bazzjazz said:
A geologist friend of mine was asking me if there is a handhelp GPS to which you can upload customised vector maps.
I do this very thing with a Magellan Meridian and the free Magellan Mobile Mapping Software (download from the Magellan site).
If he wants an all in one package you can buy the special
Mobilemapping GPS package that includes GPS but the way I do it is.
1. Ride the track I am interested in, save it off as a track log on my Magellan Meridian.
2. After I have dozens of these tracks I load them into my Oziexplorer software, this allows me to export the tracks as vector shape files but lets me use the raster map as a background image to make sense of what I am doing.
3. I take the exported vector .SHP file (like a DXF files), load it into the Mobilemapping software, set the format eg dashed line, what colours etc, and then tell it to make a map. I can then save that map to SD card and load it as the detailed map on my Magellan Meridian, all very easy once you have the software and have done it once. I produce my own detailed maps* of just stuff I am interested in. Of course you are not restricted to saved tracks, form Ozi I have digitised various bits off raster maps, saved them as .SHP files and made Magellan vector maps that way
Mobilemapper can also import .DXF files, so that should not be a problem.
You can also use 3rd party software like
GPSTrackmaker to do the same thing on virtually any mpping GPS it supports. I don't have a Garmin Mapping GPS (I refuse to get one until they change their policy on properitary memory) I do have an Etrex but this is a non mapping GPS so I can't comment on how GPSTrackmaker works with the Garmin GPS products.
Here is a Yahoo EGroup set up for
Mobilemapper
Hope that is of some help ?
* In this context this is a Magellan term to mean the map on the GPS other than the basemap, you can have dozens of these if you wish and load them off yrou SD card BUT you can only display one at a time
