Garmin TOPO North Africa map

[Chris Scott]

Anyone used this map outside of Morocco?
https://buy.garmin.com/en-GB/GB/p/559866
Seems to have been complied with OSM collaboration and for only 20 quid might be worth a gamble.

[Warin]

The price is low.... but

I'd think the free OSM map will be similar .. but lacks the topo lines. I'd get the free OSM map and see if that is sufficient for your needs.

[Chris Scott]

Thanks for the tip.
Zoomed in, the OSM detail looks good for my area - closely matches what I've been finding on google sat. But a 100mb (xml?) download via overpass.api leads to the usual bafflement. I suppose I will cough up 20 quid.

[andrasz]

Over the past 2 years I started using the Garmin Birdseye satellite imagery (whole world $30 annual subscripton). It has the same resolution as GE, and may be downloaded to compatible Garmin devices (Dakota, Montana, Colorado & Oregon series). A 16Gb mini SD card will hold a pretty big area, I have all of the Tassili downloaded in medium resuluton with areas of interest in HD, all that takes up less than 4GB. All of Jebel Uweinat in full HD is just 3 gigs. The drawback is that for the cheaper models the screens are lousy (I really don't know why Garmin could not put a screen into a $450 device that at least matches that of a $50 smartphone...), but still it allows real time tracking over HD sattellite imagery on a small handheld device, something you could only do previously with an internet connected laptop coupled to a GPS.

[Chris Scott]

I know the screen on my Montana puts me off getting too excited about using it for anything other than a waypoint locating device - certainly while riding a bike off road.
Andrasz, does the Birdseye res flip from brilliant on one tile to murky on the next, like GE does in some 'low priority' desert areas?

Anyway, just bought the North Africa Light map. Figured if nothing else it will be handy in Morocco as I never managed to get the now ageing Olaf map onto my Montana.

[andrasz]

Yes, BirdsEye contrast varies quite a bit like GE, especially in high resolution the tiny screen can be very difficult to see in daylight. Still, it is a great leap over trying to follow one's progress on printed-out GE sheets.

[Warin]

Originally Posted by Chris Scott

Zoomed in, the OSM detail looks good for my area - closely matches what I've been finding on google sat. But a 100mb (xml?) download via overpass.api leads to the usual bafflement.

Ummm ... I'd use Free worldwide Garmin maps from OpenStreetMap and select the areas you want ... appears to be working .... My last download took a week to come through .. looks a bit quicker now. That gives you an installable for your PC basecamp/mapsource and an .imj file for a GPS.

For an idea of the difficulty of mapping in the general area ... South Sudan capital mapping https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/J...SF/diary/40072 If someone has spent some time mapping an area .. the resultant map should be easier to use than a satellite image (provided the sources used are of the same detail/resolution). Trying to pick out those houses from trees ... tiresome.

[Chris Scott]

Ummm ... I'd use Free worldwide Garmin maps from OpenStreetMap and select the areas you want

Thanks - good link. That page rings a bell.
I just requested a couple of tiles for my area: "will be ready in 24 mins" it says.

[Massive Lee]

Originally Posted by Chris Scott

Thanks - good link. That page rings a bell.
I just requested a couple of tiles for my area: "will be ready in 24 mins" it says.

Garmin map - paid but still waiting for d/l 36hrs later...

I also use these free OSM maps and they includes tons of pistas. And it's free. These maps were good for me in Morocco and Tunisia.

The red line on the screen is the hard packed official road that leads to the Ksar Ghilane oasis, in Tunisia. The dotted lines are pistas thru the surrounding desert. So, just follow the dotted lines and you won't get lost. ;-)

[Chris Scott]

Looked over the Topo map and compared it to OSMs in the west as well as Olaf in Mk. Overall I'd say it's worth 20 quid, especially if travelling outside Morocco, or you have trouble getting Olaf into a modern, touch-screen GPS. Fuel station POIs could be handy.
Fwiw, Algeria is nothing special, piste exploration wise - just the major RNs. Older IGNs or guidebooks are still best here. Libya and Gilf even thinner or non-existent.

Reviewed in more detail here.

[Toyark]

bigger map thanks but still not clickeable so can't work out where! any clues? geocoords of centre of maps?
tks
Msied?

[Chris Scott]

Map is Mseid - bigger now - open in a new window for full size or click the review link.

[Cutrex]

Originally Posted by Warin

The price is low.... but

I'd think the free OSM map will be similar .. but lacks the topo lines. I'd get the free OSM map and see if that is sufficient for your needs.

Not necessarily. Check this out: Africa OSM Topo Routable | GMapTool. Routable, with a very good POI database, and with embedded contours. Works very well with the Montana. The Garmin Topo products are aesthetically nicer, but that is a relative asset with a small screen under the sun.

The real problem with OSM is the variable density of information. Morocco is plenty of data, I would say better than Garmin Topo because of frequent updates. But I have just returned from Mauritania, and even some asphalt roads were lacking.

OSM relies on volunteer work, therefore the real outback receives less attention. But it is already very good and is advancing quickly. In short time it might be the benchmark others are compared to.

Cheers,

Cutrex

[PropTP]

I bought the North Africa Top light map to install on my Garmin GPS 62s. I already had a microSD with a Europe NT road map on.


I installed Gamin Express to download the Topo map, and a pop-up recommended to install the download on the SD card, as there was almost 1,6 GB available space.

The installation went smoothly, but i found out later, that my Europe NT road map was gone!!!

Apparently, installing a map on a SD card with another map already on it, deletes it.

So beware before installing it!

[Warin]

Any purchased card with a map on it should not be used for anything else! Unless you want to get rid of the purchased map.


My usual goto site for OSM is the .nl one and that lacks contours. I don't usually bother about the contours. The .nl site covers the world so I am not searching for a particular country making it easy for me and others.