It is glancebblamm Fault!

[Siskiyou]

Glanceblamm got me thinking about using the Highway page in Garmin gps units.  I first tried it when I got my Garmin Legend a few years ago.  I found that I preferred using the compass pointer.  And I might have played with it some when I purchased my 76C.  After today’s session I give the Highway Page higher marks for land navigation.

I used three different Map Page options in approximately four miles of a slow walk because I was trying different options on my 76Cx.  Of course my unit has the Basic Map, which comes factory installed on the unit, and I have installed City Navigator, and USA Topo on it.

The best results was using City Navigator and Auto Routing to a Waypoint that is located on the edge of a street about 1.5 miles from home.  The Highway screen provides four data field boxes, and a screen showing your location with an arrow, and a Highway to your Waypoint.  The Waypoint name will show at the end of the Highway.  The name of the street where I was to turn appeared on the highway screen and it gave me the distance to that intersection in one of the default data boxes.  If I was driving around looking for my next turn that would be a handy feature.  But it is not need out walking.  But the name of the street I was to turn on showing on the page was nice.

The highway made a turn on to the street that I was to take, but I found because I was using City Navigator that it also showed some other main streets.  This was not confusing. 

About halfway there I stopped and changed my Map Option to USA Topo hiding City Navigator.  I had to recalculate a route, and because USA Topo does not auto route I now had a direct line compass route.  On my colored screen the highway background is brown with grids, a blue sky, and a purple highway with a black centerline.  The curvature of the road then took me on the outside edge of the Highway.  But a hiker can maintain his general sense of direction without any problem.  The Highway will change position on the screen as the user moves.

I then hid USA Topo and used the Basemap and finished the walk to the Waypoint.  My older USA TOPO does not provide a lot of street names.  It showed the streets without names. 

I switched to City Navigator and pan across the map to an intersection and hit enter which brought up an address and street name, I then selected GoTo, and was given the options of Follow Road or Off Road.  I selected Follow Road and was auto routed to that location.  And I viewed my progress using the Highway screen.  It routed me up a number of streets and I could see the next key street name ahead of me on the page.

When I arrived at the intersection I next selected the Base Map and my Home Waypoint.  I followed an indirect route.  I also changed the default data boxes to fit my needs.  I keep the two top ones, Speed, and Dist To Next.  But I selected To Course and Heading for the bottom two.  I feel that they would best suit my needs in the woods.  What I really did was set it up to work with my mental compass.  For a quarter mile my heading was North and To Course was showing the course was West.  A couple of streets later I turned West and both data boxes were showing West. 

When using a unit without a map, a Base Map, or USA Topo I recommend the user go to Menu, you will get a drop down screen with some options.  Select Recalculate, and Enter.  This will recalculate your position in relationship to you destination.

I would recommend practicing with the Highway Page on foot before trying it in a motor vehicle.
 

[victorcharlie]

The highway page is new to me......

I'm still trying to figure it out!

[Glanceblamm]

Glanceblamm got me thinking about using the Highway page in Garmin gps units.  I first tried it when I got my Garmin Legend a few years ago.  I found that I preferred using the compass pointer.  And I might have played with it some when I purchased my 76C.  After today’s session I give the Highway Page higher marks for land navigation.

I used three different Map Page options in approximately four miles of a slow walk because I was trying different options on my 76Cx.  Of course my unit has the Basic Map, which comes factory installed on the unit, and I have installed City Navigator, and USA Topo on it.

The best results was using City Navigator and Auto Routing to a Waypoint that is located on the edge of a street about 1.5 miles from home.  The Highway screen provides four data field boxes, and a screen showing your location with an arrow, and a Highway to your Waypoint.  The Waypoint name will show at the end of the Highway.  The name of the street where I was to turn appeared on the highway screen and it gave me the distance to that intersection in one of the default data boxes.  If I was driving around looking for my next turn that would be a handy feature.  But it is not need out walking.  But the name of the street I was to turn on showing on the page was nice.





The highway made a turn on to the street that I was to take, but I found because I was using City Navigator that it also showed some other main streets.  This was not confusing. 

About halfway there I stopped and changed my Map Option to USA Topo hiding City Navigator.  I had to recalculate a route, and because USA Topo does not auto route I now had a direct line compass route.  On my colored screen the highway background is brown with grids, a blue sky, and a purple highway with a black centerline.  The curvature of the road then took me on the outside edge of the Highway.  But a hiker can maintain his general sense of direction without any problem.  The Highway will change position on the screen as the user moves.

I then hid USA Topo and used the Basemap and finished the walk to the Waypoint.  My older USA TOPO does not provide a lot of street names.  It showed the streets without names. 

I switched to City Navigator and pan across the map to an intersection and hit enter which brought up an address and street name, I then selected GoTo, and was given the options of Follow Road or Off Road.  I selected Follow Road and was auto routed to that location.  And I viewed my progress using the Highway screen.  It routed me up a number of streets and I could see the next key street name ahead of me on the page.

When I arrived at the intersection I next selected the Base Map and my Home Waypoint.  I followed an indirect route.  I also changed the default data boxes to fit my needs.  I keep the two top ones, Speed, and Dist To Next.  But I selected To Course and Heading for the bottom two.  I feel that they would best suit my needs in the woods.  What I really did was set it up to work with my mental compass.  For a quarter mile my heading was North and To Course was showing the course was West.  A couple of streets later I turned West and both data boxes were showing West. 

When using a unit without a map, a Base Map, or USA Topo I recommend the user go to Menu, you will get a drop down screen with some options.  Select Recalculate, and Enter.  This will recalculate your position in relationship to you destination.

I would recommend practicing with the Highway Page on foot before trying it in a motor vehicle.
 

Good Post!
It sounds like you are on the right track for figuring out the logic in a Tom Tom or a Garmin automotive unit, and probably at a better price too!

[Siskiyou]

Well yesterday with a little Willie Nelson, “On the Road Again”, in the background I headed for town. LOL I had the Garmin 76C connected to the 12v power source and the external antenna hooked up. http://www.gpsgeek.com/ I had a good satellite lock and the screen stays lit-up when powered by and external power source.  The lit screen is far better when driving.

Like the guy who owns more then one gun, everything may not be the same. This was to cause a minor problem in a short while.  I checked and the City Navigator software was showing.  I went to Find and selected Waypoints, and the Waypoint at my daughter’s house.  I then selected Follow Road, and the unit automatically calculated the route, and displayed it.  I do not look at the gps often when I drive because I consider it a safety problem.  Rather I listen for the pre-alert tone before I get to my turn, and then at the turn I get a double-tone.

As the day before the screen displayed the name of the enter section I was to turn-off on and the unit gave the pre-alert tone, and the two tones when I was at the enter section.   I did not turn because just before I hit the road, I received a phone call from my daughter saying a granddaughter would like me to pickup a hamburger for her.  This was a welcome detour from the route and let me test the routing and the Highway Page. 

Lesson #1:  For some reason I had not set this gps to automatically recalculate the route if I went off course.  That is one of the nice features of City Navigator.  If you use a Garmin Mapping Gps you can set your unit to do this.  Go to Main Menu, Routing Icon, when selected it will give you a page with number of options. 

Guidance Method:  I select “Prompted” because I set it differently when walking then when driving.

Follow Road Method:  Currently I have faster time selected.

Next Turn Pop-up:  I have this on and like this feature a great deal.

At the bottom of the screen is line that says Follow Road Option..

I have re-set one option to automatically recalculate the route.  I have also selected the Quickest Calculation method.  I have selected the option to have the route calculated for a car/motorcycle.

I have selected the Avoid U-Turns option.

Lesson #2 came after my hamburger stop.  I had not changed the data box options as I had described in my earlier post.  I was far enough off course that I could barley see the edge of the Purple Highway on the highway screen.   I edited the two bottom boxes to indicated TO COURSE and HEADING.  I did not care for the data display it gave me compared to my other gps.  The 76Cx showed the information in terms of Cardinal Letters, NEWS.  But the 76C was giving it in terms of degrees, 20°, 35°, and changed as I changed directions.  I prefer the Cardinal Letters, and it provides me the same format as the compass in my pickup mirror.

The page also gives the option of magnetic north or true north, and it gives you the magnetic variation for your location.

I’ll hit the road tomorrow and then off again for a little longer road trip the next day.  I need to find the address I am heading to tomorrow and then enter it into the gps.  I have not been to that address before.  The next day I get a trip to a large city, just what I hate, but I volunteered.  My wife is happy when I volunteer to make that drive, rather then her.

I have seen a few pickups in parking lots with a gps in dashboard holder.  Guys pull them out and hide them.  Handheld gps units have become the target of thieves.  Vehicle alarm systems have become a pain, and people ignore them.  It just takes a few seconds to breakout a window and walk off with your gps.