GPSFix » Garmin Colorado Archives – GPSFix

50% off Zagg Products including invisibleSHIELD

Scott — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 06:00:35 +0000

The title says it all. If you are looking for a screen protector or know someone who would like one for Christmas stop by Zagg and pick up some invisibleSHIELD coverage for 50% off — today only. Zagg has screen protectors designed specifically for the Colorado, Oregon, Dakota, GPSMAP 62 and 60csx.

Garmin chirp Approved by Groundspeak – Based on ANT+ Standard

Scott — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 15:05:22 +0000

Yesterday Groundspeak announced that they will approve chirp-enabled geocaches on geocaching.com, putting to rest a several day long chirp thread on the geocaching forums. While Groundspeak prefers that cache hiders provide an alternate means of finding the cache, a chirp cache can be listed as a mystery cache with a new “wireless beacon attribute” if chirp is the only means to locate the cache.

Groundspeak’s guidelines for chirp approval are as follows:

A new attribute for a “beacon” will be added soon. Any caches that use a Chirp (or any future similar device) should use this attribute.

If a cache owner puts a beacon in a traditional cache and geocachers have an alternative method to find it without using the beacon, then OK. I remind you to use the coming attribute.

If the cache owner insists on not providing an alternative means of finding the geocache, it must be listed as a mystery with the beacon attribute.

Cache descriptions may mention the “Chirp” as long as the text doesn’t go on and on with “overtones of advertising, marketing, or promotion” as per our long-standing commercial guidelines.

We do not plan to add a new cache type just for this.

This is a very fair (and quick) decision especially considering, as Groundspeak is claiming, they only found out about chirp two days before the public release.

The next question is whether non-Garmin ANT+ devices will be able communicate with a chirp. According to this post by DC Rainmaker, the answer is yes. Chirp reportedly is based on a new (pending?) ANT+ Geocache Node Device Profile. ANT+ profiles specify the protocols which ANT devices use to communicate so it is possible that an iPhone with an ANT+ transmitter combined with the right application could talk with a chirp. While time will tell if this standard is actually approved and whether an application will be developed I’m guessing this went a long way when Groundspeak was considering approval for the device.

As I anticipated in my original post I’ve also heard some interesting ideas about how these devices might be used:

Orienteering or adventure racing check point
Travel bug “tag” transmitter
Personal “hello” beacon
Lost key chain or another valuable finder
Endurance sport timing and competitor validation
Other geocaching uses
@gpstracklog suggests putting them in geocaches as “I’m not a bomb beacons” (my favorite!)

Some of these suggestions may not work since there seems to be an issue when two or more chirps are within proximity of the same GPS. The first chirp discovered is the one visible. If you have a chirp on the key chain you are carrying you may not be able to see other chirps that you pass by, say, as you are looking for a chirp-enabled geocache.

REI had a bunch in store when I was there this weekend although I’ve heard that some stores are already out of stock. You can get them online at REI for $19.95.

There’s still one nagging issue that remains out of all of this. When Garmin released its new chirp software many people noticed that the geocaching icon changed from the official Groundspeak icon to the more generic “geocache treasure box”. While this is a minor change the press releases for chirp were also noticeably void of any references to geocaching.com and Groundspeak as well. And why would Garmin have not told Groundspeak about chirp until two days before its release? Honestly, I’m not one for conspiracy theories but I sense there is something else going on here that may play out over the coming weeks and months.

50% Off InvisibleShields — Extended for Today

Scott — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 17:42:08 +0000

Zagg has extended the sale which will get you 50% off everything on their site including invisibleShield screen protectors. If you missed the deal yesterday you have until 12 midnight Pacific Time to make your purchase! International sales are included in this promotion too. Related posts: 50% Off invisibleShields Today Only 50% Off All InvisibleShield [...] Related posts:

50% Off invisibleShields Today Only

Scott — Mon, 31 May 2010 05:01:59 +0000

Zagg is running a sale for today only which will get you 50% off everything on their site including invisibleShield screen protectors. InvisibleShields are a great way to prevent screen scratches on your Garmin GPS. I have them installed on all of my units, and they keep my touchscreen Dakota’s and Oregon’s looking like new even though I frequently use them with dirty hands. You’ll also get free shipping in the US on any order over $29.98.

Enjoy and Happy Memorial Day!

Garmin Outs BirdsEye, Updates BaseCamp and GPS Software

Scott — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 14:26:39 +0000

Over the last two days Garmin has been busy rolling new versions of BaseCamp and software for the Colorado, Oregon x00, Oregon x50 and Dakota all aimed at delivering their newest mapping product — BirdsEye. As we discussed in a previous post, BirdsEye allows users of the “state-named” Garmin GPS units to download and make use of aerial imagery on the handheld and in BaseCamp. When CustomMap support was introduced several months ago users could achieve similar results but with this release Garmin is trying to make the process dead simple – for a price.

As of yesterday afternoon (no April Fools!) BirdsEye subscriptions were made available on Garmin’s US site. The annual per device subscription will cost you $30 US. To use Birdseye you simply need to follow the link above, purchase the subscription and then activate it using your GPS device’s serial number. Once your unit is registered with Garmin’s servers you can start to download maps using the newest version of BaseCamp for the PC or Mac. You’ll also need to make sure you are running the latest device software which supports Birdseye — use WebUpdater to download the correct version for your unit.

My initial tests are encouraging. Although the servers have been slow (or down) at times I’ve been able to select and download imagery to both my Oregon 550t and Dakota 20 without a hitch. The process for doing this in BaseCamp is simple: just connect your unit, select a region, choose one of three resolutions and the maps will be downloaded to your computer and then your GPS. Once downloaded you need to enable them like any other map so that they are visible on the map page.

The highest resolution imagery for my area is very good, identical to what is in Google Earth. One complaint I have is that the images are over saturated when they are displayed on the GPS. This may have been a trade off to make the maps a little brighter on dim high resolution displays. My other complaint is the time it takes to download high resolution images for even a relatively small area. At least until the servers are little less loaded you’ll want to be selective about how much you download. Of the three resolution levels available only high and highest are usable. The standard resolution which you will see if you use the demo feature is blurry even when zoomed quite far out.

So what to do with these new aerial maps? For me it will be helpful geocaching. Some optimizations in BaseCamp, like the ability download a single tile around every cache in a selected set, would be helpful for planning a day out caching — you can only download rectangular areas at this time which chews up a lot of space and adds download time. As for hiking or biking, again, it would be nice to be able to download just the tiles along a selected track or a route. Here in New England where we have a lot of tree cover I’m not sure how useful these images will be unless I’m biking on double track — something that would actually show up on an aerial. I have noticed that you can pick out individual trees and stonewalls using the highest resolution maps so they may be more useful than I originally expected. I reviewed some imagery from an area where I recently did some desert hiking in Arizona and Birdseye maps would have been incredibly helpful there. The single-track trails (many weren’t marked on any map) were clearly visible on the aerial shots. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that the area I just visited in Mexico had decent coverage. Ultimately the usefulness of this feature will come down to your local topography, the quality of imagery in your area and the types of activities you pursue.

It is also worth mentioning several other new features which have been overlooked in the excitement around BirdsEye. BaseCamp now supports the ability to display pre-installed maps. On my 550t after 20 minute initial sync I can now see my built in Topo 100k maps in BaseCamp just like any other map. The GPS has to be attached in order to use the maps. Similarly, BaseCamp supports the ability to display CustomMaps you already have installed on the GPS. For some reason this worked on several of my CustomMaps but BaseCamp threw errors on others.

Dakota and Oregon x00 owners should note that their unit software updates also came with new GPS firmware. I haven’t noticed any difference on the Dakota but the release notes indicate there are fixes to improve acquisition. Users on the wiki forums are reporting that there an no noticeable improvements to WAAS. There is a bug in the new unit software which causes street names to disappear from the map page. To keep abreast of bugs found in the new unit software, Birdseye or BaseCamp stop by the discussion group on the Oregon wiki.

Oregon x50 owners coming from the 3.26 beta will notice the Custom Symbol support made the cut to 3.3 but the tracklog archiving features did not. I hope this feature makes its way back into an official release soon — I found it incredibly helpful for managing my tracklogs on my recent trips to Arizona and Mexico.

Garmin Announces BirdsEye Satellite Imagery Subscription

Scott — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 13:52:24 +0000

Update 1/18: Garmin officially announced BirdsEye today. Availability is March 2010.

Details are still a bit sketchy but it looks like Garmin is finally releasing an all-you-can-eat satellite imagery subscription called BirdsEye for their outdoor handhelds that support Garmin Custom Maps. For $30 a year Oregon, Colorado and Dakota users who install a yet to be released version 3.0.0 of BaseCamp will be able to download all the “sub-meter” satellite imagery they want and then transfer those maps to their device. The subscription would work on only one device and would require a myGarmin account to take advantage of the new service which is obviously aimed squarely at Delorme and Lowrance who already offer similar services.

Here are some details from the Garmin site.

Transfer an unlimited number of satellite and aerial images to your device with this subscription and free software BaseCamp™.

High-resolution sub-meter color satellite imagery captures the world in brilliant clarity and detail.

Allows you to layer the Garmin vector maps on your handheld (such as TOPO 100K, TOPO 24K or City Navigator^®) with BirdsEye Satellite Imagery for a real-life view of roads, buildings and terrain.

Makes it easy for hunters to perform preseason scouting, determine placement of stands and locate game pinchpoints.

Helps hikers and campers find trails/trailheads and clearings for camping areas.

Lets geocachers determine the terrain type around a cache and identify parking areas close to the caches.

Allows travelers to view tourist hot spots and landmarks from an aerial view to make excursions memorable without getting lost.

More Custom Map Updates and Garmin Dakota How To Videos

Scott — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:38:02 +0000

If you are a GB Discoverer user or need profile support for Custom Maps you’ll want to run Webupdater one more time this week. Garmin released more software for the Oregon, Colorado and Dakota this afternoon which was accompanied by the following two release notes:

Added profile support for Garmin Custom Maps
Fixed lockup while using GB Discoverer maps

Links for all of the updates are below, although when I posted this they all didn’t show the latest release. Running Webupdater is your best option.

And one more Thanksgiving bonus for new Dakota (and Oregon) users. Garmin has posted some short how to videos on their training site. Here’s one that explains how to navigate using the Dakota (or Oregon, they are identical in most respects).

Garmin Custom Maps Officially Available on Oregon, Dakota and Colorado

Scott — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:56:49 +0000

Yesterday Garmin announced (press release | blog) official software upgrades for the Oregon, Dakota and Colorado which include the Garmin Custom Maps feature. Garmin described Custom Maps as “a free, simple process that helps users transform the maps they currently have – in paper or digital form – into downloadable maps for compatible Garmin GPS outdoor handhelds.”

If you would like more information on how to use Garmin Custom Maps on your Garmin device see our original post, or check out some of our Custom Maps tips here, here and here.

To start using Garmin Custom Maps you’ll need to connect your GPS unit to your computer and run the Webupdater to install the latest software. The latest software releases for each of the units and associated release notes are provided below.

I’ve been testing with these changes since yesterday and I’m pleased to say that the Custom Maps feature is much more stable and performance has improved over the earlier beta release. I haven’t seen any of the shutoffs and instability observed during the beta period by many users who were using large maps. Several issues specific to the Colorado have reportedly been fixed as well.

Garmin Oregon 200/300/400 version 3.3

Added support for Garmin Custom Maps
Improved along road routing performance

Discuss on the Oregon wiki.

Garmin Oregon 550/550t version 2.6

Added support for Garmin Custom Maps
Added heading to geotagged photo EXIF information (see GPSImgDirection and GPSImgDirectionRef tags)
Improved along road routing performance
Improved support for importing geotagged photos to various desktop applications
Corrected issues causing some geotagged photos to be drawn at incorrect location on the map

Earthcache icon support has also been added in this release.

Discuss on the Oregon wiki.

Garmin Dakota 10/20 version 2.3

Added support for Garmin Custom Maps
Improved along road routing performance
Increased data field font sizes

Discuss on the Dakota wiki.

Garmin Colorado 300/400 version 3.1

Added support for Garmin Custom Maps
Improved along road routing performance
Improved map panning and zooming

Discuss on the Colorado wiki.

Tips on Garmin Custom Maps — GPS Visualizer Adds Garmin KMZ Support

Scott — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:25:25 +0000

After experimenting with GPS Visualizer to create Garmin KMZ files last week I contacted Adam Schneider, author of GPS Visualizer, about making it easier to create Garmin Custom Maps using his very useful (and free) online tool. Today Adam published changes to GPS Visualizer which simplify the process of creating Custom Maps from some types of publicly available digital images. With these changes GPS Visualizer is very helpful if you want to quickly get a small area (< 10 square miles) of USGS Topos or 1m USGS black/white aerial photos images onto your Garmin — all without doing any map calibration in Google Earth. There are two ways to use GPS Visualizer to get maps onto your Garmin Oregon, Dakota or Colorado:

Dynamic overlay: This is the process we described in our previous post on the topic. I’ve updated that post to provide links to the new overlay tool and update the screen shots. Using this method you can use Google Earth to find the location you want and, if necessary, preview and modify the overlay before sending it to your Garmin.
Overlay input form: Enter your location, select the area you want to cover and pick the map type you would like use. No need to mess with Google Earth, and Adam has added a button to preset most of the form for optimal performance on a Garmin GPS.

To use the Overlay input form method follow these steps

Navigate to the GPS Visualizer overlay page and select the link for Garmin GPS users.
Select a location based on address or coordinates.
Set the area that you want your maps to cover. The default setting of a 10km (6.2 mile) square works pretty well for Topos and Aerial photos and looks good down to about the 800′ (200m) zoom level. If you want more detail as you zoom in on your GPS map page you can shrink the area of your maps, or if you can cover more area if you are willing to sacrifice map image quality as you zoom in. GPS Visualizer also allows you to use data inside a GPX file to bound your maps (i.e. based on waypoints, tracks, etc) or specific N, E, S, W bounding boxes. See “Coordinate input method” under “General Options” to use these features.
Select the map type you want, typically it would be USGS topos or aerial photos.
Click Create Overlay
On the next page you can select click here to download your overlay and use your browser to save the KMZ file to your E:\Garmin\CustomMaps folder, assuming your GPS is connected and maps to drive letter “E”. Also note this page contains useful information to determine the coverage area, resolution and m/pixel of your new map.

I would like to thank Adam for adding this support and encourage anyone who finds it useful to make a donation to GPS Visualizer.

Tips on Garmin Custom Maps — Random Stuff

Scott — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 22:10:21 +0000

There’s so much going on with Garmin Custom Maps right now it is hard to keep up! Here are some more tips, tools, resources and limitations we’ve learned about today that we would like to pass along. If you have discovered your own please post them here or over on the wiki discussion threads linked below.

Tips

To combine multiple JPEG images into one KMZ file create a directory in Google Earth and copy or add your individual overlays into the directory. From the directory select Save Place As to store the KMZ to your GPS.
You can have a \Garmin\CustomMaps folder on both your SD card and internal memory.
KML/KMZ uses WGS84 datum but an image can be in any datum as long as it can georeferenced and reprojected (warped) to WGS84
Draw Order >= 50 will make the an image show up above any installed Garmin maps (see first image below)
Draw Order <50 will make the image show up on top of the land areas of installed Garmin maps (i.e. land, lakes) but the Garmin map data like roads, contour lines, etc. will show up on top of the custom map (see second image below)

Custom maps with a higher Draw Order will draw on top of those with a lower Draw Order
Waypoints, tracks, routes, geocaches, POIs, etc will always draw on top of Custom Maps
Putting the map page in North Up mode makes map updates much faster and if you’ve referenced maps that are oriented north up the labels are easier to read
Custom Maps don’t appear in Automotive orientation.

Tools

GPSVisualizer Overlay KML (see my previous post for detailed instructions on how to use this)
GlobalMapper (not the free trial version, the $280 version) does a good job creating KMZ overlays.
MapTiler (0pen source and free!) which is based on GDAL seems to have most of what we need but it uses superoverlays which are not supported. Add a vote here to have them add support for Garmin Custom Maps!
gCensus-gt, I haven’t tried it but it looks useful for converting a variety of file types into KML, but it too may only support superoverlays
Tiler for ExpertGPS. I’m trying to contact the author of ExpertGPS to see if the tool could be modified to create files in the format we need

Resources

Posts by Rich on gpstracklog here and here.
Garmin Forum for Custom Maps and KMZ examples
Garmin Oregon, Colorado and Dakota wiki discussion threads
Groundspeak discussion thread
gpsfiledepot.com discussion thread
Some links to 3rd party map data from DeLorme PN users
Free raster imagery for the US
NZ GPS forums

Limitations / Bugs

No support for multiple custom map layers on the GPS which you can enable and disable separately
Each individual image should be smaller than 1 megapixel, larger files will render but at a reduced quality
No single image should be larger than 3MB (per Garmin) because of the time it takes to render
You can have multiple images in a KMZ, but the GPS is limited to a total of 100 JPEGs across all KMZ files
As a rough rule of thumb if you want good resolution down the 300′-200′ zoom level the limitations above will mean you can only have a maximum of about 100 sq/miles of imagery loaded
Only JPEG images are supported
Google Earth superoverlays are not supported
Colorado users are reporting that the current tracklog shows up as wide magenta line over the overlay maps. Garmin has indicated it will be fixed in the next release.
I’ve seen cases where the tracklog and waypoints stop getting drawn after zooming in/out on a large custom map (still less than 3MB)