to the tutorials are just what I needed - THANKS. Really cleared up some confusion I had about MapSource and Basecamp - I know understand that those are just the portals to view the maps and not the whole mapset itself.
So with that being said, do most people end up buying the Garmin Topo maps or are the ones you can find online sufficient. I'm strictly using this GPS for hiking/packing SoCal and Sierra trails. Can anyone recommend a downloadable TOPO/Trail map that would be good for my area.
Thanks again.
Tim
Ok, I downloaded California Topo and I can view it in Basecamp but how the heck does this help me plot a course to where I want to go? I think I can see mountain range I want to go (only based on the highways) but I certainly have no idea where the trailhead is or where the valley is that we want to hike to and camp.
Here's my goal after opening a map in Basecamp or MapSoarce and locating the general area we will be going next weekend:
1) Mark the location of where we will leave the vehicle at the trailhead.
2) Mark a waypoint at fork in the trail where we have to keep right
3) Mark a point on the trail where we are by a stream so we can fill up on H2o
4) Mark an approximate area in the Little Tahquitz Valley where we want to camp.
5) Download this informaton to my GPSr so when we arrive in the parking area I can turn it on and it will show me that I'm at my car and my first waypoint is 2 miles away in that direction.
Is this a reasonable goal or am I asking too much? Sorry, I've been at this for 3 nights now and again I'm very frustrated. Will going out and buying the Garmin or Nat Geo maps going to help me with this? Im way past the point of caring about how much anything costs, I just want something I can see a recognizable start and destination point.
What HUGE piece of the puzzle am I missing? Any advice much appreciated.
First, a disclaimer, I am no expert but have been wrestling with some of the issues you've raised.
From my point, I think you might be asking a little too much, but maybe not...If you can do all of the items on your list with just a paper topo laid out in front of you, then maybe you're all set. I for one probably couldn't, except roughly. For example, I could navigate along a stream bed, but that doesn't mean that I could pre-locate a spot to get access. Same way for an overnight spot, the conturs are at best good for 20' or so, what they don't show might rule out lots of sites, (boulders, tree stands, who knows)
If you can get trail head info from a Park or other source, then you should be able to list it as a way point and send it to your gps. For example, the organization that covers portions of the Appalachian Trail has guidebooks and maps with that kind of info. You might need to get precise location coordinates though.
Detailed trail 'tracks' can be located online for some/many trails. These tracks are way point collections that someone else has recorded when they hiked that particular trail. You can download them as gdb or gpx files; at that point you could consider them 'routes' on your gps. If the author located water access, campsites etc, then you would have that information as contained in his file. (Here is a sample for one in the Shenandoah Forrest, VA http://www.hikingupward.com/SNP/JeremysRun/ Look for the 5th or 6th point in the table near the top where it lists gbd or gpx files. When you open in Mapsource or Basecamp, the trail is visible. Hope this helps some. Good luck
J
T1993, I'm not sure I understand your issue. Why can't you just create new waypoints for parking, trial fork, Water, and Camping and send them to your GPSr? Or even create them ON THE GPSr itself?
J - thanks for the info, I think I'm slowly starting to understand what I can and can't do with my given setup and information.
babj615 - my problem is I know how to enter the a position on my GPSr (or download it) I just don't know how to obtain that position by looking at the CA Topo map I downloaded. I can see the general area that we are going, but have no idea where exactly the trailhead, fork in the trail, stream, or destination valley is so I can drop a waypoint. What I was hoping to see is a map like the one I can buy at my outdoor outfitter that clearly shows the parking area, dotted line with a fork in the trail, and even spells out the name of the valley we are headed right on the map. I'm pretty sure during my several hours of GPSr research I saw a demo where a guy clicked on the start of the tailhead then clicked on his destination and the sofware filled in the actual route then he made some waypoints along the route. I think it would be really cool to be able to look at the GPS on the trail and show me where I'm at on the route and how far to my next waypoint.
I'm not too worried about loading the whole map on my GPSr, I would just like to be able to download or enter a set of waypoints in key locations from the information I entered on my PC based map. If I tried to do this right now I would be totally guessing on the spots where I'm putting my waypoints and I know that is not the right way to do it. I played with it more last night and found that my map detail was set to "low" or "normal" so I turned it up to high which did help a little bit because I can now see what I think are trails (or streams) but certainly not enough info to confidently plot a waypoint (a simple marker legend in the corner of the map would help) I'm sure the free maps that are available provide enough information for someone who is experienced with this to plot some accurate locations, but for a first time user I'm finding it pretty tough to do.
Im beginning to think the technology to obtain this kind of data is out there, but a user-friendly graphic interface to put this data to use just isn't there yet.
T1993: I dont have that map installed right now, as I do not travel to CA, but I am in WA state, and find the WA TOPO and WA TRAILS maps to be better than anything garmin has to offer for exactly what you are wanting...
I assume you are looking at them in Basecamp for now? Or are you looking at them on your GPSr?
And trails etc are not clearly marked?
I see in this list (//http:///www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/state/ca) that California Topos (http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/28/) does not list Trails as being included.
But Southwest United States Topo (http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/109/), Trails From 100k Maps (http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/250/), Ibycus USA (http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/19/), and a few others all list trails as being included.
I suggest installing them all and examine each in Basecamp to see if any get you what you're looking for.
The maps I can see in Basecamp show the TOPO lines and what could be trails, but nothing that shows where these trails originate (i.e. the end of a road) and nothing to indicate that you are even in the right area or on the right trail. I was just looking for something that shows a little more detail markings like "trailhead" "Pacific Coast Trail" "Big Bear Peak" "Millers Lake" etc. just so I know that I'm for sure looking at the right trail.
The printed maps you can buy at the outfitters were specifically designed for that purpose. The data available for us to make maps comes from various public sources - none of which was designed to make maps for GPSr usage.
Since Garmin does not sell any mapsets to be used as an overlay to another of their mapsets, neither BaseCamp nor MapSource was given the capability to display two mapsets at the same time.
Trails can be made routable, as you saw in that demo, but that needs to be built into the mapset when it is constructed.
The author of the CA topo map made it to meet the requirement of her group and choose not to include POIs that are included by other map authors in their topo maps. OZ got her permission to include it here.
Thanks for the info everyone. I think I'm slowly starting to get this. I downloaded the Trails 100K which looks like it is an overlay for other maps showing just trails. I also loaded the SW US TOPO map which has just the right amount of detail I was looking for but no trails. Can I open both of these maps at the same time adding the trail info to the SW TOPO map? Can I do this in Basecamp? That would be just what I was looking for.
T1993: Basecamp only allows us to view one map at any given time. Viewing multiple maps at once is a feature we would all like to see Garmin add to Basecamp.
What GPSr are you using? If it is a newer unit (Oregon/Dakota/GPSMap62) you can install and enable both maps and view them together on the unit.
I have a GPSMAPS 60csx. I dont think you can open more than one map at a time, but I thought I read somewhere that you could combine both into a single .img file somehow - does that sound right?
Quote from: Trojans1993 on April 23, 2011, 11:31:10 PM
I have a GPSMAPS 60csx. I dont think you can open more than one map at a time, but I thought I read somewhere that you could combine both into a single .img file somehow - does that sound right?
Yes, you can view both at the same time on your GPS, you don't need one of the newer units for that.
I think you are confusing files with maps. All Garmin units allow you to use multiple maps and to enable more than one at a time. Newer models allow you to place each map in a separate file. With older models, you must combine all the maps into a single file named gmapsupp.img however this does not affect their function on the GPS itself.
Do I use MKmap and MKmapGUI for this or is there a better option. Also, there are several .img files in the two map folders that I want to load onto my gps, how do I know which .img files to select to combine?
T1993:
For the Garmin GPSMAP60csx you will need to use MapSource.
Once you have installed MapSource, and have installed the maps you want to use with your GPSMAP60csx, open MapSource.
Select the first map you want to use in the drop down menu at the top left of the MapSource window.
Select the "Map Tool" from the toolbar.
Zoom out until you can see the entire area of the map you want to use. Zooming out, you will eventually see grid lines where the mapset you have selected is broken up into quadrants, or different areas.
Having enabled the "Map Tool" in the toolbar, simply left click and drag the mouse to select the parts of the map you want to include for use on your GPSr, or simply left click once in each quadrant to enable/disable it. As you do so, you will see them listed in the "Maps" tab to the left side of the map.
Once you have selected everything you want to use from the first mapset, simply select the next mapset to use from the drop down menu at the top left of the window, as before.
Now repeat the process, selecting the sections of the map you wish to use, noticing they are added to the "Maps" tab list as you do so.
At the bottom of the list you will see the total size for all selected map area. If this exceeds the size of available memory on the SD card in your GPSMAP60csx, you will not be able to transfer the map.
Once you have completed selecting all map areas from all maps you wish to use, select "File", "Save As..." and save the map database to a safe location for future use. Use a file name that reminds you what is included in the custom map you have just created.
You can also add Waypoints, Routes, and Tracks to the map, and save the entire collection for future reference.
Now all you need to do is connect your GPSr and selelct "Transfer", "Send To Device", select your connected GPSr or GPSr SD card, and wait for MapSource to complete the task.
REMEMBER, this erases/over writes any maps you currently have on the GPSr or SD card, so back them up first if necessary.
Restart the GPSr once MapSource is finished, and enable the new maps you have installed on your unit, referring to the documentation that came with the unit for proper procedure to do so.
babj-
Thank's so much for the instructions - that's just what I was looking for. Doesn't seem like Garmin blows their budget on printing instructional manuals and thanks to sites like this we can find the help we need.
Tim
T1993, Glad we got that sorted out!
;-)
Just got back from a 3 day pack trip in the San Jacinto mountains here in SoCal and thanks to the instructions I received my GPSr worked perfectly. I was able to merge the Southwest TOPO info and the hiking trails from My Trails in Mapsource, send it to the GPS, and the information from both maps displays on the GPS. It was great being able to see exactly where i was at in relation to the trails in the area. Also nice to be able to confirm my suspected location when navigating by map and compass.
Thanks again for the all the info.