Advice for Converting FAA Sectionals

[LTCSZ]

I feel that I am a reasonably intelligent guy ,(there is some debate on this) but I am totally frustrated...I have been trying to geo-reference some FAA Sectional aviation charts downloaded from the FAA's free site...I convert them to .jpg with no problem...But, when I try to match them up with Google Earth to geo-reference them, I cannot get the map to the proper size to match the geo image...I understand the process, but I just can't quite get 'er done...I must be missing something small but apparently significant...Could someone help me out? Thanks a lot...

Steve

[Boyd]

Sorry, I know nothing about FAA charts. Is that what you want? http://aeronav.faa.gov/index.asp?xml=aeronav/applications/VFR/chartlist_sect

If not, please post a link that explains the file format of the data you are downloading. It appears that the charts in the link above are geoTIFF files. You should not waste your time with Google Earth, that is a very crude and limited way to make custom maps. Instead, look at the following programs. I believe they will directly import the files and chop them up to make custom maps.

The maps are already georeferenced, which will be much more accurate - and easier - than screwing around with Google. The G-Raster author is a member here and frequently helps users with questions about his software.

http://moagu.com/?page_id=155
http://www.the-thorns.org.uk/mapping/

For more powerful (and more expensive) software, look at Globalmapper. It can open almost any kind of file and export it in the needed .kmz format for Garmin. You can play with the free demo to see if it works. http://www.globalmapperforum.com/download/