Garmin continues to slowly add more and more states to their vector-based 1:24K US topographic map coverage. The latest release covers the central mountain West, Colorado and Utah, joining sets for Washington and Oregon as well as California and Nevada . These are in addition to their previous sets for US National Parks in the East, Central and West US; their websites says that maps for the rest of the US are “Coming Soon”. These Garmin 1:24K topo mapsets have some useful features, like elevation profiles, points of interest, routing on trails and dirt roads, and overlays for USGS topo quad and Township-Range-Section information. But at $100 list price ($80 street) for each set, it’s going to get pretty expensive to own even a small number of these. And since they’re being issued on microSD cards, they can only be used on one Garmin GPS unit at a time.
Fortunately, Dan Blomberg at the GPS File Depot, the MiscJunk website, and others continue to release their own versions of 1:24K topographic maps. While they don’t have all the fancy features of the Garmin sets, they’re free, based on the same US Government data as the Garmin maps, and can be uploaded to as many Garmin units as you like. Since my last update, Dan has released new 1:24K topo mapsets for New Mexico and Hawaii, and Idaho is coming soon; there’s also a new transparent overlay for Wyoming land usage/ownership. From the forum on his website, others following the process laid out in his tutorial on making Garmin topo maps are working on similar mapsets for Washington, Missouri and Florida as well. Dan has a list of links to all currently available free 1:24K Garmin topo mapsets at this link; currently, mapset links are listed for AZ, NM, CA, UT, CO, WY, MT, HI, MA, and MS. Maine is also available, but a link to that mapset is missing for now on Dan’s list.
And if you want actual USGS topo maps on your Garmin GPS unit, as well as other raster imagery, there are options …
USGS Topo Maps, Aerial Imagery, And Scanned Maps On Your Garmin GPS!
Choose The Right Option For Your Garmin Handheld Model
 
Actual screenshots from a Garmin Oregon! |
G-Raster For The Garmin Colorado/Oregon/Dakota/62/78 Series“… great (tool) for creating custom maps ...” GPS Tracklog Blog “… easy as 1, 2, 3.” gpsinformation.net “Works great!” GPSFix "Holy crap; this looks amazing.” GPSFileDepot Click here for more info on G-Raster |
 
Actual screenshots from a Garmin 60Cx! |
Moagu For The 60C(S)x, 76C(S)x, And Some eTrex Models"... Moagu rocks! This really is revolutionary!" GPS Tracklog Blog Click here for more info on Moagu |
Related posts:
- Garmin Map Roundup
- High-Res Garmin Topo Maps For CO, WY, and UT (also Argentina, Uruguay and Chile)
- Put USGS Topographic Maps, Aerial Imagery, And Other Raster Imagery On Your Garmin Handheld GPS
- 1:24K Garmin Topos Now Available For Idaho
- Uploading .img Map Files To A Garmin GPS Unit With MapUpload
- Free 1:24K Garmin Topo Maps For NH, NV
- More Garmin Maps From Open Street Map Data
- Make Your Own Topo Maps For A Garmin GPS Unit
- Free Tools For Custom Garmin Vector Maps XVI: Map Uploaders And Managers
- G-Raster Updated: Raster Imagery In Garmin Handheld GPS Units
Thanks for the note; can’t believe I forgot Maine. I should make a mac version of that too. Idaho is compiling… hopefully soon barring any more errors.