Which GPS and how to use one with free/Open Source maps for touring
05-31-13, 06:28 PM
#26
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Thank you all.
Yeah you pretty much described what I want to take for navigation. It will be an eTrex 20 or 30 that will provide me turn by turn over OSM topographic maps for routes that will have been planned in advance on the computer.
It is not there to replace paper map, but provide me clear and simple directions.
I wil be bringing a laptop for general use, so will have the maps in the computer (off line use). It will weight a lot less and take way less room (thinkpad x62s with double battery, good for >7h) than paper maps showing small roads for 4000-5000km diagonally through Europe.
I have no iPhone, nor any smartphone, and will be free camping so the battery life would be clearly not sufficient.
But I will ride in the morning and afternoon with some time in the middle, which will allow me to charge AA batteries for the eTrex and the laptop, doing it every 3 days at most sounds reasonable.
Don't get me wrong, I love paper maps. Especially our national IGN ones that are beautiful and precise, with every park/wood/forest/source/church mapped ant lots of "historical" places pretty much unknown. But I like to stare at them at my desk or in the tent. They now are available online too, and it's true you don't get as much the "big pucture" and mental wandering you get with a paper map.
But I can't seem to be able to ride following a paper map on small backcountry roads without missing a turn every 5 to 10km, much to my despair!
Yeah you pretty much described what I want to take for navigation. It will be an eTrex 20 or 30 that will provide me turn by turn over OSM topographic maps for routes that will have been planned in advance on the computer.
It is not there to replace paper map, but provide me clear and simple directions.
I wil be bringing a laptop for general use, so will have the maps in the computer (off line use). It will weight a lot less and take way less room (thinkpad x62s with double battery, good for >7h) than paper maps showing small roads for 4000-5000km diagonally through Europe.
I have no iPhone, nor any smartphone, and will be free camping so the battery life would be clearly not sufficient.
But I will ride in the morning and afternoon with some time in the middle, which will allow me to charge AA batteries for the eTrex and the laptop, doing it every 3 days at most sounds reasonable.
Don't get me wrong, I love paper maps. Especially our national IGN ones that are beautiful and precise, with every park/wood/forest/source/church mapped ant lots of "historical" places pretty much unknown. But I like to stare at them at my desk or in the tent. They now are available online too, and it's true you don't get as much the "big pucture" and mental wandering you get with a paper map.
But I can't seem to be able to ride following a paper map on small backcountry roads without missing a turn every 5 to 10km, much to my despair!
05-31-13, 08:38 PM
#27
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Chalk up another for paper maps. I rarely get lost so I can't see the value of spending a bunch of money for a GPS. Google maps has a bike route option you can select that will find safe bike friendly roads and paths as much as possible, and Adventure Cycling has great maps as well that use different routing then Google might but ACA maps contain other useful information like locations of bike shops, camp areas, motels, food, etc.
06-01-13, 06:30 AM
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I normally keep the iPhone asleep as I ride and listen for turn instructions or occasionally wake it up to check the map. I'll leave it full on when I'm in a congested area with lots of turns. When I do that the battery will last thru a full day of riding but will be mostly spent at that point. So I have to recharge daily. For me that's easy because I have a dyno hub and the v4+ battery pack charging as I ride.
06-01-13, 08:31 AM
#29
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So far not 100% sure, but if you can download an OpenStreetMap as .img to your garmin, you can read the same file from Garmin Basecamp on the computer...
06-01-13, 11:42 AM
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We used OSM on a Garmin 800 in Europe, no paper maps at all. Worked very well. Rather than carry a computer with us, we mapped all our routes as TCX at home and took them with us on micro SD cards. That took a little faith. Also kept the OSM maps on micro SD. I don't load anything into the 800 memory or ever plug it into a computer. Just normal computer paranoia. Charging an 800 from an external battery requires the use of a Garmin charging cable, so it doesn't think it's plugged into a computer. I don't know if any of that is applicable to an Etrex. RideWithGPS is very good mapping software, but it requires an internet connection. The new Edge is the 810, which will not read TCX files, a disaster if trying to follow a specific route.
06-02-13, 11:44 PM
#31
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If you have an Iphone you may not need to buy a dedicated GPS.
You can buy an app such as Gaia GPS or GPS Kit.
These apps have many many great features for cycle tourers.
You can buy an app such as Gaia GPS or GPS Kit.
These apps have many many great features for cycle tourers.
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