I have never bothered mucking about with OSM downloads, never finding much wrong with Garmin mapping running on Garmin devices off the the BaseCamp or Mapsource platforms. But, with a spare Nav 5 to hand and a modest sized SD card, I'd thought I'd give it a go. Here are my findings:
(1) Are OSM maps better than Garmin maps?
Well, it's free to download and it covers the world; so that's a plus. How many people will actually want - or ever need - routable maps of downtown Laos or Luzon Island (as opposed to Tesco in Rhyll) is debatable but they are there if you want them. Zooming in and out in BaseCamp at high detail on a large screen Mac, I could see some difference in the fine detail, for instance the small road to my parent's former house in Provence was not shown in OSM maps, but was there in the latest Garmin maps. This was using the standard OSM maps; I haven't yet tried the updated routable version, which I read shows one way streets, bridges and the like. I'd say it was honours reasonably even; one will sometimes be better than the other, perhaps.
(2) Does OSM score over a Garmin map and any subsequent free map updates of usually one a quarter?
If you want to download the whole of western Europe in one go, probably no. Why? You have to build the OSM maps in tiles and its limited by size when it comes to the downloads. This brings us back to the question of whether you really need all the Garmin maps from northern Finland to the tip of Spain (and all the countries, cities, towns, villages, roads, streets and lanes in between) to hand on your GPS device, available in an instant 365 days a year? Of course not but as the Garmin maps come as a block, the sacrifice of perhaps three hours to download and have Garmin Express automatically install the lot overnight is no great problem. If though you are happy to have just France or or just the particular area you are going to (the Ardennes, for instance) on your device, then OSM will fit the bill admirably.
(3) Are OSM maps easy to download and install onto a computer and onto a Garmin device?
Yes. I am no IT wizard; I simply read a couple of websites on how to do it and gave it a go. The OSM software was reasonably intuitive and the download - I just chose Belgium as a trial - easy enough. The download installed into Basecamp on my Mac without a problem. Similarly, using Garmin's Mapinstall, it went straight onto the Nav 5's SD card without a glitch. I have subsequently downloaded the detailed OSM map tiles for all of France, Belgium and parts of Germany without any problem, too. I am not sure if loading one set of detailed OSM map tiles onto an SD card replaces all of the other detailed OSM maps that were there before. It would be easy to find out if I loaded Sweden in.
(4) Can you have Garmin and OSM maps on the same SD card and run both on a Nav 5?
Yes but you cannot run both at the same time. Go to your stored maps and tick (or untick) the maps you want to run or not. As the Garmin whole of Europe base map is always there - and as you probbaly only have detailed OSM maps of a particular limited area - you'll see the map display change between base detail and full detail when you drag the screen around when you run the OSM maps on your device.
(5) Is OSM fully routable?
Yes, just chose the routable version and then make sure you chose the right version depending on whether you have a Mac or a Windows based computer.
(6) Have I tried working with just the single un-routable map tiles?
No but I see no reason why they wouldn't work. In a sense they'd be like a paper map.
(7) Would I go out of my way to use OSM over Garmin maps?
Probably not. In a way it's rather like SKY TV, either you like it (and don't mind paying) or you don't. But I would if I had a basic GPS device or just wanted a map of say Sydney to Cairns and nothing else.
To sum up: I'm glad I now know how it works and that I'll be able use OSM if I wanted to. The learning curve, including reading a couple of websites, choosing the OSM map tiles, the download, the subsequent installation onto my Mac and Nav V's SD card and then a bit of playing around, took perhaps an hour. Have a go, you probably can't break anything.
(1) Are OSM maps better than Garmin maps?
Well, it's free to download and it covers the world; so that's a plus. How many people will actually want - or ever need - routable maps of downtown Laos or Luzon Island (as opposed to Tesco in Rhyll) is debatable but they are there if you want them. Zooming in and out in BaseCamp at high detail on a large screen Mac, I could see some difference in the fine detail, for instance the small road to my parent's former house in Provence was not shown in OSM maps, but was there in the latest Garmin maps. This was using the standard OSM maps; I haven't yet tried the updated routable version, which I read shows one way streets, bridges and the like. I'd say it was honours reasonably even; one will sometimes be better than the other, perhaps.
(2) Does OSM score over a Garmin map and any subsequent free map updates of usually one a quarter?
If you want to download the whole of western Europe in one go, probably no. Why? You have to build the OSM maps in tiles and its limited by size when it comes to the downloads. This brings us back to the question of whether you really need all the Garmin maps from northern Finland to the tip of Spain (and all the countries, cities, towns, villages, roads, streets and lanes in between) to hand on your GPS device, available in an instant 365 days a year? Of course not but as the Garmin maps come as a block, the sacrifice of perhaps three hours to download and have Garmin Express automatically install the lot overnight is no great problem. If though you are happy to have just France or or just the particular area you are going to (the Ardennes, for instance) on your device, then OSM will fit the bill admirably.
(3) Are OSM maps easy to download and install onto a computer and onto a Garmin device?
Yes. I am no IT wizard; I simply read a couple of websites on how to do it and gave it a go. The OSM software was reasonably intuitive and the download - I just chose Belgium as a trial - easy enough. The download installed into Basecamp on my Mac without a problem. Similarly, using Garmin's Mapinstall, it went straight onto the Nav 5's SD card without a glitch. I have subsequently downloaded the detailed OSM map tiles for all of France, Belgium and parts of Germany without any problem, too. I am not sure if loading one set of detailed OSM map tiles onto an SD card replaces all of the other detailed OSM maps that were there before. It would be easy to find out if I loaded Sweden in.
(4) Can you have Garmin and OSM maps on the same SD card and run both on a Nav 5?
Yes but you cannot run both at the same time. Go to your stored maps and tick (or untick) the maps you want to run or not. As the Garmin whole of Europe base map is always there - and as you probbaly only have detailed OSM maps of a particular limited area - you'll see the map display change between base detail and full detail when you drag the screen around when you run the OSM maps on your device.
(5) Is OSM fully routable?
Yes, just chose the routable version and then make sure you chose the right version depending on whether you have a Mac or a Windows based computer.
(6) Have I tried working with just the single un-routable map tiles?
No but I see no reason why they wouldn't work. In a sense they'd be like a paper map.
(7) Would I go out of my way to use OSM over Garmin maps?
Probably not. In a way it's rather like SKY TV, either you like it (and don't mind paying) or you don't. But I would if I had a basic GPS device or just wanted a map of say Sydney to Cairns and nothing else.
To sum up: I'm glad I now know how it works and that I'll be able use OSM if I wanted to. The learning curve, including reading a couple of websites, choosing the OSM map tiles, the download, the subsequent installation onto my Mac and Nav V's SD card and then a bit of playing around, took perhaps an hour. Have a go, you probably can't break anything.
