What happens when you go off 2610 Atlantic basemap

[Tim Cullis]

If you don't have the detailed maps loaded for a particular route, the unit defaults to the Atlantic basemap.

But what happens when you go off the Atlantic basemap, for example by going south into Western Sahara (southern Morocco)?

If you constructed a route with GPS waypoints, could you still use it in 'offroad' mode?

And what's involved in downloading the World Map to the 2610?

Tim

 

[judge]

You fall off of the edge of the World!!

As fars as I understand it you will get no image in Map View but the GPS page will still show your location via co-ordinates so it's still useful in combination with paper maps.

Though every one I know has installed World Map in addition to their CityXX Software and continued to see a 'visual' of 'roughly' where they are. You can install it in addition without any problems, though for speed you may wish to turn off the redundant mapsets in the GPSR.

WorldMap is not locked to the GPSR in the same way as Mapsource's CityXX mapsets and is freely available

 

[Greg Masters]

But what happens when you go off the Atlantic basemap, for example by going south into Western Sahara (southern Morocco)?

All of the African continent is on the Atlantic basemap.

Greg

 

[Tim Cullis]

Oh, so it is. And eastern Turkey/Iran. I assumed the limit of what I could see in Mapsource was the limit of the Atlantic basemap. Thanks Greg (and Andy).

 

[PanEuropean]

And, FWIW, the contents of the Atlantic basemap in the GPSRs that support autorouting is almost identical to the contents of WorldMap (except that the basemap is more up to date) - so, there is very little advantage to be gained from loading WorldMap onto any autorouting GPSR.

As a matter of interest, the newest generation of autorouting GPSRs - the 27xx and 7xxx series - have an even more up to date basemap in them. And, before anyone asks: no, it is not possible to update a basemap. This is a technical restriction, due to how the basemap is written to a different part of the GPSR's circuit board, it is not a marketing decision.

Michael

 

[Tim Cullis]

OK, after loading Worldmap (WM) on the PC and carrying out some experiments, these are my conclusions.

1. The 'base' map in Mapsource doesn't equate to the basemap in the unit--as Greg pointed out, Africa is on the 2610 basemap but not on Mapsource's EuroCityNav map (ECNM).

2. You cannot route within Mapsource on the WM, other than using straight lines (even across oceans).

3. If you prepare a route within Mapsource using ECNM and then switch to the same area on WM the route remains, but if you recalculate the route it switches back to straight lines.

4. If you download a straight line route from WM to the 2610, and then recalculate within the unit, it seems to work, but I'm not at all confident.

There's a dearth of documentation about planning routes in general; it's not covered on the Garmin vidoe, and I think it's something Garmin should really address.

Tim

 

[PanEuropean]

Those of us who are using any of the autorouting GPSRs that have been released in the last 5 years should really forget about using the WorldMap cartography, except for a few very specialized (and very rare) circumstances.

WorldMap was released during the waning years of the Victorian Era to provide minimal cartographic support for the very early hand-held units that did not come with any kind of map in them at all. It's really a historical artifact now.

All of the autorouting GPSRs come with a built-in basemap that is pretty much equal to what WorldMap contains. If you want to see what is contained in the built-in basemap, you can easily view it by simply removing the map chip from your GPSR, and then turning it on. Or, just zoom out to a very wide viewing scale (greater than 8 or 10 miles) - the GPSR automatically switches over to drawing the screen using the basemap (not the data on the map chip) at wide viewing angles. This speeds up screen redraw.

Michael

 

[Tim Cullis]

Pan

What can you do when you run off the Atlantic basemap--i.e. travel further east than Iran, or visit the States?

How do you think Charlie/Ewan navigated? Could you just use coordinates without a map?

Tim

 

[Bert]

Using WorldMap

I agree with Michael- you cannot 'Route' with WorldMap. It just gives a very 'general' feel- hopeless for anything else; I know, I tried !! well it is the way to learn!

Best thing to do is build a set of waypoints at intervals you are happy with.
If they are accurate then you just go from one to the next adjusting for terrain/obstacles, or decide to skip some but always in the knowledge that you are going moslty in the right direction.
I find that the compass page is the most useful one as (customise your display!), if the ground is bad, you'll have more to do than try to follow a route on the GPS!!
I've collected, looked up and made quite a few points if you'd like them.

For you Dakar trip I suggest you have a paper map too Michelin 742 for Morocco 1/1 000 000 or if you're headed further south Michelin 741 1/4 000 000
IGN make good maps too www.ign.fr

 

[PanEuropean]

What can you do when you run off the Atlantic basemap--i.e. travel further east than Iran, or visit the States?

Well, you have two choices for such circumstances. The best answer would be to purchase and obtain detailed cartography for the area you are visiting - for example, North America, the Middle East, Japan, Taiwan, etc. Cartography that supports autorouting and shows street level detail is available for all those areas. Some independent companies make fully Garmin compatible cartography for other countries as well, but generally speaking, they only map the major cities.

The other choice is to load WorldMap. That's really the only time WorldMap is of use to us now - when we get right off the basemap.

Michael

 

[Tim Cullis]

Thanks Bert and Pan.

IGN make good maps too www.ign.fr

Yes, the advantage of the IGN maps is that they show lat/long, so it's possible to calculate waypoint coordinates.

Tim

 

[Bert]

I've manually extended the grids

Thanks Bert and Pan.


Yes, the advantage of the IGN maps is that they show lat/long, so it's possible to calculate waypoint coordinates.

Tim

to make reading the lats & long easier- It's not as accurate as I'd like but used in conjunction with distance, it's enough.
You may also wish to consider the Touratech TTQV option but it is more expense!You can download a trial version here http://www.ttqv.de/

Tim if you need my Garmin database, email me. I used 4 of the points you sent me but have added quite a few others. You may wish to review it, delete some and make use of others. Happy to share.

Might see you on the way down there. Casablanca for Xmas!