Recently purchased the Garmin GPSmap 60CSx and have been using an openstreetmap.org EU map (free, excellent for Europe, NOT routable) and smellybiker's wanderlust maps (for the time being only for the UK, they work but less detail than OSM stuff).

For a trip outside Europe I'm preparing (or in any area where the openstreetmap.org maps are patchy/incomplete) I'll use smellybiker's world maps (yearly membership of ~$50 required). I can send you screenshots of the smellybiker maps if you'd like to get an idea of the level of detail. They seem perfectly adequate to get you from A to B.

As for the unit, even though I like it as a product (design, features), I've already returned it to the factory and had it replaced for a faulty power on/off button, and have subsequently had a freaky incident last week when a waypoint I had captured decided to move a good 20 miles off the mark...

Alex

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2011-2012: 5 months in Chile
2009-2010: 5 months in Turkey-Iran-Pakistan-India

I have a 2610 and a 60Csx, and they're both great units.

The 2610 is perfect on my roadbike with its nice big colour screen, though it has no bateries so can't be used without bike or mains power. It's waterproof, but not really rugged. It also gives good voice directions over my Autocom unit.

The 60Csx is very rugged, and battery powered, as well as bike or USB powered. However the screen is a bit on the small side, and it isn't touch sensitive, there are proper buttons to operate it. It also won't give voice directions, though it does have a built in compass and altimeter.

For overlanding I'm taking the 60Csx. For Europe I'd go with the 2610 (or 2720, it's newer and better)

Plenty of maps out there, including Smelly Bikers, Tracks4Africa and of course the Garmin ones - if you can afford them!

My 60CSx also had a faulty power button. I tried to get it fixed, but Garmin Taiwan(!) told me to take it 'back' to the shop in Singapore. I told them that I bought it in Thailand and that I was in Malaysia, but just got the same reply. ESRI in Thailand eventually fixed the button under warranty, but it is getting bad again.

If you consider buying this model I suggest saving money and buying the 60Cx, without barometer and compass. The former seems to decrease the accuracy of altitude measurements (unless you calibrate it daily - unlikely), I have never been able to use the latter.

Routable OSM maps can be downloaded here: Worldwide routable Garmin maps from OpenStreetMap (updated weekly).

I read that some people have done mapping work in SA on smellybiker's maps, so you may want to check them out.

===> if you want good free maps may I suggest contributing your track logs and POIs back to some of the projects. The data has to come from somewhere...

Cheers,
Peter.

Edit: corrected typo in URL. Thanks for pointing it out.

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Cheers,
Peter.

Europe to NZ 2006-10

Beddhist,
Something is missing in your posted URL: country maybe ??

Routable OSM maps can be downloaded here: http://garmin.da1400.info/routable.php (updated weekly).

JB

Beddhist,

The correct url should be:

http://garmin.na1400.info/routable.php


JB

hi,
i have garmin gpsmap 60csx and i think this is the one for overlanding. tough, waterproof, to many maps available, compass, battery last 15-18h, can be usb powered, and many other good stuff. did well on my morocco trip this year.
about 60cx and 60csx: there is a major difference, the chip!! the chip on 60csx gives better reception. google it and you will see it.

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ozhan u.
website under construction

I have used a Garmin 276C for the past 3 years and it has been a bulletproof unit. The screen is big and visible in bright sunlight and has a fast processor. Add to this that you can load topomaps and it makes for a great combo. Garmin is phasing them out but the replacement units aren't as good.... There is plenty of chatter on advrider.com about that. YMMV

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Ride Safe!!

Would love to, but:

1. I don't want to carry a laptop. How do I upload gpx information and POIs to OpenStreetMap? (remember OSM accepts timestamped GPXs only, which means only the active log gpx can be accepted. I cannot find this in my memory card (using Garmin 60CSx), and obviously installing MapSource in every Internet Cafe I go to is not an option.

2. Say I find an Internet Cafe twice a week. The track log will have recorded hundreds/thousands of km of routes, of different types, from highways to dirt tracks. Am I polluting the data of OSM if I just upload the entire track and tell it to auto-convert it to "ways"? Or do I have to do the impossible and re-trace every part of the track and manually tag it per highway/road/path type?

I am using the free OSM maps (have got SmellyBikers with me as well but haven't used them yet) and I'm going through a lot of uncharted territory and it bothers me that I can't add this data to OSM... but I don't know the solutions to the two issues above. Any suggestions appreciated!

Alexandros

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2011-2012: 5 months in Chile
2009-2010: 5 months in Turkey-Iran-Pakistan-India

When I put my Garmin 60Cx into Mass Storage mode (which might require the USB drivers being installed) I get a gpx file per day which look like:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no" ?>
<gpx xmlns="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1" creator="" version="1.1" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1 http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1/gpx.xsd">
<trk>
<name>ACTIVE LOG154431</name>
<trkseg>
<trkpt lat="50.956967" lon="2.230920">
<ele>4.356</ele>
<time>2009-09-16T13:44:29Z</time>
</trkpt>
</trkseg>
</trk>
<trk>
<name>ACTIVE LOG155220</name>
<trkseg>
<trkpt lat="50.956921" lon="2.230905">
<ele>0.857</ele>
<time>2009-09-16T13:52:18Z</time>
</trkpt>


which seems to be perfectly well timestamped.

Other than via MapSource, I'm not sure how you access the "active" log or even what the active log represents. It seems to be the last few entries/days.

The quote from the OSM FAQ is

Your GPX should consist of trackpoints with valid timestamps. The ele(vation) tag is optional and will default to 0. Note if using a Garmin GPS device: Many of these units have the facility to save the track that strips out the timestamps.

I seem to have timestamps in mine -- though I've not tried uploading them to OSM. The proof is in the pudding.

It would be best if you go back an relabel things but knowing the track exists at all when you're in the boonies is a good thing (thinking back to the R704 across the Atlas mountains).

How often you would have to upload these files depends on how big the data card in your GPS is. I've had a couple of months worths of logs with no signs of the card becoming full (despite having large tracts of street level Europe mapping on it).

Cheers,

Ian

The active logs are stored in the unit's internal memory, so you won't see them on the mem card. Go to the main menu, then Tracks > Setup > Data Card Setup > check box "Log Track to Data Card". Go back to the previous screen and set Interval to "Most often". Also, you must turn off locking to roads: Setup > Map > General > "Lock On Road" > Off. Now you will have one .gpx file per day on your card.

An alternative to Mapsource is EasyGPS. It won't display any maps, but does allow you to edit your tracks. You install it to a USB stick and you can run it from there, or even from your GPS (either from the card plugged into a reader or from mass storage mode).

You can upload your GPS tracks to OSM any which way you like, but of course it's nicer to edit them as much as possible before. You shouldn't, however, just convert them to ways. Leave that to people who edit the maps. You should only convert tracks that have been properly edited.

You should try the Wanderlust maps, I think you will find quite a lot of detail there. You can also contribute to that project and Bob tells me he is about to launch some cool stuff to make it easier for people.

Bob has travelled in your area and probably has mapped a lot of places where you want to go.

Cheers,
Peter.

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Cheers,
Peter.

Europe to NZ 2006-10

I have had a Magellan Crossover for over 2 years and found it great for "Downunder" but I am finding it difficult to find SE Asia maps or anywhere else other than the US, Can or Alaska. Has anyone else got maps for a Magellan for SE Asia?

Dont count on getting much utility (usefullness) from Smelly Bikers maps. Its VERY inaccurate, and you are just as well off with Garmin world map. None of the roads and tracks on Smelly Bikers maps in areas I went thru last year (central Asia, Mongolia and Siberia) were even CLOSE to being accurate, nor were they any more detailed than Garmin World Map that I also had with me. At maximum resolution, the only stuff i could see that was more detailed than Garmins world map, was the rivers. Smelly Bikers had much more watercourse detail, and curiously, identical road details. The additional river detail added nothing to my navigation and was often an annoying distraction dominating my screen.

I have recently discovered the OSM stuff and have contributed a couple of tracks. I think this is much more useful because they are real tracks people have made. The Smelly Biker stuff is just scanned maps from what I can tell. Even the main highway across Siberia is nowhere near accurate and hundreds of people record that track every year. So you would think it should be spot on.

I was quite disillusioned with the maps to be honest. In fact, I would have been disappointed if they were free. I had wrongly assumed they were collated tracks of peoples travels, but they arent. ...and OSM actually is.

I will use OSM in future.

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Hard to go past Garmin ... they are the most compatible with various forms of customised data, and the easiest to find maps for.

I like to see the maps while riding so small screens like the 60CSx are no good for me. Fine if you are on foot, but doing 100km/h down a dusty bumpy road, you will not be able to read it. I have ridden with guys who have a 60csx and they always have to stop or slow right down to read it and manouevre the small buttons and controls on it with riding gloves. A bigger screen and bigger buttons comes in very handy - so you can read the maps, town names and control the unit while riding. Similarly a touchscreen allows you to scroll thru maps more easily while riding. Thats at least what the Zumo does. The 400, 450, 500 and 550 all have a screen twice as large and with twice as many pixels as the 60CSx, large buttons for gloved fingers and a touchscreen. The flipside is the Zumos are 25% heavier and more expensive.

I dont have any experience with the new 660 Zumo, but they have a considerably larger screen yet are lighter than the 400-550 Zumos.

I was surprised what the Garmin units still cant do. They have a very limited ability to plot predetermined routes into the unit. They have pitiful internal memories, and in many ways I have been disappointed with how they perform. But they are much more durable and rugged than any other brand out there and on a long bike trip, that counts for a lot. If there is one thing I was impressed with the Zumos, its how durable they are.

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Colebatch, You're assuming someone has already sent Bob those tracks- but what if they have not and he has no data?
Bob works hard on his Wanderlust world-wide map compiling project- you must rememeber that it is dependant on individuals sending him their own tracks-
In some places there is a huge amount of information, right down to street level details (such as in B. Ayres etc) and in others, where no one has either been/and/ or sent their tracks in, there will be little or no information. It is a very big planet!

I am guessing that the areas you mention are more off the beaten track Colebatch than others.

I hope you will not mind my making a constructive suggestion? could you get in touch with Bob and send him your tracks-- From what you say, you are obviously very knowledgeable about those areas and many Hubbers and others would benefit from your tracks contribution.

Thanks in advance in the hope that you will be willing to share and do so

The reason why Wanderlust, Garmin, Google and others have identical data is that it's freely available somewhere.

You've got a point there, but so has Bert: just with OSM, Wanderlust needs people to contribute their data, so new maps can be made. This way, over time, these maps can be better and more up-to-date than anything that Garmin et al. can produce commercially (because they have to pay for the data).

Bob is working hard behind the scenes and there will be some very good maps coming out of that project (Wanderlust) very soon. I know, because I spent a year mapping Thailand for it.

Cheers,
Peter.

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Cheers,
Peter.

Europe to NZ 2006-10