In the comments to a previous post, someone asked if there were any place where you could find a legend for Garmin GPS unit waypoint icons. I pointed him to this Garmin page, which has a partial legend for Garmin MapSource icons, but it turns out that MapSource icons don’t always resemble the corresponding icons on a Garmin GPS unit.There’s no legend for Garmin GPS unit waypoint icons anywhere else that I could find, either on the Web or in Garmin’s own documentation. For future reference, I’ve put together the following tables of Garmin waypoint icons by category. This is how they’re displayed on my Garmin 60Cx, but they may well be different on other Garmin models. In parentheses below the label is the MapSource Symbol category which contains this icon. If your unit has different or additional icons, and you can send a copy of them to me, I’ll add them to this post.
Archive for the 'GPS' Category Page 16 of 25
As a supplement to my recent posts on creating custom waypoint icons for Garmin GPS units (1, 2, 3), I’ve put together a list of Garmin units that I believe, based on first-hand reports, and my interpretation of their manuals, support custom waypoint icons. It’s hard to say for sure, since Garmin doesn’t specifically mention custom waypoints in any any of their manuals; in fact, they seem to want to make it as difficult as possible to find out how to use this capability. So I can’t assure you with 100% certainty custom waypoint icon support for any models other than the GPSmap, Rino, and Astro models.
Currently-available models
| GPSmap 60Cx | GPSmap 60CSx | GPSmap 76Cx | GPSmap 76CSx |
| eTrex Venture Cx | eTrex Vista Cx | eTrex Legend Cx | eTrex Vista HCx |
| eTrex Legend HCx | Astro GPS | Rino 520 HCx | Rino 530HCx |
| eTrex Summit HC | eTrex Venture HC | Quest | Quest II |
Note: The new Garmin Colorado series (300, 400t, 400c, 400i) does *not* currently support custom waypoints; I know some people have flagged this to Garmin as an issue, and perhaps they’ll add it in future firmware updates. Given their lackadaisical support for this function, I wouldn’t hold my breath.
6/11/2010: Newer models in the Oregon series (the Oregon 450, Oregon 450T, Oregon 550 and Oregon 550T) do support custom waypoints, but in a different way than older Garmin models; see the Oregon wiki for more info. The new GPSMap 62 and 78 series support them as well.
Older models (no longer sold)
GPSmap 60C
GPSmap 60CS
GPSmap 76C
GPSmap 76CS
eTrex Legend C
eTrex Vista C
Rino 520/530
Note: Version 6.15.3 of MapSource accidentally dropped support for custom waypoint icons; version 6.15.4 puts it back. Make sure you have the most recent version.
The two previous posts in this series dealt with creating and uploading custom waypoint icons to supported Garmin GPS units. But while third-party software for handling GPX data (both upload and download) will download the waypoints, most (if not all) don’t support display of these custom waypoint icons. For that, you’ll have to use Garmin’s MapSource program (aka Trip and Waypoint Manager), and set up custom waypoint icon graphics so that MapSource can import and use them.
Note: Version 6.15.3 of MapSource accidentally dropped support for custom waypoint icons; version 6.15.4 puts it back. Make sure you have the most recent version.
In the first post of this series, I started describing the process of creating and uploading a custom waypoint icon to a Garmin mapping GPS unit; little of what follows will make sense unless you read that first. Today, the thrilling semi-conclusion!
Continue reading ‘Creating Custom Waypoint Icons For Garmin GPS Units II’
Note: Version 6.15.3 of MapSource accidentally dropped support for custom waypoint icons; version 6.15.4 puts it back. Make sure you have the most recent version.
Modern handheld Garmin GPS units with map displays come with an absurd number of icon choices to use when designating and displaying a waypoint. My Garmin 60Cx comes with:
- 18 Transportation
- 12 Markers
- 18 Civil
- 24 Outdoors
- 24 Marine
- 18 Navaids
- 24 Signs
- 24 Points of Interest
But if those aren’t enough for you, or a specific icon graphic you’d like to see isn’t included, it’s possible with many Garmin units (like my Garmin 60Cx) to create your own waypoint icons and upload them to your GPS unit. To find out if your unit supports Custom waypoint icons, create a waypoint, select the icon image, and see if “Custom” as a subcategory of waypoint icons, along with the others listed above:
Continue reading ‘Creating Custom Waypoint Icons For Garmin GPS Units I’
Part I covered a number of ways to improve the accuracy of GPS position measurements using a standard consumer-grade unit. Here are a few more ways to improve your chances of getting an accurate position determination.
Continue reading ‘Improving Position Measurement Accuracy In Consumer-Grade GPS Receivers – Part II’
My previous post recommended using an external GPS antenna to improve accuracy. They aren’t actually all that expensive – you can pick one up for $20-30 on eBay. But for really cheap GPS antennas, you might try one of my favorite gadget sites, DealExtreme. You can get an external GPS antenna for as little as $7.50, or as much as $8.31, a price that includes shipping from Hong Kong. I have no experience with either model, no specs are given, and the connector description (“F-Cable”) is one that I’m not familiar with, so caveat emptor (“let the buyer beware”). Still, at this price, you don’t have much to lose.
DealExtreme is full of both useful and oddball gadgets, many at absurdly low prices, especially given that all the prices include shipping. Geographically-related, in addition to a few GPS-related items like the antennas, they also have dozens of compasses, from a digital compass with a built-in altimeter and thermometer for about $30, to a twenty-pack of mini-compasses for $2.60. Not to mention the combination butane lighter and compass for $4. Thousands of other items as well, from the useful to the absurd (Mario and Luigi air freshener, anyone?), most at astoundingly low prices. Takes a few weeks for the items to show up, but I’ve never had a problem with any order, including the one item that was out-of-stock (got a prompt refund).
A consumer-grade GPS receiver is very unlikely to achieve the same high level of position accuracy as a survey-grade multi-frequency GPS receiver with post-processing capabilities, at least repeatably anyway. But the former is available for less than $200, while the latter can easily cost thousands of dollars. Sometimes you don’t need the sub-meter (even centimeter) accuracy of the more-expensive unit; sometimes, getting a position reliably within a few meters is good enough. And there are ways you can improve your chances of getting reasonably good and repeatable measurement accuracy even with an inexpensive unit (and some of these help with the more expensive units as well).
Continue reading ‘Improving Position Measurement Accuracy In Consumer-Grade GPS Receivers – Part I’