Free GPS Maps, what’s the scoop?

I check my website stats frequently to gauge what words are typed into search engines that eventually point to my website. Consistently one of the top searches is “free gps maps”. Do these really exist? Well yes and no depending on what you’re really looking for.

First, let’s clear up a misconception that many rookie GPS owners have about the maps displayed on their GPS unit. The base map supplied by the vendors such as Garmin or Magellan are quite basic. They simply do not have as much detail in them that some may expect. This was certainly the case when I purchased my Garmin 76S about 4 years ago.

I quickly discovered the base map that was included with my GPS just didn’t cut it when it came to being out in the back country. Small lakes, roads, geographic features and even basic services such as remote gas stations were not displayed. GPS units used in larger cities have this information built in but still not to the nth degree that you may expect.

To get more detailed information into your GPS you’ll have to go about this by either purchasing the maps such as Mapsource and install them into your unit, make your own or download and install gps maps made by someone else.

So if your search for “free gps maps” is to look for a more detailed overall base map of your city or region then you’re going to have to fork out and buy Mapsource or some other similar product and upload these to your GPS. If you just want to have more detail in a very specific area then you can do a search on the net for these or create your own. Your search for specific gps maps of your interest will inevitably leave you frustrated as there simply aren’t that many of them around.

My experience in looking for these is that you may find some very dedicated individuals who have created a few maps for a specific hike in their area for instance but don’t expect to zero in on a site that contains free gps maps galore for your city.

Not long ago, creating your own gps maps and uploading them into your GPS was an arduous and nearly fruitless task. More recently, dedicated software creators have come up with some innovative tools to do just this very thing. Here is a link to a list of free gps software I use.

To create your own detailed gps maps you’ll first of all need digital topographic maps. What’s the difference? GPS base maps or maps that you create to upload to your GPS are vector based maps, that is, they’re created using numbers to represent lines and areas. Vector images have smooth edges and no matter how much you enlarge them always remain sharp. Digital topographic maps that are displayed in mapping software are raster images, that is, they’re created with pixels just like a digital photo. If you enlarge a raster image enough, you will eventually see squares of colour and it will appear to be out of focus.

Base maps in your GPS are vector images. To create a more detailed map for your GPS you will need a raster based digital topographic map brought into gps base map creation software so that you can trace the outlines of the area of your interest. The principal is the same no matter which software you use.

Once you finish tracing and adding detail to this map you’ll have to connect your GPS to your computer and upload it to your unit. Not all software is capable of this upload however and you may need yet another piece of software to do just that. Some software only allows you to create the file that must be uploaded to your GPS.

So, is this sounding a bit more cumbersome than you thought? Only the truly adventurous go down this road and the reality is that I’m one of them. I’ll be adding some “free gps maps” to our website on digital tourism in the coming months. In the meantime we do offer free downloads of gps data, that is, waypoint and track files to upload to your GPS.

Google Earth to Google Maps and back

When Google came onto the scene no one expected that this little upstart would someday take over the world. To say they’ve conquered the location data market is an understatement. Google Earth and Google Maps are the undisputed rulers of geographical data display.

So who’s not using Google Earth these days? If you’re in the minority then you may now bow your head in shame, immediately download GE and get with it. In short, and I’ve said this in other blogs, that this is the single most useful and time consuming free software you’ll ever install on your computer, Mac or PC.

GE is so mind boggling fascinating that describing it in a blog to any satisfying degree is an insult. Just get it, look up where you live, your work, fly around your city or neighborhood and get used to the controls. Go visit Area 51 or any other location in the world and do a fly through. You can get real funky with this program.

Google Maps, the baby brother of GE is simply the best direction finder on the market. By simply typing in any address it will show you were it is located in either map or topographic or even a hybrid view of both. You can get detailed driving directions from where you are to where you want to go, find the nearest pub, restaurant or any other service closest to the point you’ve chosen, or you can take any point in GM and view it in GE and vice versa.

My prediction, one day these two applications will join forces into one. In the meantime, they are only able to share map points, lines and areas. When in GM there is a “View in Google Maps” button over top of the map. Click this and GE will open and show you these. When in GE you can choose to view the information you’re seeing in GM. Doing so will open the browser window right inside GE.

Here’s a starting point for you. Open this Google Map file by clicking here. Okay, this link may be a bit of self promotion but hey, you’re getting free advice. Once you have this page loaded, click on the “View on Google Earth” button over top of the map. I’m guessing you have GE installed by now so if you do then these will be listed in the “Temporary Places” section on the left side of the screen. Click on them and you will zoom down into that area. Here is a link to all of my Google Maps.

To create your own GM you’ll need to get a Google account, log in and then visit GM “My Maps” tab. Create your own map here but keep in mind that you can’t change the order of the map items once they’re created. If it’s alphabetical you want displayed then that’s the way you’ll need to create them. Add your own photos, html code or even import GE .kml or .kmz files to it.

This last part was isn’t as easy as it should be, in fact, it’s partially broken. Alas, GM has a glitch. There is a import button available when you are editing your maps. It asks if you want to import from a file on your local machine or one already somewhere on the internet. Pointing it to a local .kml or .kmz file gives the error “We could not finish uploading your file…”. This has the GM forums all abuzz. You’ll need to have these files existing on the internet and point the import tool to be successful.

Be forewarned, importing lines or areas to GM slows it down to a crawl, and I’m using a fast computer with a good internet connection. You may get script errors when you try to view these in GM. You’re better off sticking to single points in GM and using GE for the displaying points, lines and areas.

I’m all about Digital Tourism these days. Check out our other blogs or visit our website for more information and free downloads.