lots of maps on the GPS
 

Hi,

Still planning my big trip and the Garmin 60 csx is banging on my debit card.

But before i take the plunge...

If i upgrade the card to say 1gb, from different sources, will they all function togethor.

For instance if i load a detailed morocco map onto the SD card, when the remit of this special map runs out, will the device automatically switch to the base map and vice versa or does this manually need to be configured.

What happens if two specialist maps overlap each other? Will they work in conjunction with each other (e.g. the detail for both on the screen) or will i gave to override one of them?

In theory with this level of memory i should be able to have all my maps for my trip uploaded to the GPS from the start?

You can get an excellent Morroco map for Garmin units here:

http://www.island-olaf.de/travel/marokko/gps.html

I've tried them on my Garmin 2610 and they work very well, although there is no routing option, so you can only use straight-line 'off-road' guidance.
I've had problems trying to store the maps on the same memory card as my European maps, maybe due to conflicting filenames or data. I keep the Morocco maps on a small card, and keep a 1GB card for my European maps, and this works fine, if not quite as convenient. It may be possible to get around this problem by manually selecting the map set in the unit, but this is quite time consuming - it's easier to swap the card over.

If you're only planning to use the unit on the bike or in the car then take a look at the 2610. It's just been discontinued, and there's some stunning bargains around:

http://www.gpsw.co.uk/details/prod3267.html

It's generally regarded as one of the best units you can buy for bike use, and has an excellent range of features. A garmin mount for the bike is £35, plus another £25 or so for a RAM arm to bolt it to.

The SD card you want is "SanDisk - Flash memory card - 1 GB - microSD"
Be sure it is a "Micro SD" not a mini or standard SD
The Garmin WorldMap is 159 mb so the amount of memory is not a problem.
The amount of detail is not as good as country specific maps.
On the Garmin site I did not see a Morocco specific map.
When you load maps they must be all loaded at the same time because when they are loaded the overwrite the existing maps.
Also they have a 2GB card but it is more money.

[quote=John Ferris]
The Garmin WorldMap is 159 mb so the amount of memory is not a problem.
The amount of detail is not as good as country specific maps.
On the Garmin site I did not see a Morocco specific map.
quote]

World Map is a waste of money with any GPS with a built in basemap - the mapping detail is almost identical, but the world map doesn't allow routing, where as the base map does.

Morocco maps aren't from Garmin, they are independently produced, and available free of charge from the link in my post above.

I've just downloaded the Morocco map mentioned above. It's the first time I've tried to use my Streetpilot 3 with anything other than the Garmin supplied mapsource and it seems to work quite well. I read the text files in the package and it seems the guy who supplies this has created the map as an amateur project. It's taken him months as he's been learning how to do it on the job.

Loads more for other countries here:

http://home.wtal.de/noegs/freemaps.htm

The only other one I've tried is for Iceland, but I'm sure there's plenty more useful stuff here if you can decypher the languages.

The 60Cx (and 60CSx) will take a 2 G byte card .. but it is cheaper here to have the 1 G byte cards - $ per byte is better..

It ONLY takes the micro SD cards .. neither the standard SD nor the mini SD cards - different physical sizes.

On the GPS you can select what maps are 'active' - so you can view the ones you want .. bit tedious .. but the auto selection is based on the data stored on the maps .. and my not be what you want then and there so the GPS selection is what you need on the road.

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Garmin maps ..

The 'world map' covers the world .. the base map on the GPS will cover the country where it was bought .. not the world. The 'world map' looks to be VMAP0 data - freely available but tedious to download and convert to garmin format.

African maps - do a google on Tracks 4 Africa..

You'll also find Tracks 4 Australia

and
http://mapcenter.cgpsmapper.com/catalogue.php

has a few maps too.

Very few of the free maps allow routing .. and I'd question the accuracy of the maps too .. as they are mostly from free sources that can be old .. and used old technology ... so auto routing on that old stuff may not be useful. For instance the India map looks like it may be 2 km out in some places I've looked at .. but it my be my other source is out by 2 km .. hard to tell.

I keep my continents on different cards .. as you change continents change cards ..