Garmin MapSource U.S.A. Topographical Map CD-ROM (Windows)
by Garmin
List Price:
Our Price: $46.00
You Save: $70.99 (61%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $30.00 (click here)
Category: GPS or Navigation System
See more product details
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: GarminBrand: Garmin
Edition: Electronics
Model: 010-10215-02
Publisher: Garmin
Studio: Garmin
Music Label: Garmin
Product features:
- Similar to U.S. Geological Survey 1:100,000-scale topographic paper maps
- View highways, roads, hiking trails, snowmobile trails, backwoods trails, and shoreline detail
- Icons represent boat ramps, campgrounds, public facilities, swimming, and ski areas
- Transfer waypoints, routes, and tracks between your PC and nearly all Garmin GPS units
- See Product Description for compatible Garmin products
- AmazonBasics Universal Travel Case for Small Electronics and Accessories (Black)
- Mapsource Metroguide Cd-Rom V5
- Garmin MapSource City Navigator, North America DVD-ROM for Garmin StreetPilot GPS Units
- Garmin MapSource Trip and Waypoint Manager
- Garmin US TOPO! 24K Topographical Maps of Western United States National Parks (CD ROM)
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Garmin MapSource U.S.A. Topographical Map CD-ROM (Windows)
Customer Review: Good but there are some nagging issues
Summary: 4 Stars
I break up my review into several phases:
a) Decision to buy. I find that the Garmin map software has compatibility issues in that only some maps will work well with some GPS units. Check the Garmin web site to ensure that this software will work on your GSP unit. Also check out the screen shots. In my area (San Jose) several major freeways are missing from Topo, indicating that the maps are 10-15 years out of date. When I contacted Garmin, their response is if you want roads then buy the MetroGuide or CitySelect (as appropriate to your GPS unit) and MetroGuide has the freeways. I guess that contours don't change much in 10-15 years so that's OK. But get street maps if you want streets.
Also, Topo does not support routing on the streets. MetroGuide does (on the PC only). CitySelect supports autorouting on some GPS units. If you are thinking of upgrading your GPS unit in the near future check that the map will work with the upgrade candidates.
b) Installation. I installed this over the MapSource MetroGuide North America. The manual is exactly the same as the MetroGuide, and as the CitySelect. Since there seems to be three generations of change of functionality between the different maps, the manual is not terribly helpful. And the default Topo installation - direct from CD - wants to have the CD in the drive whenever you use it. MetroGuide does not have this problem. The solution (as mentioned in other reviews) is to copy everything to the hard drive and install it from there. Once that is done the installation is painless (following the on screen instructions). Although in my case MapSource was not re-installed, all that happened was that the new maps were made available to the existing software, so it was easier for me that it will be for beginners.
As a side note, I upgraded MapSource from the Garmin web site, and now it writes data files in a format incompatible with the un-upgraded software on the MetroGuide CD. So rebuilding from CD on my PC to recover from a failure will not allow me to read my existing files.
c) Use on the PC. I found the software pretty straight forward to use, although I did not use the manual literally since many of the features described I do not have. The On-line help works and guessing seems to work also.
On thing that annoyed me is that the countor lines are at even meter intervals (e.g., 500 meters). If you change your preferences to feet the same countour lines are re-labeled in feet (e.g., 1604 feet) Since the contour intervals are now some perverse number of feet, and the labeled contour lines are of preverse numbers of feet, interpolating the contours to get the elevation in feet requires a pencil and paper or a calculator. Or you can change the setup to label in meters (and do it in you head) and then convert to feet on a calculator. It probably was impractical to have both feet and meter contours. Or maybe not, the files are not that large (about 1/10 the size of the MetroGuide files).
Another annoyance (as mentioned elsewhere) is that the maps were pretty much joined by a cut and paste operation. Sreets, and contour lines jump at the boundaries.
d) Use on the GPS unit. My unit is a eTrek Vista (the B/W version) So I find that it is sometimes hard to tell my route from the roads (when following roads). Due to the screen size and the B/W nature of the unit, I believe that the level of detail is about right for hiking. If you blow up the screen enough to need more detail the area covered is too small to be useful. If you want more detail over large areas, you will need paper maps. You can also control the amount of detail displayed. I do notice some disagreements between the GPS altitudes measured by my Vista (it has an pressure altimeter that can be calibrated by the GPS measurements) and the map altitudes, but I have seen similar problems in paper maps as well.
e) Use with MetroGuide/CitySelect. On the PC the change from one set of maps to another is just a pull down menu selection and the view changes (from Topo to Metroguide to CitySelect). The region displayed, routes, and waypoints are kept. It is fun to go back and forth and see what changes, but most of the changes are what I have seen on similar paper maps, allowing for the age differences. Note that you cannot display both at the same time (e.g. display the Topo contours over the MetroGuide streets). The display on the GPS unit is similar to the PC (but not in color on the Vista, a handicap). However, changing which map to display requires checking or unchecking each map in the entire data set, you cannot simply select Topo or MetroGuide (this is particulr to the Vista). So it is more time consuming than on the PC to change from driving to hiking navigation. I guess that this is a trade of versitility and ease of use. Incidentally, the only driving use that makes sense to me is when there is a human present at act as a navigator. The display is just too hard to read while driving.
Description of Garmin MapSource U.S.A. Topographical Map CD-ROM (Windows)
Weve mapped every hill and valley. Download data from the MapSource TOPO U.S. 2008 DVD directly to your compatible Garmin GPS. Now you can enjoy topographic mapping detail no matter where your adventures take you. TOPO U.S. 2008 features digital topographic maps for the U.S., including Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. It is available in two different formats making it easy and convenient to load data to your compatible Garmin device: MapSource DVD and preprogrammed micro SD data cards.Garmin's United States TOPO MapSource CD-ROM is similar to U.S. Geological Survey 1:100,000-scale topographic paper maps. It includes trip and waypoint management functions that allow you to transfer waypoints, routes, and tracks between your PC and nearly all Garmin GPS units (excluding the GPS 100 family and panel-mount aviation units). With MapSource, you can view highways, roads, hiking trails, snowmobile trails, backwoods trails, elevation contours, point and summit elevations, some bathymetric contours, geographic names, churches, and schools. Shoreline detail is included for lakes, reservoirs, small bodies of water, waterways, rivers, and streams. Icons represent boat ramps, dams, marinas, campgrounds, public facilities, mile markers, first aid stations, picnic sites, swimming areas, ski areas, wrecks, fuel locations, and dangerous and restricted areas.
In addition, nautical navigational aids for the 50 states are provided, including radio beacons, RACONs, and fog signals; river, harbor, and other lights; and day beacons and lighted and unlighted buoys. Shipwrecks, submerged rocks, obstructions, and other hazards to nautical navigation are also displayed.
Note on compatibility: The trip and waypoint management functions of this product work with nearly all Garmin GPS units, excluding the GPS 100 family and panel-mount aviation units. Specifically, the map-download features of this product work with the eTrex Legend, eTrex Vista, eMap, GPS V, StreetPilot, StreetPilot ColorMap, StreetPilot III, and GPSMAP 76, 162, 168, 176, and 295. Some units may require a Garmin data card to upload map data.
Digital Cameras & Photo Categories
Similar Digital Cameras & Photo Products
Garmin compatible 12v Cigarette Lighter Power Adapter for StreetPilot III Deluxe, GPS 60 GPSMap 60C & 60CS, GPS 76, 76CS, 76C, GPS V, etc. (4-pin connector)Gilsson Technologies; Gilsson Technologies; Gilsson Technologies; Electronics; GPS or Navigation System
Best price: $14.75
Garmin City Navigator North America for Detailed Maps of the United State, Canada and Mexico (DVD)Garmin; Garmin; Garmin; Electronics; Windows 2000; GPS or Navigation System
Best price: $70.99
Price in other shops:
Garmin MapSource Trip and Waypoint ManagerGarmin; Garmin; Garmin; Accessory; Windows 98; GPS or Navigation System
Price in other shops:
Garmin eTrex Handlebar Mount BracketGarmin; Garmin; Garmin; 3.5" and 5.25" disks; GPS or Navigation System
Price in other shops:
Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx Handheld GPS NavigatorGarmin; Garmin; Garmin; Electronics; GPS or Navigation System
Best price: $369.99
Price in other shops:
SanDisk Micro Secure Digital 2 GB Memory Card (SDSDQ-2048-A10M) Retail PackageSanDisk; Windows; CE
Best price: $4.98
Price in other shops:
Garmin eTrex Legend HCx Personal NavigatorGarmin; Garmin; Garmin; Electronics; Not Machine Specific; GPS or Navigation System
Price in other shops:
Garmin eTrex Carrying CaseGarmin; Garmin; Garmin; Electronics; GPS or Navigation System
Best price: $6.52
Price in other shops:
Sandisk 4GB MicroSDHC Memory Card with SD Adapter (BULK Packaging)SanDisk; CE
Best price: $0.01
Garmin MapSource 2008 Topographical U.S. Map DVD-RomGarmin; Garmin; Garmin; Electronics; Not Machine Specific; GPS or Navigation System
Best price: $84.25
Price in other shops: