Re: To Andy R., LCR, and Tom Harvey
Posted by Last Chance Rand on May 05, 2004 at 17:41:52:
In Reply to: To Andy R., LCR, and Tom Harvey posted by wingman1 on May 04, 2004 at 09:17:43:
Sorry for the late reply.
I don't own Garmin Mapsource Topo - just the city and street software that came with the Garmin V deluxe package.
However, the Mapsource US Topos and National Parks maps are available for viewing on the Garmin web site so I took a look -- see the link below. The topo information looks pretty good and it has a fair number of place names.
However, backcountry route info was troubling. For example, I pulled up Cottonwood Canyon and the line indicating the road into the springs is the same as the foot trails the continue beyond to the north and south of the spring. If one were looking at this in advance, one might think that they can drive all the way to the top of Panamint Butte or to Goldbelt, but this is not the case. I believe that distinguishing between roads and foot paths is important for guidance software.
I'm like Andy R., in that I use the GPS to collect data, but I view the details on USGS topos on a laptop via Maptech Terrain Navigator Pro. I do this either after the trip, during a break, or if the laptop is convenient, I simply consult the laptop during the ride.