New update of NWTopos is out!

[kepPNW]

I'd just about given up, thinking Jon had lost interest or run out of time for further updates of his wonderful NWTopos mapset. But no, after almost exactly a year since the last edition dropped, another new one with loads of updates (including a dozen or so that I sent him) is now available.

• http://switchbacks.com/gpsmaps.aspx

He's told me that he's really lacking in user submissions for our area, and deeply appreciates all contributions around here. (Most of his contributors are more Puget Sound based.) This gives me inspiration to keep on sending in new submissions.

[vibramhead]

Thanks for the heads up, Karl. It really is a great resource, and I've been meaning to send in a few tracks of my own.

[mjuliana]

Humm...link is not working for me. Is this a map set you load on your GPS?

[Zia]

Awesome thanks for posting the link! Now to remember how I loaded it into Basecamp and the GPS.

[kepPNW]

Humm...link is not working for me. Is this a map set you load on your GPS?

Which link? On this page - http://switchbacks.com/nwtopos/ - there are two download links, one each for Windows and Mac. Gotta pick the right one. That'll download a huge (1.3gb) ZIP file that contains a single EXE. After it arrives, extract the EXE and run it to install the mapset into BaseCamp. (You'll need to restart BaseCamp if it's running.) Then BaseCamp can download the mapset to your GPS, just as it would any other.

[kepPNW]

Awesome thanks for posting the link! Now to remember how I loaded it into Basecamp and the GPS.

I always forget, too. Don't do it much. Just run the downloaded EXE to get it into BaseCamp, then there's an "Install Maps" option under the Maps menu.

[Born2BBrad]

Awesome! I started to provide updates, but stopped when I thought it was never going to be updated again. I'll have to get back into the habit of providing detailed updates.

For those in the NW with a Garmin handheld GPS and don't already have NW Topos, this free mapset is better than anything you can buy. It's what I use when not using EP's Gorge mapset.

[Zia]

Awesome thanks for posting the link! Now to remember how I loaded it into Basecamp and the GPS.

I always forget, too. Don't do it much. Just run the downloaded EXE to get it into BaseCamp, then there's an "Install Maps" option under the Maps menu.

I *think* I got it installed. I finally got Basecamp to see both files and plugged my gps in. It loaded maps automatically (old or new, im not sure) and when I tried to install, it said I had the current ones on there. It's crazy after owning it for almost a year, I still don't have much of a clue about it besides tracking and saving tracks.

[kepPNW]

Awesome thanks for posting the link! Now to remember how I loaded it into Basecamp and the GPS.

I always forget, too. Don't do it much. Just run the downloaded EXE to get it into BaseCamp, then there's an "Install Maps" option under the Maps menu.

I *think* I got it installed. I finally got Basecamp to see both files and plugged my gps in. It loaded maps automatically (old or new, im not sure) and when I tried to install, it said I had the current ones on there. It's crazy after owning it for almost a year, I still don't have much of a clue about it besides tracking and saving tracks.

Installing into BaseCamp is pretty straight-forward. Just run the EXE from switchbacks.com, and it'll replace the older version. I always exit BaseCamp first, but at the least you'll have to restart it for it to use the new mapset.

Installing on the GPS, I get a bit more superstitious. Since I already had NWTopos (and NWTrails) installed, I ran the "Install Maps" (mapinstall.exe) wizard once first to remove those, then again to re-add the new ones.

To tell if you have the newest NWTopos (or NWTrails) loaded, you can look for the Polallie Ridge trail on Mt. Hood's east side. That's one I sent them for this update, and wasn't there in older versions.

• 

[Zia]

Finally! It took me a long time to finally get it installed. Seemed my first download didn't download properly and I didn't have the .exe file. Once I figured out what was going on, it installed just fine. Karl, Thank you for posting the picture. It was exactly what I needed to confirm I got them installed.