Digital Maps on your PC! Digital Maps in your GPS!

Do I need both?

In the past many people who purchased a GPS expected to see a full Ordnance Survey map on the screen of their GPS and were very disappointed to find that most GPS come with little more than a basemap which may show major roads like the M6 but no detail in between and is little or no use the walkers.

Then of course the big question was; how can I get maps in my GPS and how can I create routes & trails, save them on my PC and of course send them to my GPS?  It's all very confusing; let's see if we can help by explaining in simple terms where both Maps for your PC & GPS fit in the equation.

Until fairly recently getting a full Ordnance Survey map onto the screen was just on our wish list; now almost every mapping handheld GPS on the market in the UK has an OS mapping bundle of some sort, all of which has dramatically changed the world of digital mapping for PC & GPS for good.

The bottom line is that somewhere along the line we have to purchase both maps for PC & GPS an annoying issue that we now think is in the process of resolution, let us explain. Essentially there are several ways of getting OS maps to/from your GPS or Navigation Device; the method you use will almost certainly be determined by the GPS you are using.

Manufacturers pre-programmed SD or MicroSD cards – most GPS manufacturers offer a range of maps for use on the trail, on the water, on the road and by far and away the easiest and most popular way to get maps into a GPS is by using what are often referred to as plug & play cards. The maps are pre-loaded to the SD card you simply slot the card into the device

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View the contents of Manufacturers SD card in compatible PC software – a new feature pioneered by Garmin that allows the user to view the contents of a map card like Garmin’s OS Discoverer at either Explorer or Landranger scales in their free Garmin PC software BaseCamp when the GPS is connected to your PC. The main advantage of this feature is that users can use BaseCamp for any route planning, data management or data transfer in this way addressing the maps for PC & GPS issue

  

Manufacturers download – growing in popularity this method of adding maps of your choice to your GPS device is probably the most flexible but demands a bit more PC savvy. In most case you simply go to the manufacturer’s website select the map you wish to purchase and send to GPS.

Copy maps to/from PC software to compatible device – most mobile devices (PND, Pocket PC, Mobile Phones and in some cases handheld GPS) will run a mobile version of your favorite mapping software and offer at least basic navigation options. One of the key features has always been that you can copy maps from your PC based software to the device.

Copy maps from manufacturers PC software to compatible GPS – Still an important way for Manufacturers to get their maps to a compatible GPS device; some maps are so large that they exceed the capacity of the internal memory or memory card; so by supplying the maps on CD/DVD they can be opened on your PC and when licensed copied to a compatible GPS leaving the user to select just the maps required before sending to GPS

Most GPS manufacturers are now aware of the Maps for PC & GPS issue and are taking steps to address the problem; and in most cases you now need only purchase your maps once. So it’s now up to you the user to ask the right questions about this issue before you purchase either GPS or PC software.   

These changes in the way we access digital mapping for both GPS & PC are dramatically changing the way we purchase PC based mapping in general; in the past the only way we could sensibly do some route planning on our PC and send to GPS was to purchase mapping software like Memory-Map or Quo which can be expensive if we then need to purchase maps for our GPS as well.

 

Now that most manufacturers are coming up with a solution to the maps for your PC & GPS issue; many users are more selective about the maps they purchase. Instead of buying large chunks of mapping they may never use they prefer to buy just the maps they need or go for one of the new mapping solutions that offer access to maps in the clouds (online)

Recommendations for Specific GPS Ranges
As things stand at the moment there are only four real choices when it comes to the current ranges of GPS devices: Garmin, Endura /Mapyx, Memory-Map and Satmap Active 10. Making the choice when it comes to the method of route planning and data transfer and whether you need to purchase additional PC based mapping is fairly straight forward as most manufacturers use a particular hardware solution which in turn denotes the optimum software solution.

   

Garmin (Dakota, Oregon, GPSMap62 ranges) – when twinned with OS Discoverer route planning and data management is possible in BaseCamp with the device connected to your PC (not enabled for printing)

Garmin (eTrex colour, GPSMap60 ranges) – when twinned with Topo GB route planning and data management is possible in MapSource (not enabled for printing)

Garmin (eTrex greyscreen ranges) – basic route planning & data management is possible using Garmin Trip & Waypoint Manager or with more sophisticated PC based software

Endura/Mapyx – the guys at Quo have written mobile software for the Endura GPS allowing you to send maps & data to/from your PC based software & GPS

Memory-Map Adventurer range – once again there Memory-Map have created unit specific mobile software for the Adventurer GPS allowing you to send maps & data to/from your PC based software & GPS

Satmap Active 10 – unlimited access to SatMap’s route planning and route sharing online resource is by way of a one off fee of £80 (free with Active 10 Plus). Data transfer is by way of GPX files and their dedicated data transfer software solution SatSYNC - for more advanced route planning or printing you may wish to have more sophisticated PC based software

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At the end of the day we guess it all comes down to cost; why pay for expensive additional mapping if you can use the maps for free that come bundled with your GPS at the point of purchase. We are finding that by far and away the most popular GPS bundle is now GPS with OS 50k Whole GB.

If you are thinking of buying into additional OS mapping for your PC from either compare the price per sq kilometer as pricing varies between systems. For PC software at this time we would recommend Quo which is more competitive, the software is free and you only need purchase the maps you need with a minimum spend of just under £6

TrailZilla - Free maps and routes online

However if you would like access to Whole GB at both 50k & 25k scales then we recommend you think about Trailzilla a Memory-Map driven website that offers unlimited access to maps, route planning, data management and printing for an annual subscription of £25 which seems like a pretty good deal to us bearing in mind that with this deal you always have access to the latest OS maps version.