New Blog Page: Creating Custom GPS Maps

There's a new page on the blog!

Creating Custom GPS Maps

This page is going to be my repository for all GPS related posts that I do. As you can see I already have the links for the GPS mapping series there. In the near future I will be creating a quick reference PDF file for download.

That is about it for right now. Have a good day and remember if you see anything that needs clarification or just to give your 2 cents, please comment!

~Occasional Hyker

Creating Custom Topographic Maps for your Hand Held GPS Unit - Part 5

This is Part 5 of a multi-part series on creating custom topographic maps for your hand held mapping GPS unit. For previous posts click one of the following:
Creating Custom Topographic Maps for your Hand Held GPS Unit - Part 1
Creating Custom Topographic Maps for your Hand Held GPS Unit - Part 2
Creating Custom Topographic Maps for your Hand Held GPS Unit - Part 3
Creating Custom Topographic Maps for your Hand Held GPS Unit - Part 4

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Creating Custom Topographic Maps
for your Hand Held GPS Unit - Part 5

Making your map work with Garmin MapSource

Well. I think we have come quite a long way. Let me just do a quick recap of what has happened so far:

1. Obtained the necessary FREE software.
2. Located and downloaded the map data that we needed.
3. Processed the map data. (For topography only)
4. Created the map.

In this post we will complete the following:

1. Convert the map into a Garmin Compatible format.
2. Load our converted map file into MapSource
3. Use MapSource to upload our map to our GPS Unit

Continue reading after the jump to complete your custom map for your hand held GPS unit!

Creating Custom Topographic Maps for your Hand Held GPS Unit - Part 4

This is Part 4 of a multi-part series on creating custom topographic maps for your hand held mapping GPS unit. For previous posts click one of the following:
Creating Custom Topographic Maps for your Hand Held GPS Unit - Part 1
Creating Custom Topographic Maps for your Hand Held GPS Unit - Part 2
Creating Custom Topographic Maps for your Hand Held GPS Unit - Part 3

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Creating Custom Topographic Maps
for your Hand Held GPS Unit - Part 4

Working with GPSMapEdit

In the previous posts we downloaded terrain and water data from the USGS servers (Post #2) and manipulated our terrain data to give us shapefiles containing contour lines at 20', 100' & 200' intervals (Post #3). Now we are going to take those files and assemble them into a .mp map file. (Just a word of warning, this is going to be a rather involved post.) Our goal is to take our downloaded data and assemble it to create something that looks like this:

Now THAT looks like a map!

Continue reading after the jump to start assembling your own map!

It is January 5th and already I'm dreading 2011

Hi all. Just a quick update here. School is getting back into the swing of things and this quarter is shaping up to be particularly nasty. I'm thinking that the academic adviser at Strayer was full of beans having me take a 400 level course before taking a 300 level one. I guess I'll find out how fast I can tread water eh?

300 courses before 400? No! Dive right in! You'll be fine.

I'm planning on finishing the next post in my GPS Map series soon, this weekend most likely. Post #4 deals with assembling shapefiles in GPSMapEdit and it's going to be a whopper of a post. GPSMapEdit is a great little program once you work through all of its eccentricities but it certainly has a bunch of those. For instance it has no New command. You cannot create a blank file, you also cannot save a blank file. This makes creating a blank map template a bit more difficult.

Anyway I'll be finishing that post and moving on to Post #5 in which I'll explain how to get your custom map into Garmin MapSource. I'm also going to create a quick and dirty outline for general reference that doesn't include as much explanation.

Another plan that I'm kicking around is taking a Saturday and doing a day hike down at Raccoon Creek State Park in PA. I want to grab a GPS track of the trail I hiked in November 2009. Of course my ability to do that depends heavily upon my course load. Library here I come!

So, anyway look for the rest of my GPS Mapping series and hopefully another RCSP trail report coming up soon! Take care.

~Occasional Hyker

Creating Custom Topographic Maps for your Hand Held GPS Unit - Part 3

This is Part 3 of a multi-part series on creating custom topographic maps for your hand held mapping GPS unit. For previous posts click one of the following:
Creating Custom Topographic Maps for your Hand Held GPS Unit - Part 1
Creating Custom Topographic Maps for your Hand Held GPS Unit - Part 2

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Creating Custom Topographic Maps

for your Hand Held GPS Unit - Part 3

Manipulating Topographic Data

In the last post, Post #2, we downloaded topographical data from the USGS Seamless server. The data we downloaded is in the GeoTIFF format, and while it looks pretty cool, we need to convert that from a shaded picture to contour lines.

Pretty groovy, but you can't go orienteering with it.

To change that mess up there into contour lines we are going to use the FWTools software that we installed way back in Post #1, so please keep reading after the jump.

Creating Custom Topographic Maps for your Hand Held GPS Unit - Part 2

This is Part 2 of a multi-part series on creating custom topographic maps for your hand held mapping GPS unit. For previous posts click one of the following:
Creating Custom Topographic Maps for your Hand Held GPS Unit - Part 1

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Creating Custom Topographic Maps

for your Hand Held GPS Unit - Part 2

Finding and Downloading Data

In Part 1 we discussed the steps required to produce a topographic map for a mapping GPS unit and the tools we will use. In this post I will walk you though the process of downloading data from the internet.

For this tutorial I am going to create topographic maps with hydrography data. These maps will overlay the existing maps in your GPS unit, this way, if you have Garmin Street Navigator maps, you will still be able to see the Garmin Data beneath your custom map. I will eventually post an advanced How-To that includes the shape files for park boundaries, but this requires quite a bit more work and is not necessary for creating a basic topographic map.

Step two in our process is downloading data. We will start with the topographic data from the USGS after the jump.

Creating Custom Topographic Maps for your Hand Held GPS Unit - Part 1

Creating Custom Topographic Maps

for your Hand Held GPS Unit - Part 1

A Brief Introduction

So you just bought yourself that hand held GPS unit that you've been wanting. It looked so good in the store and it came in a very nice box with impressive and professional looking graphics on the outside. You, of course, pay little mind to the box as you open it up and extract your new toy. A mapping GPS unit! Now you have the power to always know just exactly where you are at all times and it fits into the palm of your hand!! Hurriedly you turn the unit on only to discover... the damn thing doesn't have hardly any detail on the base map. Now what?

Shiny and at the moment, useless.

Well Garmin is hoping that you will purchase map packs from them. I guess it is good for Garmin, I mean, when you buy the map packs from them you end up spending half again what the unit cost just to make it... well, usable. But what if I told you that you could create accurate, custom maps for your Garmin GPS unit and all it will cost you is some of your free time? Sounds great doesn't it? Well continue reading after the jump to learn how to create your very own completely customized maps for your GPS unit.