“The maps my Garmin GPS came with are awful! Now what?
So you bought a fancy new Garmin GPS to go geocaching, you fire it up, and you discover that there are a grand total of 4 roads in your huge metropolis, at least according to the base map.
This is, unfortunately, a common complaint about Garmin GPSs. The “basemap” that they come with contains very little detail.
Fortunately you have options.
Garmin
One option is to buy maps from Garmin. They have two map sets that are useful for geocaching, the City Navigator set and their topographic set (in Canada, it’s Topographic Canada). These mapsets will run you between $80 and $120 depending on where you buy them, if there’s a sale, etc.
I’ve bought both the City Navigator set and the TopoCanada set and they’re great maps. They also contain lots of “Points of Interest” waypoints so you can find the nearest bank, police station, or what have you — just like the automotive GPSs. They suffer from two disadvantages though: they are pricey, and they don’t update. Recently Garmin introduced a program where you can update your City Navigator maps 4 times a year, but this is an additional add-on cost.
Don’t despair, though! There are some free alternatives, and these ones are actively maintained and updated.
OSM
For street maps, the Open Street Map project is a great community-driven effort to map the world. You can download Garmin-compatible mapsets using data based on OSM from the Garmin routable maps page. The interface is a bit clunky, but the data is worth it.
The important files that you get are:
osm_routable_gmapsupp.zip
osm_routable_mapsource.exe
osm_routable_roadtrip.zip
osm_routable_tiles.zip
The *_gmapsupp.zip file is a raw Garmin map image (zipped), the *_mapsource.exe is the same image except packaged in an installer that puts it right into Garmin’s MapSource (Windows) program, the *_roadtrip.zip is for Garmin RoadTrip (MacOS), and the *_tiles.zip contains the raw tiles for use in other programs.
In Vancouver, the OSM data is better than the Garmin mapset. The downside is that there is no POI data, and the water is not drawn properly, making it a bit difficult to see where harbours and inlets are.
Ibycus.com
The Government of Canada makes topographic data available to the public, for free, through the Department of Natural Resources. Dale Atkin at ibycus.com has compiled this data into Garmin-suitable sets. It used to be available for download from the ibycus.com site, but the mapset weighs in at over 3 GB and the bandwidth became prohibitively expensive. You can still order the maps from Dale on DVD for $25, or you can search your favourite Bittorrent index for the files.
The Ibycus mapset includes topo contours and road data. The road data is not as good as the OSM or Garmin data, but the topos are good quality. As with the OSM data, no POI data are included.
NW Trails
The Northwest Trails project is an effort to capture some of the walking, hiking, and snow-sport trails through the Pacific Northwest. It is a frequently-updated community-driven map set that has a surprising number of trails. Its scope, however, is limited to the PNW, and doesn’t include any POI.
Ontario Trails
The Ontario Trails project is an effort similar to the NW Trails project, except geared for Ontario. Again, it’s a community-driven effort to map the multi-use trails and Garmin mapsets are provided.
There are other specialized mapsets freely available. If I’ve missed your favourite one, leave a comment and I’ll update this post as feedback comes in!
