Garmin Handheld GPS Maps: Basic Overview

Maps are the best component of a Garmin handheld GPS and you want to make sure you have the most up to date versions with all the best features for what you’ll use it for. Find out everything you need to know to maximize your Garmin handheld GPS experience in this series.

GPS Evolution to Digital Mapping Capabilities

Whether you’re using your Garmin to navigate roads and highways, off road, on the trail, or even blazing and bushwhacking, tracking your location on your GPS screen is a priority. Garmin handheld GPS maps are the digital representation of the lay of the land which can be very basic or highly specialized. Different Garmin maps can include icons for Points of Interest (POIs), trails, detailed descriptions, contours (to know the exact vertical constitution of a hill or mountain), and symbols for man-made objects which can help you avoid falling into something like an abandoned mine shaft.

Although it can be enriching to get lost once in a while by seeing your position from the perspective of the old adage “you have to lose yourself to find yourself” or by the other and less known definition of lost; “seeking alternative destinations”; if you own a GPS you probably want to know exactly where you are. The older GPS models and the inexpensive models give you only the coordinates of latitude and longitude and then you’d have to study and transfer those coordinates to an old fashioned paper map. Without that map, those numbers were basically meaningless to you in terms of orienteering.

Garmin Maps: Gateway to the World

The Garmin cartography department is constantly working to improve the quality of their maps and to update them when conditions on the ground change. And some models can also upload the exact satellite view of the land like you see on Google Earth. In order to know how to update the Garmin maps, you already have which is most important to navigating cities, towns, and highways, check out the great article which already covered those basics.

How to Update Garmin Maps is a handy guide which will give you detailed instructions about how to connect your Garmin GPS to your computer in order to access Garmin's website to download maps and check for updates to the maps you already have. When connected, the GPS unit and the Garmin website know everything about each other and interact like old friends having a conversation that goes something like this; "do you have this", "no", "oh you need this, take it, here you go." The final article in this series will provide you with additional information about adding maps to your Garmin GPS.

Anotbe great article on our site is Where to Find Free Maps for GPS - Garmin, TomTom and Others. This is an excellent trove of information guiding you to free maps that are a hybrid of aerial photography and topographic maps. You will also find directions in this article on how to get free maps for U.S. National Parks like Yosemite and the Grand Canyon that are loaded with visual images, audio, and POIs. Be sure and check out what's available free before you pay for something unnecessarily. The second article in the series I’ve written for you right here will contain an additional, comprehensive reference regarding downloading free maps exclusively for Garmin devices.

Find out what you need to know about Garmin MapSource for all your mapping needs in the next article in this series by clicking the link below.

Garmin GPS Maps Tutorial

Find out everything you need to know about the large variety of Garmin MapSource, Garmin GPS maps, including Topos, and how to download and access them in order to get exactly the right Garmin handheld GPS maps catered to the specific Garmin device you own in this five part series.

Attaining a Custom POI List for your Garmin GPS

One more outstanding feature many Garmin GPS devices have today is the ability to create your own personalized collection of Points of Interest (POIs) designating the places you want to visit or be aware of when approaching. Learn more about creating a custom POI list for Garmin units below.

Evolved Waypoints

Custom Points of Interest (POI) are a handy resource to have on your Garmin GPS that pinpoint on your onscreen maps and alert you when you are getting near to the geographic location of those places. These useful POIs can be anything from historic monuments, to the best coffee shops, to your favorite restaurant chains, and of course; all of those red light or speed monitoring cameras that you don’t want photographing you doing something untoward.

POIs are enhanced waypoints that your GPS will navigate you to because they are marked by an icon on the map at their precise longitude and latitude. On more advanced Garmin models, details of that place such as a descriptive background, a digital image, or a telephone number will also be provided. Most GPS maps come loaded with POIs to some extent but now users can collect and organize the specific collection that they will find most intriguing or useful while travelling.

Custom POIs can be uploaded for a Garmin by means of software applications designed for that purpose which can be purchased and inserted or downloaded from the Internet. Users are then free to organize, customize, and create their own list from various sources. You no longer are solely at the mercy of a generic list provided by Garmin or compatible POI software. In addition, free software is now available to make up your list apart from the subscription fee-based designations that digitally adorn the maps you see on your GPS screen. Learn how to make a custom POI Garmin GPS list below.

Garmin POI Loader Software

One of the best ways to attain your custom POI list for Garmin GPS units is by utilizing the free software offering provided by Garmin, which is called POI Loader. This user-friendly application allows you to upload a list you customize to a Garmin GPS that is compatible to this software. Moreover, you can update your list as you see fit when the spirit moves you or your interests expand.

You can download the latest version of POI Loader easily from www.8.garmin.com/products/poiloader/. Once it's downloaded from your computer, simply transfer it onto your compatible Garmin GPS using a USB cord or a SD memory card. You can also customize Proximity Alerts relative to when you want your GPS to tell you that you are approaching your designated POIs. From this same website, you can also find addition third-party POI software resources that are also compatible with your GPS. So go ahead, personalize a list of POIs, and have your very own virtual tour guide.

Icons for GIS Mapping

GIS mapping needs icons to be graphically expressive. The icons should be able to convey the object to be actually found on the ground. There are specialized designers who create a bunch of such icons and sell their wares on the net. Let's take a look at tho kind of products currently available.

Introduction

You could create GIS maps for a wide range of applications. The one we are most familiar with are the GIS maps used in GPS receivers for driving directions. However, one could create a whole range of maps through the map analysis software such AutoCAD Map, ESRI arcInfo and so on. For example, if you wanted to see, as a school project, how the student population is distributed in the school's neighborhood, you could create a map like that. You could have the demographic data also superimposed over these location data. That could be how the white, black or the Hispanic population distributed. Beside the general map icons, this kind of mapping would need symbols for white, black or Hispanic households. Thus the kind of icons you need would really depend on the type of mapping project you undertake.

Availability of Icons

Commercially available icons only try to cover the most general needs as the other needs could be really specialized. For example, if you are creating an animal habitat map of coyote population just outside your town area, the need for icons are different and not likely to be in high demand. Such special classes of icons usually are not available widely. Many a times you may need to roll your own symbols/icons for such projects.

What is available is a pack of icons arranged in categories. Typically they sell in the $100 to $250 range. They are royalty free, usually, for distribution. If you needed only 1 or 2 then they will cost you few dollars a piece, $5 being a common number quoted at the top sites. Icons-Land has designed a package that is quite popular. It is being offered by several download sites and are backed by reviews. GIS/GPS/Map Icons usually need to be distinct and kind of jump out of the page so that users can find the type of object of his interest. The icons have to represent different classes of objects, of course. Users would then be able to orient themselves and search and find the points of interest. The icons offered by Icons-Land are available in six groups. Categories they have named as pinpoints, places, containers, GIS, devices and a Misc group. Pinpoints contain symbols used for marking specific places such as objects of various sizes and colors, such as bulbs, flags, needles. Places group contains icons that indicate places such as Hotel, Bank, Hospital, Airport, Gas station etc. Containers group indicate various containers which can be used in GPS tracking applications for cargo and assets tracking. GIS contains icons relates to items used typically in GIS applications such as region selection, coordinate systems, layers, etc. Devices group contains devices that we use, cell phones, PDAs, and so on. Misc would be a group containing all the rest of icons and could be road signs, traffic lights, and so on.

These groupings and the nature of diverse icons availability is similar in other available products. The sizes the icons are available seems to be fairly standard. The sizes typically are 16x16, 24x24, 32x32, 48x48, 64x64, 128x128, 256x256 pixels. Another thing common is the format of these images. The image format is PNG in most cases. Some sites will give you ICO format icons also. Transparency settings are possible.

Selection Criteria & Other sites

Make sure you have the icons you need whatever be the categorization by the producer. Other thing to look for would be if the icons have enough of details that you want to be displayed. The Icons-Land icons look to be well detailed. They are distributed through download3000 and files home. Some of the other similar popular sites are Map Suite and Free Icons Download ().

GIS Mapping Explained

Many of us are familiar with the GPS navigation systems and quite comfortable at using maps that show up on the display. There is a whole technology background to creating those maps, which are not just maps but are really information databases. We explain this database of graphic elements and data

Introduction

Let us look at what’s a map first. A map really is a symbolic representation of things as they exist on the ground and their interrelationships with each other. When these entities, or points and their representations are shown in a particular scale then we call that visual representation a map. The major part of the information that we get from maps is spatial. To represent these distances we need to have a scale that relates distances on the paper to the actual distance between the points or elements. The user needs to know this to obtain useful information from a map.

What is GIS then!

GIS (Geographic Information System) creates electronic maps that give you a lot of additional information that can be attached to the elements represented on the maps. The paper maps that we are used to convey some information, but much has to be deduced by the viewer of the map. To help, paper maps use legends or a set of symbols which have a meaning attached. For example, important places may be represented by black dots. A different size of black dots can be set to mean cities/locations of different sizes. A bigger black dot would represent a larger city in area and/or population. In contrast, the cities in the GIS maps can be (similar symbolism is used, as we are familiar with them) the same sized dot, but if you query it, it would be able to show us a lot of data related to the city, its area, population, what state it is in and any other relevant data we can conceive of. It’d be possible find accurate distances between two points.

Like other information systems or databases, you query it for information. While traveling between two points you can ask where the rest areas are, where the next fuel pump is, the next restaurant or the next motel is. Besides an aid for traveling, it is not difficult to imagine other uses of such intelligent mapping. You could map the pattern of crimes in your city with the capability to query each individual incident represented on the map. If you have all the underground water supply system mapped, you can find out which valves are due for replacement next month or year. This is possible because the elements in the system representing the valves have that information attached to them while creating the map.

What’s involved in mapping then!

There are two parts to the GIS issue. Once created, you have systems/software through which you are able to view the maps, query them for information and may use to analyze them for further information. A typical example is to find the shortest distance between two points. Since a machine is involved you could throw in additional data before the analysis. Variables such as traffic patterns, snow conditions, construction and other information can be used to arrive at an optimum route.

There are several software programs available from well known vendors such as ESRI, Autodesk and others. A common use is in those handy car GPS navigators that we use. We get our position mapped on such Intelligent/electronic maps. It is the GIS mapping that give you the information. The actual GPS data just gives your current position on the map.

The second part of the issue is creation of maps in a format that can be used by the software to get you meaningful data. One way of creating such maps would be to actually do a survey with accurate co-ordinates read from GPS devices. You also can convert accurate satellite imagery into maps. A third approach is to use existing paper maps. Once these are scanned you get an image which represents every point on the picture as a dot. However, you cannot attach any information to it and it is heavy in terms of storage needs.

All you really need for the computer to understand a line are the two endpoints and their co-ordinates. Software is used with those two points to create a line. Similarly you convert all the other types of elements too. After the information is then attached, these become the POI or the points of interest in your GPS navigation maps.

Where to Get Map Updates for Your GPS

If it is time for you to upgrade your maps, then you need to know where to get the updates. Otherwise you could end up with directions into the middle of nowhere, or turns roads that do not exist anymore

When you shell out big bucks for a GPS, you tend to think that is the end of the purchase. After all, it gets you where you are going. Then, as time goes on, roads begin to change. Maybe a new highway is added to your county, names get re-routed, or a new mayor decided that adding jug handle turns to major intersections would be safer. Unless you happen to sit on a planning board, there is little that you can do to stop these changes. Eventually your GPS mapping data is going to become out of date. That means you will need an update. If you are lucky, or smart, then you have thought of this before you bought a GPS. Either way, now you need to get an update. This piece will show you where to get them.

TomTom

TomTom does its map updates via a service called TomTom map update service. This service charges you an annual fee, and then gives you one free update each quarter. This means that you get four map updates in each calendar year. The advantage to this is that you can also create your own custom updates. This means if you want to report a temporary road closing or a local point of interest your GPS will remember it. Though, there are also some free maps.

Garmin

Garmin’s updates are done via disk. You buy a disk for your specific region, (North America, Europe, South America, etc…) and upload it to your GPS. These disks can cost up to 70 dollars.

Magellan

Magellan also charges for updates to your GPS’ maps. The Magellan updates are varied in price, depending on your needs.You can however sometimes get a map with a software upgrade.

Not the big three

If you have a GPS that is not made by one of these three big boys, you will still need to update your maps. Here are listings for some of the smaller brands of GPS.

Navigon

Navigon uses a service known a Fresh Maps to update its GPS maps. This is a paid service. It is worth the mention that despite the fact that Navigon has pulled out of the US market, they are still supporting US map updates.

Mio

Mio's map updates are free in 2009 for Mio. They have not said if the updates will continue to be free of charge.

How Often Should I Update

Well that depends. If you have a service that will charge you the same if you update four times a year, then update as often as you like. If you have to buy an update then annually may be a better option. If you are budget lite and local roads haven’t changed much you may be able to go longer. It really depends on where you travel and how many projects are going on in your area. You should update before any long trips or interstate travel.