Fsman

In the original thread ""Pros and Cons of Major PPC GPS Systems from Users" the "road" navigation systems were drowning out information about the "off-road" systems.
Since there are different uses between the "road" and "off-road" software, how about a thread similar to the forum except it compares only "off-road" software?

It may be of benefit to hikers, geocachers and others.

athlonduke

i used to cache with my axim/bt gps but i've stopped in favor of a garmin 60csx. the #1 reason is durability. i can use my garmin if i'm out on a lake or in the rain, or if i drop it i'm not (as) worried about it. the axim is too much a fincial investment for me to risk dropping it in a puddle.

i will say though the gps options for handhelds in general are EXCELLENT in accuracy compared to the garmin. I could generally pinpoint caches better than most handheld gps's. mine would also work in dense forest where others couldnt even get a signal. also with the axim i can go totally paperless (and have). i load up cachemate with the info, and then load my gpx into mapopolis or any other host of good applications and off i go. i've even used cachemate's cachenav to get me to a cache. its kinda fun that way too, it forces you to use the compass, so you have to really know what your'e doing to pin point a spot

mitchman

I stumbled across this and thought it looked VERY interesting.

http://www.memory-map.com/




I don't have any actual experince with it though.

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Mitch
Axim X51v / 4 GB SD card / i-Blue Edition 2 (i-Blue 737) / MaxQData / iGuidance / Core Player

Fsman

Here is an edited version of a post I did in the other thread:

Edited 12/05/07 to reflect addition of Desktop Application

Backcountry Navigator using Dell Axim X50 running WM2003SE
Main - BackCountry Navigator

This type of GPS software is "raster-based" and is designed primarily for off-road use such as hiking and geocaching. Raster-based software uses an image, usually a picture of a map as a background. Topographic maps and aerial photos are common images used a backgrounds.
While this type of mapping program can be used for driving navigation, it does not have common features found in many of the "vector-based" software such as automatic routing, voice navigation, etc.
Raster-based software does shine for those who are used to the paper USGS topographic maps.




Pro:
Cheap raster based software ($30.00 US)
Excellent for hiking, geocaching and off road use
US maps are free and pre-calibrated.( pre-calibration is a big plus for me. I always had trouble manually calibrating maps on the other GPS software in the price range)
Uses USGS Topo Maps and Aerial Photos from Terra Server USA(many outdoor folks are familiar with this format) downloaded directly to the PDA or via Backcountry Navigator's desktop application (costs thirty dollars extra).
Tracks and waypoints can be recorded, imported and exported as a GPX file.
Geocaching files are handled fairly well
Tech support has been great and updates to the program are frequent


Con:
Only available in US
Can not import other types of maps
Map image is fairly large. Download times and space requirements could be an issue. Memory cards are recommended.
Menu items not stylus free and somewhat cumbersome.


Summary:
Very good GPS software for the price. It should meet most people's hiking and outdoor GPS needs.

Screenshot of Backcountry Navigator:

Screenshot of GPS file created by BNC and converted into Google Earth:

gasusan2005

Fsman

Thanks for the suggestion....
(an great idea for separate thread)

Susan

Fsman

Your welcome gasuzan2005

mitchman, someone who has Memory-Map will probably do a review here. Hopefully we will also get reviews on GPS Tuner, Beeline and other software.

Jeeperman

I too am a big BackCountryNavigator fan. The team over @ BCN are the best in the business as far as I'm concerned. They are getting ready to start beta testing a DESKTOP application. And, it just keeps getting better every day. AND you can try it out for 10 days......FREE!!!! It's not as flashy as some of it's competition...(but it's close) but you're not going to have $100's tied up in software and maps either!! I use BCN almost every day....And love it. Just go on over to www.backcountrynavigator.com Nathan is a great guy....and will do backflips to fix any problems that do come up.

dlweston

I originally started with Delorme software. The problem was Delorme's PDA software was terrible. In fact, they do not even even sell the PDA software anymore. I have tried Memory-Map Navigator, GPStuner and OziExplorer before I bought Memory-Map Navigator (MMN). Backountry Navigator came out a while after I bought MMN. I tried Backcrountry for a while, but I went back to Memory-Map. I think I may have been happy with BackCountry if I had not already used MMN. It is hard to switch to another program once you have used what you believe is the best program out there.

As Fsman stated, most topographic software are raster based. The exception was Delorme. One issue Fsman failed to mention is the raster based maps are much larger then the vector based maps. MMN will use both topographic maps and aerial photos. I tend to use topographic maps. If you think they take use storage space on your PDA, wait until you load an aerial photo covering the same area.

I disagree with FSMan on the point that they do not do routing. What they do not do is automatic routing. You have to create the route and make sure you do not have a 40 foot bluff in the middle of you route. It is true that they do not do voice navigation. They will show which way you should be going and how far off the route you created you are or at least MMN does.

Pros
Works great for hiking, canoeing, boating and any other off-road use.
It includes desktop and PDA software.
It will use free automatically calibrated topographic maps and aerial photo.
There are maps available for just about anywhere in the world.
You can also buy precalibrated maps if you want to.
It supports many map formats including nautical charts.
If you can not find a digital map, you can scan a paper one and calibrate it.
It has excellent map management.
It does tracks or breadcrumb trails as some people like to call them.
It will convert a track into a route so you can take the same route again.
It supports waypoints when creating routes.
The desktop program has an excellent 3D display.
You can use the desktop version to print copies of your maps.
It will do area measurements. (You can walk around a corn field let's say and it will tell you how many acres it is.)
It has night colors if you happen to use it after dark.
It has anchor or proximity alarm. (It will give an alarm if you get to far or to close to something.)

Cons
It will not use non-Memory-Map elevation data
I know people use it for GeoCaching, but I do not, so I am not sure how well it works for that.
Large map size makes it hard to keep many maps on the PDA covering large areas. (This is true of all topographic mapping programs.)

Now to explain why some of these pros and cons were important to me. Desktop software is the main reason I love Memory-Map. You can take a laptop in the field and use if wanted. I have not done that yet, but it is an option. I like the fact that the desktop software makes route planning, map management and route and track storage easy.

Map Management is where MMN excells. I bought the maps for my home state of Missouri on sale for about $72. I download free maps for around Albuquerque, NM when I went to BalloonFest. I also bought 250K maps for the entire USA. The Missouri maps are about 5 GB for the 24K maps, 400 MB for the 100K maps and 76 MB for the 250K maps. The USA 250K maps devide the US into 5 250K maps that are about 500MB each. I also have 4 maps around Albuquerque, NM . They cover about 25 mile around Albuquerque, NM and are 20 MB each. I have download other maps, but if they were for a one time trips, I delete them. I have all these maps available on my desktop program along with track and routes when I need them.

When I am going on a trip, I use the desktop program to push any stored maps, tracks or routes I want to the PDA. I actually do not push track files to the PDA. I instead pull them from the PDA after a trip and convert them to a route if I want to go to the same place again. I can also create routes in advance on the desktop program. It is easier to do on my big desktop monitor in advance than on the little PDA screen. I can also view my routes in 3D on the desktop. I make sure I have the 500 MB 250K USA map for where I am going or a big section of it They are low detail, but if I get off the 24Ks I downloaded, they are good enough to keep you from getting lost. If I am in Missouri, I take the 100K of the entire state instead. I push any 24K map and routes I want to the PDA from the desktop program

The desktop program is where OziExplorer and MMN seperate themselves from GPSTuner and Backcountry Navigator. My issue with OziExplore is the multiple programs and utilities you have to use. For Memory-Map everything is in a single desktop program. With Ozi, there is a desktop program and a different desktop program for 3D. There are also all these modules or utilities you have to download for when you need them.

Edit: Oh, one last thing I left out. Here is the link for getting free calibrated topographic maps and aerial photos to use with MMN: http://www.memory-map.com/usgs_seamless.htm.

Fsman

Quote:

I disagree with FSMan on the point that they do not do routing. What they do not do is automatic routing.

Thanks for the clarification, dlweston. Yes, I did mean automatic routing.

zumpen

Tracky Tracky

Edit: Look in my posting for Tracky 3.1.


/zumpen

Fsman

Thanks zumpen

zumpen

Originally Posted by Fsman

Thanks zumpen

You're welcome... :-)

/zumpen

MrBlue

I use Tom Tom 6 for on road navigation. I've have tried a few off road packages, but tom tom blocks access to the BT GPS receiver, and so I give up quite quickly. Does anybody know a way around this.
Thanks

Fsman

It would be nice to see reviews of GPS Tuner, Vito Smartmap, GPSdash, BeelineGPS, ect.

thunder33cat

I'll try to get one together for BeeLineGPS over the next few days.

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