1:24,000 garmin topo maps, freeware

[victorcharlie]

I found this site yesterday.

http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/

I downloaded and installed the Tennessee topo, among several others, and so far I'm quite impressed!

Just what I was looking for, and the maps are free.

You must have mapsource to load the maps, if you don't have it they have a way to download it.

One thing, it will over write map data on your sd card.  If you can't restore your map set, or don't have a second sd card to put the topo map on then be advised, a data loss will result.

The wife and I are headed to the Cohutta Wilderness area for an over nighter and I'm anxious to test the topo's against the paper maps.

I downloaded the se us, but haven't had time to push it to the gps, but I do have the Tennessee topo on the GPS.

Man, I've been waiting for this for at least ten years!!!!!

[Siskiyou]

Thanks for the information, I happen to have spare Micro SD cards and will give it a try.  Have a good wilderness trip.

[victorcharlie]

The wife and I just got back from our over nighter at Panter Creek Falls in the Cohutta Wilderness area.

The Topo Software works great in the back country.  However, it is not as good as mapsource for streets, and auto routing doesn't seem to work correctly with my HCx as noticed during the drive over.

Part of this may be me, but the auto routing sure didn't work well at all.  That said, it is so, so nice to have the topo on the gps that matches the paper map.

I'll probably load mapsource on one card and the topo on another but I think I can get them both to live on the same card but I haven't had time to mess with it yet....

Give it a try, it works great for what I want it for!

[Siskiyou]

I downloaded the California Topo and saved it to a folder.  This package has a lot of contour lines, and other details.  I am on high speed cable internet and it took hours to down load the California Topo package.  I plan on saving that download to a DVD to speed up loading it to a laptop.  The California Topo package is 911MB.

For this product to work you must have a Map Source product loaded to your computer.  The user has some options when it comes to map selection after the package is unzipped and loaded.  In the upper left corner of the Map Source tool bar is a menu showing the different map products.  With the package loaded I clicked on the drop down check and my computer displayed City Navigator, TOPO U.S. 2008, and the newly installed California Topo.

I created a Map Set from California Topo, and TOPO U.S. 2008, and transferred it to a Micro SD card using the card reader on my computer.  Initially I installed the card in my Garmin 76Cx.  I then went to the map setup option and turned off TOPO U.S. 2008 and had the unit showing California Topo.  I liked the detail the new software provided.
I then reformatted the Micro SD Card using my computers card reader.  I load a few selected maps on to the card, and place it in my gps.  The California Topo no longer provides names of roads, lakes, streams, mountains, or communities.

I again reformatted the Micro SD Card and selected from California Topo and Map Source TOPO U.S. 2008, One thousand seven hundred twenty-three maps which used 1196.9MB of space on the card.  I tested the maps and they seem to work. 

I did not try the auto routing yet.  Doubt the sofeware language is there to allow it.

[victorcharlie]

I started downloading the southeast around 10 at night and it wasn't finished in the morning.  I started another parallel copy of the same file and it finished in 20 minutes or so......I'm a cable broadband user as well.

I'm going to re-read your post as I'm not 100 percent about what you did.

Did you get both maps to work on one card?

[Siskiyou]

Sorry about not getting back to you sooner.  I have been working the last few days.
I loaded both maps on a 2MB card. 

Played with my gps I realized that I had been two picky when selecting maps from the California Topo software.  I had dropped some areas I am interested in.  After work tonight I went back and reformatted the Micro SD Card and created a new map set.  This time from the California Topo software I selected the entire state.  From the Topo 2008 software I ran the map selection tool from the U.S./Canada boundary to the Mexican border, from the Pacific Ocean to the a line coming down the Eastern boundary of Wyoming.  That left me a little operating room on the card.

The card is currently in my computer card reader and I am transferring data to it.

Initially when I had California Topo installed on a card by itself when I checked the Points of Interest icon there were a few wells and nothing more.  When I installed California Topo, and Map Source 2008 on the same card I had the POI from 2008 plus the 1:24 map.  This breaks the rules with Garmin mapping products because they are not suppose to bleed over between products.  I hope to have more free time to do additional field-testing next week.

[victorcharlie]

I've been playing with it a little myself, and for my purpose, I think I'm going to buy another sd card and load the maps separately.  I was hoping I could put one mapset in a folder and the other mapset in another folder and switch between the two.  No joy on that and I don't think it'll work the way I want it to.

I see 1100 maps selected when I overlay maps into a mapset, and it seems difficult to select one or the other.

There are also some POI "transparent" overlays which I plan on loading.

Mapset building can take some time can't it? 

[Siskiyou]

I go into the Map Setup option and turn off what I do not want to use.  Using two cards is a good option.  I setup a friend that hunts California a lot, and then he make a yearly trip to Alaska.  I put Alaska on a second card which he forgot this year!!!   That happens when you have to many things going on at once.

I had the day off a hiked a few miles, conditioning is lost fast when I do not work.  I liked the 1:24000 maps.  About all I could see when walking was Pine large oak canopy and under brush.  When examing the map I could see the confluence of three draws.  I think a stand near the bottom of those days might be productive.

You can plan on the computer being tied up for hours during the map building and download.  I left mine doing the deed last night and went to bed.  My loaded chip was ready for the morning walk.

Thanks again for providing the link.

[victorcharlie]

I go into the Map Setup option and turn off what I do not want to use. 

I've got a 2gig card, and when I overlay mapsource and most of the se topo, it uses close to all 2gb.

I wind up with 1100 + maps to turn off......that takes awhile.

I like the 1:24000 topo's myself!