Anyone Tried Using OpenStreetMaps yet ?

[xGSTQ]

I just got back from Morocco and was using my Zumo 660 I downloaded the free topo maps that are available and used them fine, they showed all the main roads and could be used in MapSource to make routes if you wanted too. The only downside to these topo maps is that its just an image and you cannot make routes from within your zumo i.e. take me to Fez don't work

However on the ferry we made friends with a German couple who was using the Zumo 550 and he had put Morocco maps on from OpenStreetMaps >> http://www.openstreetmap.org/ he said he just downloaded (his English was excellent) the Morocco map from OpenStreetMaps and chucked it on his SD card, and he COULD route from A - B as well

So i thought I would ask if anyone else had tried OpenStreetMaps

I think he told me the entire world map was 32GB but of course you can just use the parts that you intend to visit, surley this would render buying maps from Garmin and TomTom and alike as OpenStreetMaps is Open Source and updated maintained for free by Joe public, sounds too good to be true hence why I wanted to see of anyone else had used it before I delete the maps of my Zumo !!

 

[xGSTQ]

Here is a direct link to all the Map Files >> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Map_On_Garmin/Download

All you need to do is load them into MapSource and then import them to your Garmin

 

[Sofasleeper]

Just back from 3000 miles around Spain and Morocco using a Zumo 550 on my GS. The OpenStreetMap solution worked brilliantly (and cheaply!) for me. No glitches experienced and an excellent level of mapping in Morocco, including to the door instructions to hotels where I had them loaded. In fact I noted no difference in performance between the Gx product in Spain and OSM in Africa. Importantly for some, the routing function also worked perfectly, which is not the case with some of the mapping downloads you get get.

 

[rce]

At the moment the UK ones I have tried aren't complete and some errors in routing are worse than Garmin versions. Had high hopes and travel to some areas worked well but others it was worse than useless.

Shame they don't have a way of building the Garmin compatible maps from the latest data.