custom maps for GPS receivers

[Eric Peterson]

Yeah, Basecamp being used to send maps to the Garmin is a bit cumbersome but doable.

I think it's the reason hard core Garmin users still use the older deprecated Mapsource
utility to easily send maps back and forth. Or even just continue to use sendmap
that the cgpsMapper guy also built.

As far as Custom Maps go, you can set them to either draw lower than your custom
mapset or store bought mapset, or draw on top. There doesn't seem to be a middle
ground, which I think is odd. So I have my Custom Map kml's drawing lower so I can
still see the Gorge Mapset/NW Topo's combo information but still see the scanned
Green Trails kml. You can also just turn off the kml since my kml's are more or less
just for fun and if zoomed in to much they just cloud important stuff up like contours
and cliff bands

Some day I will even further explain what I know and how I do things and update
my server with the information. I'm not a hard core topo guy like some of you
guys but I just try to figure out what I need and get it done one way or the other.

[kepPNW]

I have used BaseCamp a bit but I'm sort of confused by it. Is there a way to see both my custom map and a Garmin map?

Pretty sure BaseCamp will only display a single selected mapset at a time.

[Eric Peterson]

Since a Custom Map is a kml you can import the kml into Basecamp, then select
your mapset and it will show both. The kml draw order is the clincher though, it
determines how much of the kml you will see over or under the mapset.

I think I got that right.

[Adventure Mapper]

My confusion results from the fact that my custom maps are not .kml. The custom maps I've been making for my old GPS (RINO130) are vector maps transfered to the receiver as .img files. I can still do this with my new GPS (RINO650) but I can also add a .kmz raster map.

There is also some confusion because .kmz is a sort of meta file, i.e., it is a file of files. It can hold vector information as well as raster information. In fact it can hold links and instructions to load other information. (The attached .kml file will load several raster layers of information about modeled snow conditions that may be interesting. I have unziped it so it can be examined as text to get an idea of how it works.) I don't think you can load a vector map into a Garmin receiver as .kml. It must be .img as far as I know.

When I want to see both my custom map and the Garmin map I'm referring to my custom vector map and the Garmin vector base map.

[Eric Peterson]

Ahh, Basemaps, Custom Mapsets and Custom Maps are all different I believe.

My Garmin came preloaded with a super basic basemap which I've turned off since
it interferes with the custom user built mapset I'm using.

Mapsets are the more in depth maps that are either store bought commercial
software or user made free ones like NW Topos

Custom Maps are just kml raster images that can float under or on top of your
basemap and mapset.

I think I got that right...

[Adventure Mapper]

Ahh, Basemaps, Custom Mapsets and Custom Maps are all different I believe.

My Garmin came preloaded with a super basic basemap which I've turned off since
it interferes with the custom user built mapset I'm using.

Mapsets are the more in depth maps that are either store bought commercial
software or user made free ones like NW Topos

Custom Maps are just kml raster images that can float under or on top of your
basemap and mapset.

I think I got that right...

Indeed you have got it right ... and cleared up some Garmin terminology that I was not familiar with.

I have always held onto my GPS receivers until they were far out of date. Long after receivers with maps were available I was using one without. I did this by making paper maps which were far superior to the low resolution, slow updating, B&W maps that were available at the time. My son, the physicist, wrote a program that made a downloadable track that formed a grid, as if someone had walked a boustrophedonic (Google it) path. With this grid on my GPS receiver and also on my custom made paper map I was able to navigate quite well. In fact I still use this technique because the paper map is so much easier to read than the small screen. I have a 13"x19" photo quality printer.

I never did use any purchased maps, preferring to construct my own from publicly available data. I found that in the process of constructing my own map I came to understand the terrain pretty well before going out. When I did get a GPS receiver that would hold maps I found a way to load the maps I was making to print.

This is a long explanation for why I use the term "custom map" in the general sense of any map, electronic or paper, designed and constructed for a specific purpose. To Garmin "basemap" is for the map that comes standard in the receiver, "custom" is for anything else. "Mapset" seems to refer to vector maps. Just a few days ago I bought a new Garmin receiver and with your help I have been learning the terms Garmin uses to market their maps. They could do us a big favor by introducing their customers to the difference between vector and raster maps and using those terms in their marketing.