Can someone tell me how to....

[longhorn3242]

I want to create a map (preferably through Google Earth so I can use satellite images for orientation) that includes property boundaries, locations of interest, and unmarked roads so that it can be used in a Garmin ASTRO 220.

I have existing mapsource/gpsdepot user maps for the area in question.

[SmugWimp]

The best  place to start would be the tutorial section of this website (http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/tutorials/).

After you've read through those tutorials a bit, and more specific questions come to light, bring them to the forums and they'll be answered.

Cheers!

-- Smug

[Boyd]

How large an area do you want to map? If it's relatively small (like a few counties vs a whole state), you might look at Mapwel. It is the most user friendly tool for making Garmin compatible vector based maps. And you can import your raster imagery (Google Earth, etc) to use as a background for tracing objects.

Mapwel can do it all in one program, whereas the methods described in the tutorials will require multiple programs (such as GPSMapEdit and cgpsmapper). Mapwel is not free, however the basic version is relatively inexpensive. And you can use it on your computer for free to decide if it meets your needs. You don't need to register until you are ready to send the map to your GPS. http://www.mapwel.net/

Don't get me wrong, the tutorials here are great and I use many of those techniques myself. But Mapwel should be a little easier to get up and running.

[Seldom]

Just to plug the old fashioned way, the registered ($65?) version of GPSmapEdit will load Google imagery, that you can use to trace map features over and verify features that you may have gotten from other sources.