dropping maps on my Garmin Etrex30

[eddiearni]

Hi, I'm just figuring out how to transfer maps from the interwebs (OSM and other sources) only my GPS.

I have a couple of questions:

Is there a qualitative difference between Base Camp and MapSource?

Is there any advantage in directly adding an .img file to the mini usb in the GPS unit, and if so, is there any way one can add to a mapsupp file?

I found that when I did the latter, it certainly was easier than loading maps through BaseCamp, but I could only load one map at a time as mapsupp - so I couldn't access all the data I needed.

Hope that made sense, thanks!

[Boyd]

Mapsource is old and discontinued. I still like it and others here will probably say the same. But honestly, if you aren't already familiar with it then there's no reason to use it. Just use Basecamp. Mapsource is not fully compatible with your GPS, it will not see the waypoints you create on the eTrex.

The eTrex 30 doesn't have the limitations of older models - map files can be named anything you like as long as they have a .img extension. If you use Basecamp/Mapinstall it should create map files with descriptive names. Mapsource always creates a file named gmapsupp.img. Either way, you can simply copy these files from your eTrex back to a folder on your computer, and change their names to whatever you like (like FavoriteTopo.img). You can build up a library of maps this way and simply drag/drop them to the GPS if needed in the future.