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Oregon 550t newbie questions

Started by randyw57, July 10, 2011, 07:19:41 PM

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randyw57

I just got an Oregon 550t for my birthday in April.
Prior to that my experience with GPS' was with Garmin's automotive products.
I would buy a GPS. Then buy a map and and update package for it.
When I got the 550t I thought the procedure would be basically the same.

After using the 550t for a while I felt I wanted a map that would allow me to do
street number searches. And I wanted some satellite images as well. So I purchased
the download version of the 24K TOPO map for my region. And I purchased access to
the BirdsEye Imagery. I also started using BaseCamp.

I noticed that my new map didn't have my home address on it. Even though our house
has been here for five years. So I went looking for an update for it. Then I started to discover
that there were other map options for me when I got pointed to this site.

So with that for background, here is what I'd be looking for:
1. A super high quality map of my region that included the latest street addresses, etc.
2. Maps that include trail identifiers. I like to walk our dogs in the woods and this would be great.
    Now I use my 550t to record my trips and then back track me out if needed.
3. A map that included 'dog friendly' Points of Interest. Places that allowed dogs. Dog parks, etc.
    We are planning an out of state trip and that would be wonderful.

Plus I'm going to need some sort of tutorial on how I manage these maps. Like I said I thought
that Garmin maps were my only option. So now my thinking needs to be expanded.

Thanks for any and all help!
Garmin Oregon 550t
BaseCamp

Boyd

For what you describe, unfortunately, Garmin's 24k and City Navigator maps are as good as you can do. No third party maps support address search like the Garmin maps and they don't have anywhere near the quantity or quality of POI's.

Garmin does not update their topo maps on any regular schedule, so don't get your hopes up there. With City Navigator they update 4 times a year - you must purchase either lifetime or onetime packages for this however.

Trail data of the type you describe can be hard to find. jbensman has gone further in this direction than anyone else I know with his "myTrails" package here. They are not routable however.

Dog friendly? I dunno, you will probably do best on a site that features POI collections for that.


randyw57

OK, super.
If the City Navigator would get me things like my street address. Plus updates that would
be worth me checking into.

I'll also check out the myTrails. If I understand this correctly I could 'see' a specific trail on a map.
But I couldn't tell my 550t to 'route' me using that trail information. This may also be fine.

Great idea on the POI collections. I found the POI-Factory. It looks like it should have a lot of the things I'm interested in having. Walmarts, McDonalds, Dog Parks. Rest Areas, Wi-Fi.

Great tips. This is wonderful. I had not idea this device and technology could do anything like this!
Garmin Oregon 550t
BaseCamp

Boyd

Quote from: randyw57 on July 10, 2011, 10:36:46 PMIt looks like it should have a lot of the things I'm interested in having. Walmarts, McDonalds, Dog Parks. Rest Areas, Wi-Fi.

Well, there you go.... what more is there to life anyway?  ;D

Glad I could help.

Seldom

Quote from: Boyd on July 11, 2011, 08:01:58 AM
Well, there you go.... what more is there to life anyway?  ;D
Glad I could help.
Lizards? Cactus?