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Seldom, I believe stacking transparent maps will probably work- I believe I am stacking transparent maps already. I made a single transparent ownership map for each property that included a polgon (all polygons merged) and a polyline (converted from polyline). I exported each ownership map separately. After I finished all 7 properties I installed them into Mapsource- now I select all 7 and load to GPSr and it combines them. I say they are stacked rather than combined because there are a few places they overlap (a few known areas on my .shp files I used to make the maps have errors and overlap). Would this be considered stacking?

I am still hoping that the Nuvi 765T will display like the old Nuvi 200. If it doesn't display the Garmin maps satisfactorily I will have to look more into the transparent topo maps available here or possibly making my own with the guides available here.

Also, I have not loaded haul roads on the Nuvi at this point. I'd mentioned considering it in another thread but that will be at a later date. That will be if/when things slow down some.

Here are the images I promised from the Nuvi 200 with Garmin 24k Topo installed. I took images from 3 different zoom levels for comparison.

[SOFTWARE]

So I can tweak the Garmin 24k topos using SOFTWARE? I thought it was protected and we couldn't discuss altering a published map? If its fair game I'm all ears though. It actually seems that the newer Nuvi's could be using a different .typ file than the older ones when loading the 24k topos. Is that possible?

I took some screen shots of the Nuvi 200 for comparison. I'll try to post them up in a bit.

I'll let you know a little more about the use and purpose of these units. We actually use separate units outdoors and are in the process of introducing the Nuvi's in the vehicle company wide. My purpose for the Nuvi is to overlay custom property ownership maps (thanks for the advice on them) over the garmin topos. This will make the Nuvi's work great to recon areas we are unfamiliar with- much easier and convenient to use a Nuvi and drive than linking a laptop to a GPSr and using ArcGis to do realtime tracking. We plan to keep separate GPSr to use in the vehicle and out because the outdoor units are more likely to be lost/broken hence we try to use the cheapest units that will serve our purpose- currently Legend HCX.

I realize this is probably a unique need but we manage 7 properties that exceed 600k acres combined. Once I have the maps on the Nuvi's it will give me turn by turn directions to tracts of timber hours away and on roads that I've never traveled. Adding topo maps that are easy to read in a glance and you can drive around a tract observing topography and access points before ever stepping foot on it and saving hours of ground work. Days of research and trial/error- I have this fully functional on my old faithful Nuvi 200. Some of my guys are spending hours at a time to locate tracts that are 2 and 3 hours away from them. Some of my guys are technoligically impaired while others are a black cloud for electrical devices so I have to make this as simple and cost efficient as possible.

I actually went ahead and ordered a Nuvi 765T for a pilot unit. I will update once I have tried the unit for anyone else that is interested.

According to Wikipedia the Nuvi 200 was released April 2007

The oldest widescreen unit available on Newegg is the Nuvi 765T (August 2008) and it is available for $99.

Any thoughts on whether it would display like the older units or the newer units?

I have loaded Garmin 24k Topo to a couple different Nuvi models- 200, 1300, 40LM, and an old Street Pilot c330

Observations- the 24k topo display "cleaner" on the 200 and c330 than the newer 1300 and 40LM.

Things I dislike on newer models- shading, labeling contours, multiple colors of topo lines. I know these features are probably welcomed by most users. For my use these features are clutter and a distraction.

On the older models the topo maps are simply high contrast lines, without labels or shading or anything special. Myself and the other users are very accustomed to topo maps and have 0 problems with displaying only the lines and actually prefer it that way.

Apparently there was a major change in the way the units handle maps between the older units and newer units. I'm planning to purchase some units and want to make sure they are the older technology. I am hoping that someone here knows what the difference is and which models would display similar to the Nuvi 200 and c330.

Thanks

I'm not making routable maps yet but may give that a try in the future since I purchased the capability. I actually purchased it because I thought it would remove the watermark. I like supporting developers when I can so I guess it wasn't a complete loss.

With the advice offered here I was able to accomplish my original goals and as suggested I loaded them into mapsource so they can be easily loaded to a variety of units.

I did find TYPWiz2 to be quicker and easier than the online editor way to create my custom .typ files. The 1-3-1 layout showed up great. I was completely happy with it and did not even try a different scheme.

Also, I purchased 'cGPSmapper Personal' and still have a watermark. Is there a way to remove the watermark? I can live with it but dislike it.

After using the online editor I tried to load the .typ to GPSMapEdit and it only takes .txt files?

I guess I'll need to migrate to Global Mapper now?


I appreciate all the help with this and I'm certain I'll need more but I'm going to have to give it a rest until next week. Didn't want to appear unappreciative by disappearing

I appreciate all the quick replies and advice.

I converted to polylines as Seldom suggested and I believe that will be exactly what I needed.

I don't understand what you mean with "Property GMAPSUPP.IMG in /Garmin on memory card replaces the topo 24k GMAPSUPP.IMG". Do you want to modify an existing 24k topo map? That would require the author's permission.

I don't want to modify the existing 24k topo map. I want the gps to display both the topo lines and my property lines- I was running into a problem copying my new GMAPSUPP.IMG file over to /Garmin because the file already existed.

It doesn't seem to be a problem now. I reloaded the topo maps after my custom property lines and it appears to work fine now. Probably just a noob problem to begin with.

For a good introduction to custom types, see this article, starting around page 29...

Another quick question- With custom types I should be able to set my own color and width for the polylines correct?

I have spent the last 2 days attempting this with semi success (thanks to a 2 year old post I found on another forum) and I believe I am close but could use some guidance-

I have multiple ownership layers for very large properties in Arcmap (.shp files) and would like to be able to deploy them to a variety of Garmin GPS units- currently using eTrex Legend HCX, Nuvi 200, Nuvi 1300

I have been using trial versions of software to find a method that works and will gladly purchase necessary software once I know what I need.

I have been able to load the properties with GPSMapEdit, cgpsmapper and SendMap - BUT they show up as solid polygons on my GPS units and I need them to be either an outline or Semi-Transparent so they can co-exist with other features such as roads and topographic lines.


My goals-
1. Load properties onto variety of GPS units  (GMAPSUPP.IMG)
2. Separate color for each property (Garmin types- ie. 0x0017 City Park)
2. Show outline of only of each property OR show entire property as semi-transparent
3. Properties need to co-exist with 24k topographic maps and basemap on GPS (Property GMAPSUPP.IMG in /Garmin on memory card replaces the topo 24k GMAPSUPP.IMG)

Any ideas? Maybe there is a better approach altogether? I am fairly new to this and any help would be appreciated.

On a side note-
A solid polygon probably wouldn't be a problem if I can manipulate the drawing order so that roads and topo lines show up on top of the properties.