Over a year ago, I posted about the transition of US Census TIGER vector data from their non-standard format to shapefile format. Despite what you might have read elsewhere, the new TIGER shapefiles hadn’t been released yet … until today. They’ve been saying for months now that they expected to release them in March of 2008, and they made it just under the wire.
Archive for March, 2008
So you’ve followed the directions in the previous post, and created a CSV POI file, and uploaded it to you Garmin GPS unit. Now what?
Continue reading ‘Managing Custom POI Data On A Garmin Handheld GPS’
In the first post of this series, I compared the features of custom POIs (Points Of Interest) and waypoints for a Garmin handheld GPS unit (like my 60Cx). This post will show how to create a POI datafile that can be uploaded into a Garmin GPSr.
1:24K-equivalent topographic maps for Montana in the Garmin .img format are now available from miscjunk.org, also the source of topo maps for Colorado, Wyoming and Utah. Installs in MapSource.
MiscJunk is working on a set for California, but there’s one available now here. This is a 1-GB plus gmapsupp.img file that will have to be copied directly onto a 2-GB or larger microSD or SD card (depending on the Garmin model); it won’t fit on models that have built-in memory.
“Waypoints”, geographic position markers created either in a GPS unit or using software, have been a function found on virtually every GPS unit ever made. More recently, “Points of Interest” or POIs have been implemented as an alternate way to store data for a point position, and many recent GPS units let you upload your own custom POI lists. POIs provide a handy way of organizing groups of points, and can also include more information on a point than a standard waypoint. I’ll be doing a short series of posts on creating and manipulating POIs. While the focus will be on Garmin GPS POI capabilities, other GPS manufacturers also support them as well, though usually in different formats. Note: As far as I know, only Garmin GPS units that use external data storage cards (like those listed in this post) can accept custom POI data.
Continue reading ‘Introduction To Garmin GPS Custom POI (Points Of Interest) Data’
On her blog, Jo Cook of Oxford Archaeology has the sad tale of what happens when a proprietary GIS company changes their licensing terms, making it too financially onerous to continue using their software. In the comments, Stefan Steiniger links to his useful tables comparing the features of many open-source GIS programs (most of which I mentioned in my recent series of posts). He has overview and functionality web pages, and also downloadable Word versions.
I’ve posted previously about Tom Patterson’s shaded relief maps, and he has a new one out. The Physical Map Of The World extends out his earlier Physical Map Of The Coterminous United States to cover the entire globe with shaded relief topography, “natural” colors to represent biomes, and key physical features labeled:
You can view the imagery online in a Zoomify interface, but as with his other imagery, he also provides free downloadable versions of this imagery in CMYK JPEG, and Adobe Illustrator files with the labels and graticule.
Via the always excellent Map Room.
The final part of the series. Part One, Part Two, Part Three. All parts will be regularly updated as more programs come to my attention.
SAGA
Type: Freeware, open-source
Platform: Windows, Linux
Last update: 2007
Personal experience: Medium
Continue reading ‘The Big List Of Free GIS Programs – S Through Z’
