Well, the good news is that Garmin is finally starting to offer 1:24K scale US topographic maps for some of their GPS units. While they’ve had these maps for US National Parks in the East, Central and West for quite a while, they’re now issuing them for the US as a whole. These are different from the 1:100K Garmin topo maps available for a while, with the latest release coming in 2008. But there’s bad news as well:
- The datasets come on individual microSD cards, so they’re only compatible with units that support those cards
- Because they’re on microSD cards, you can’t load additional map data like CityNavigator or BlueChart data on the cards; you need to either do without or swap cards back and forth to get the dataset you want
- Cards cover various sections of the US, aren’t cheap ($100 list, typically available for about $60-70 street), and only a limited part of the US is currently covered:
(Note: Garmin also sells 1:100K topo maps on microSD cards, and you have to read the product description carefully to find that out; in any case, you’re almost always better off buying these 1:100K maps on a DVD; you can then upload selected maps to the GPS unit)
There are options that are cheaper, and cover areas not currently available from Garmin. The MiscJunk website has 1:24K topo maps for UT, MT and WY, with CA on the way, though there’s already a map file for the entire state of CA already available. Dan Blomberg’s GPSFileDepot site has 1:24K topo mapsets for Arizona and Mississippi, and he’s automated the process to a point where I suspect more state mapsets will be coming in the future.
But Dan has also put up a full tutorial section on how to create your own 1:24K topo Garmin mapsets, with full links to data and software sources. While I wouldn’t describe the process as simple and easy, it can be done by anyone with reasonable computer skills. And even if you don’t need a full topo map, similar procedures can be used to create simple Garmin point, line and area maps from GPS and GIS data that can be overlaid on top of other mapsets.
Other data resources for creating your own Garmin GPS maps:
Creating Custom Topo Maps For A Garmin GPS
Make Your Own GPS Maps From GIS Data (TravelByGPS website)
KeenPeople.Com Tutorial One, Tutorial Two
New Zealand Open GPS Project tutorial
Custom Maps For Garmin GPS Receiver Part One , Part Two
… and I hope to cover some other free options for creating Garmin GPS maps in the near future.
Other posts in the Garmin GPS series
- Garmin microSD Card Tricks
- Exporting Data From Garmin’s MapSource Program To Google Earth
- Free Garmin GPS Unit Auto-Routing With MetroGuide Maps + Free European Basemap
- Cheap Worldwide Road And Contour Maps For Garmin GPS Units
- Converting A Garmin USB GPS Connection To Multiple Serial NMEA Connections
- Converting OpenStreetMap Data Into GPX Or Garmin .img Format
- Adding Garmin .img Map Files To MapSource
- Sources For Free Garmin .img GPS Map Files
- Beta Version Of DNRGarmin
- Google Maps Search Interface For Garmin .img Maps
- High-Res Garmin Topo Maps For CO, WY, and UT (also Argentina, Uruguay and Chile)
- Creating Custom Waypoint Icons For Garmin GPS Units I
- Creating Custom Waypoint Icons For Garmin GPS Units II
- Creating Custom Waypoint Icons For Garmin GPS Units III - Custom Waypoint Icons In MapSource
- Garmin Handheld GPS Units That Support Custom Waypoints
- Garmin MapSource For Free
- Garmin GPS Unit Waypoint Icons Table
- A Look At OpenStreetMap’s TIGER Data Exported To A Garmin GPS
- Beating The Garmin 2025-Map Limit With US Topo Maps
- High-Res Garmin Topo Maps Now Out For Utah
- Introduction To Garmin GPS Custom POI (Points Of Interest) Data
- Garmin Topo Maps For Montana And California
- Creating A Garmin Custom POI Datafile
- Managing Custom POI Data On A Garmin Handheld GPS
- Creating Custom Icons For Garmin Points Of Interest (POI)
- Creating A Garmin GPS Points Of Interest (POI) File From A Point Shapefile
- Entering Multiple Datasets For A Single Set Of Garmin Custom POIs
- AZ Garmin Topo Maps And More From The GPS File Depot
- Updates For Two Garmin-Related Programs
- Put USGS Topographic Maps, Aerial Imagery, And Other Raster Imagery On Your Garmin Handheld GPS
- New Garmin Map Links At The GPS File Depot
- Sets Of Custom Garmin Waypoint Icons
- Converting Raster Maps To Garmin Vector Format With BMap2MP
- Updates At The GPS File Depot
- Uploading .img Map Files To A Garmin GPS Unit With MapUpload
- Make Your Own Topo Maps For A Garmin GPS Unit
- Garmin Map Roundup
- Uploading .img Map Files to A Garmin GPS Unit With IMG2GPS
- Updates On The Garmin 1:24K US Topographic Map Front
The GPS File Depot has added an installer to the California topo map created by Laura Sanborn that you mentioned in your post. Now it easily installs in MapSource. Unfortunately, he freeways on the map are around 20 years out of date and the Colorado River area is missing. The later is available in the Arizona topo map at GPS File Depot. Fortunately the topography doesn’t change much. My thanks to Laura Sanborn and Dan Blomberg for making this map available.
http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/28
Bill Sefton
Thanks for the link and Bill I’m glad you mentioned the Cali map. I am now working on New Mexico. The contours are finished being processed. The last huge thing is downloading the water data and its only huge because the internet where I am is so slow right now. I definitely can make maps faster now.