Mapping software recommendations

[WhiteD3]

Hiya,

Birthday coming up soon so I thought I'd ask (beg) for some mapping software. My area of interest is SE QLD but I'd want coverage of all of Oz. I'd welcome any recommendations on what to get, given some of the disparaging comments I've heard re the quality (and age) of the maps on Sunmap's CD.

Cheers.

[Tusker]

Around town? The bush? Just moving maps or turn by turn instructions? Dedicated GPS or PDA?

The issue with the maps is the underlying source, the relevant govt department. I noticed huge errors on my Magellan in QLD. As soon as we crossed the border into the NT, the map realigned itself - we were travelling on a highway again and not driving along a raliway line!

Regards
Max P

[incisor]

what he said x 2

esp qld stuff

i have the sunmap and natmap offerings and tho dated they are pretty accurate. i use oziexplorer on an old hp laptop and a mio168 pda

[feral]

Here is what I have.

Oziexplorer with mouse GPS.
Natmap Raster 250k DVD Premium
UBD Australian City Streets Version 4
UBD Australian Regional Cities & Towns Version 3.

All installed and works as one map. I can travel from coast to coast and do not have to change one thing. Oziexplorer will search for the best available map so it is great around town just like having the UBD street directory on your lap and when you move into the country it picks up the Natmaps.

The great thing with the Regional Cities is that if you need to stop for the kids or lunch you know the layout of the town and shows the important things in life.

It's saved a heap of time and effort of "where are we now?" :twisted:

Of course, you can get individual digital maps of specific areas like Cape York, Gippsland, Vic High Country and are based on the Hema Maps.

It just depends on the detail of the maps you want and how many dollars you would like to spend.

[WhiteD3]

Around town? The bush? Just moving maps or turn by turn instructions? Dedicated GPS or PDA?

The issue with the maps is the underlying source, the relevant govt department. I noticed huge errors on my Magellan in QLD. As soon as we crossed the border into the NT, the map realigned itself - we were travelling on a highway again and not driving along a raliway line!

Regards
Max P

Thanks Max.

Bush only as I can read a street directory (call me old fashioned). I want to use it to plan routes, then upload said maps to my Garmin GPS.

Cheers.

[wardy1]

Ozie Explorer!
Best of it is you can purchase digital maps and they will all work with it. It provides moving map display and also has a neat 3D feature.
Planning a route is simple and best of all...... IT'S ALL AUSSIE!:D

[Utemad]

I want to use it to plan routes, then upload said maps to my Garmin GPS.

Cheers.

If you want to upload it to a Garmin GPS I think you'd have to get the Garmin software. I think I read about aftermarket software on .:GPS Australia:. (http://www.gpsaustralia.net) but not sure on what it does.

[foz.in.oz]

If you want to upload it to a Garmin GPS I think you'd have to get the Garmin software. I think I read about aftermarket software on .:GPS Australia:. (http://www.gpsaustralia.net) but not sure on what it does.

Not at all:o

With Oziexplorer you can create tracks, routes and waypoints and upload them to a Garmin with ease. And you can do it the other way too.
It's a doddle to use and I find it's a breeze compared to the Mapsource products from Garmin which aren't that hard to use anyway.
You can load any graphics image into Ozi and if you know some waypoint data you can calibrate that and use it as a map. This includes downloaded satellite images:cool:

I like and recommend it.

[Utemad]

Not at all:o

With Oziexplorer you can create tracks, routes and waypoints and upload them to a Garmin with ease. And you can do it the other way too.
It's a doddle to use and I find it's a breeze compared to the Mapsource products from Garmin which aren't that hard to use anyway.
You can load any graphics image into Ozi and if you know some waypoint data you can calibrate that and use it as a map. This includes downloaded satellite images:cool:

I like and recommend it.

Yeah but he said he wants to upload maps. Can't do that with Ozi. Just waypoints, tracks and routes as you said.

[waynep]

Yeah but he said he wants to upload maps. Can't do that with Ozi. Just waypoints, tracks and routes as you said.

if you run a PDA with OziExplorer CE, all your maps are already there -just call up the one you want.
(you may need a few SD cards if you want to carry 250,000:1 maps for all of Australia )

not quite sure of your meaning there..

I'm quite happy with my PDA running TomTom navigator in the city, and OziExplorer with whatever maps I choose for the bush.
OziExplorer's a well designed bit of kit, if you take the time to learn it's features.

[Utemad]

:confused::confused:

if you run a PDA with OziExplorer CE, all your maps are already there -just call up the one you want.
(you may need a few SD cards if you want to take 250,000:1 maps across all of Australia )

not quite sure of your meaning there.

That's right you can do all that on a PDA with Ozi CE but he said he has a Garmin. Garmin don't make PDAs.

[plugma]

It’s just gotta be OziExplorer doesn’t it?

I’ve used it for a good number of years now with just a laptop and a handheld Garmin12. Whilst it may not be for the computer challenged amongst us, it’s really not that hard to drive if you spend the time getting to know how it works.

I have been known to scan the street directory out of the Perth UBD….. calibrate the image with data from Google earth and navigate my way around suburbia with confidence.

Went on a fishing trip to Crayfish Bay late last year (just south of Steep Point WA) and prior to going, I made a whole series JPG images taken directly off Google Earth. These images were mainly around the 1200 metre elevation, so each image covered around 1km in any given direction. I then calibrated each image with the data from Google Earth and used them in OziExplorer to navigate my way around the place using the moving map feature.

Unbelievably accurate all the way from well south of False Entrance to well past Thunder Bay in the north and at no time was I any more off track than by the width of the track itself. It gave me a top down view and enabled me to navigate the sand dune area between Crayfish and False Entrance which cut well over an hour off the normal trip.

The top down photographic/satellite view saved us heaps of times from going down the wrong tracks and potentially around in circles in an area I hadn’t been before and the track feature ensured we mad it back to camp every time. Also took the trip up to Steep Point using a larger map image which showed all the tracks and gave a very good indication of where we were at any given time and roughly how far we needed to go.

It also just seamlessly moves from map to map as you leave one map area and aproach the next.

Go on…… get yourself a copy and have play. You’ll never look back.

As someone else said… It’s Aussie made and in my opinion, it’s nothing short of brilliant and it's cheap. I’m now in the market for a TFT touch screen so my passenger doesn’t need to carry the laptop for me.

Regards
M.
(PS. I have nothing to do with OziExplorer other than having been fortunate to discover their fine product)

[roverrescue]

Just another idea - if you are going to use your garmin...

Get a copy of Garmins' Mapsource Trip and Waypoint Manager...
Then go and free download "tracks4australia" its a garmin map file which effectively gives a road map of all australia in garmin language which you can add things like waypoints tracks etc to before uploading to your garmin (i presume you own a map capable garmin)... The detail in "tracks4aust" is excellent, has pretty much every track youd want to be on. But only very broad terrain information.

I use a garmin map in the boat and have bluecharts for the reefs and zonings... but when going bush I use the same unit with the "tracks4australia" mapset loaded... not the same detail as say ozi running auslig maps but will get you most anywhere including little known tracks.

Tis a cheap idea if you already have your garmin... dont really want a PDA or puter in the car. from memory the software is $100 ish and the "tracks4australia" is a free download...

Steve

ps I have oziexplorer and love it... use it for planning and playing but when in the fender the waterproof shockproof garmin unit with tracks4aust loaded is a dream and heaps less hassle for me???