Aussies inUSA

[roadmaster]

Hi
just joined up with the GPSFileDepot and planning a 3 month road trip to USA mid next year.
We currently are using a Garmin 700 series which is probably 6 or 7 years old.
I used to play around with some mapping and POI when we first purchased it as we do quite a bit of camping and travelling with our caravan over here. If its relevant I have POI loader and I think Map source loaded in the P.C.
I am happy enough to read through the forums to try and access some USA maps but would like to know firstly that I'm not wasting my time on perhaps an obsolete GPS.
I guess what I hope to be able to do is download somehow the middle/north eastern road maps of USA and Canada which hopefully will slot into my Garmin and then head me in the right direction when we start our journey.
Can someone encourage me to continue or am I on the wrong page here.
I have noticed a lot of "topo" maps available. are they the ones I should be looking at?
We will be driving from Salt Lake City eastwards, up to Nova Scotia via Montreal then down to New York.
Any comments much appreciated.
Cheers from downunder

[Boyd]

What is a "Garmin 700 series"? Do you mean Nuvi 700 series?

You are correct that most of the maps here are topo maps. They will work on the Nuvi series, but the style of the display is not ideal. However it sounds like you are looking for maps that will give you turn by turn directions. In other words, you would enter your destination and the GPS would tell you where to turn to reach it. This is known as a "routable map".

If that's what you want, go to the search page here and check the "Routable" box under "Search by map features". http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/

As you will see, there are very few maps of this type at GPSFiledepot. Most of the maps here just show your position on the screen and cannot provide driving directions.

If you need routable maps, you could try the OpenStreetMap project here: http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl

I have never used these myself, but they are free and some people find them useful. They will not support all the features of Garmin commercial products however. If you want full functionality on the Nuvi, you can purchase City Navigator North America from Garmin. I believe it costs $80. However, for similar price you can purchase a new GPS that includes the same maps as well as lifetime updates. So another approach would be to just wait until you arrive in the US and buy a new unit.

Have a great trip.

[roadmaster]

Thanks for that. Much appreciated.