eTrex 32x Topoactive maps

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eTrex 32x Topoactive maps

Postby Dexter » Sat 13 Nov, 2021 3:16 pm

Hey all! I have a couple (and a few more) questions. I may have done a bit of a whoopsy. I recently grabbed an etrex, and since the 'Topoactive maps' sounded fancy, I chose the 32x. Since it was lockdown at the time, I was pretty much limited to online. Long story short it came from the UK, and just arrived yesterday. I just popped some batteries in to fire it up and familiarise myself, got to the map settings and realised the topoactive maps were for Europe. Ooops. So I thought I should plug it in to my PC and maybe you can swap your region and install the correct maps. I'm starting to realise that may not be an option, and Garmin charge for these maps.

So I guess my many questions are... Am I missing out? Should I care? Are there better maps I can install anyway? It doesn't have much room left, so if there is a way to get some other maps on there I'd imagine I need to remove the current topoactive maps which doesn't seem all that intuitive.

I can send it back, and just head to a local shop and pick up an Aussie map unit if it's all too much of a problem? Part of me wonders whether the maps can be 'obtained' online. Probably not the ethical thing to do, but I do feel like I should be entitled to them.
What would you do?
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Re: eTrex 32x Topoactive maps

Postby icefest » Sat 13 Nov, 2021 8:32 pm

Dexter wrote: Are there better maps I can install anyway? It doesn't have much room left, so if there is a way to get some other maps on there I'd imagine I need to remove the current topoactive maps which doesn't seem all that intuitive.

https://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=28893
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Re: eTrex 32x Topoactive maps

Postby Dexter » Sat 13 Nov, 2021 9:28 pm

icefest wrote:
Dexter wrote: Are there better maps I can install anyway? It doesn't have much room left, so if there is a way to get some other maps on there I'd imagine I need to remove the current topoactive maps which doesn't seem all that intuitive.

https://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=28893


Cheers, yeah I ended up finding my way there and grabbed the maps. All working and they seem great! Now just struggling to work out how to load them into Basecamp so they aren't running off the GPS unit. It's sooooo slooooow. Perhaps there's better software out there to create a route.
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Re: eTrex 32x Topoactive maps

Postby peregrinator » Sat 13 Nov, 2021 9:31 pm

icefest wrote:
Dexter wrote: Are there better maps I can install anyway? It doesn't have much room left, so if there is a way to get some other maps on there I'd imagine I need to remove the current topoactive maps which doesn't seem all that intuitive.

https://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=28893


The link from icefest is definitely where you need to go. Andrewp has been compiling these maps for some time, and I believe what he is doing is entirely ethical. As well as very generous, etc.

I'm not acquainted with the details of the particular GPS device you have, but I imagine what you should do is:

(1) Remove your existing maps. If you think they could be useful in the future (e.g. you'll be travelling to Europe), copy them to another storage device first.

(2) Import whichever files you need from those provided by andrewp as an immediate replacement. You will possibly find that these are so good that you won't even think about having to buy any others. That's been my experience, but I'm far from being an expert in these matters.
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Re: eTrex 32x Topoactive maps

Postby Dexter » Sat 13 Nov, 2021 9:54 pm

Yeah for sure. They look excellent. I don't see myself needing anything other than andrewp's maps. I'll be keeping this device. From what I can see the Topoactive maps are just OSM maps anyway.
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Re: eTrex 32x Topoactive maps

Postby bernieq » Sun 14 Nov, 2021 12:12 pm

To access the maps from Basecamp, the maps need to be on a removable drive (ie usb flash drive) and in a folder named garmin. The drive needs to be mounted before you start Basecamp - otherwise Basecamp won't find the maps (ie it looks for maps only on program launch).

BTW, the maps are completely ethical - have a look at the mapinfo.txt file. Scroll to the bottom for all the copyright info - all sourced from publically available free/not for profit use.

... and thanks again to andrewp for his efforts.

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Re: eTrex 32x Topoactive maps

Postby peregrinator » Sun 14 Nov, 2021 12:40 pm

I second the motion to thank andrewp. Well, this is probably the 13th time I've offered my thanks and praise for his effort. Thanks also to you bernieq for the comment about the copyright information (which I had not read), confirming what I'd understood to be the case about the ethical nature of the maps.

Using my Etrex 20, it is possible to view the maps in Basecamp from the device. But they are extremely slow to mount through that method, compared with your suggested access. Which I think was what Dexter reported on 13 November. The mounting speed also varies depending on the type of computer and I think also on the version of Basecamp. I'm not sure on the details of this yet, as I've been juggling two different versions on two different computers. I need to find time to investigate further.
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Re: eTrex 32x Topoactive maps

Postby bernieq » Sun 14 Nov, 2021 1:14 pm

bernieq wrote:To access the maps from Basecamp, the maps need to be on a removable drive

peregrinator wrote:it is possible to view the maps in Basecamp from the device

Both statements are correct, peregrinator, when you realise that the GPS is essentially a removable drive - but, as is immediately obvious, very slow.

peregrinator wrote:I need to find time to investigate further.
Why bother? I only connect PC & GPS (in spanner/garmin mode) to do a file copy (ie transfer gpx files) and never when Basecamp is running. If I want to copy a map to the GPS, I'll remove the sd card and copy via a card reader - much faster than copying via the GPS.

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Re: eTrex 32x Topoactive maps

Postby peregrinator » Sun 14 Nov, 2021 2:00 pm

Bernieq, thanks for the extra details. My note about the speed of mounting maps was mainly to indicate to Dexter why he had experienced a slow connection. He's possibly figured all that out by now anyway.

You ask: "Why bother?" Swapping back and forth from old machine to new machine over the last month or so means I haven't streamlined my approach in the way you clearly have. I also normally used the SD card directly. But didn't do that a few times recently. On one of the computers, I was temporarily having trouble with a USB hub that includes an SD card slot. The other computer has its own slot.

"Spanner Mode"? I had to look that up. Found that it applies to PC only, not Mac. I'm on the latter.
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Re: eTrex 32x Topoactive maps

Postby Dexter » Sun 14 Nov, 2021 4:01 pm

Thanks for all your input! And yes, I'm using an M1 Mac mini and found BC almost unusable with the maps loading through the eTrex.

I have the maps on the desktop and created a virtual drive containing them, but for some reason they still weren't being picked up by BC. I made sure it was mounted before loading the software. I made sure the virtual drive was called 'GARMIN' (no idea of that's necessary).

It was probably about midnight when I lost patience and turned on my windows machine. running straight from the eTrex works perfectly. There's obviously something not right with BC on Apple silicon for now.

I had a bit of a wander around the burbs today in the rain and practiced with a track I loaded. It did really well!

The one issue I have with BC is how tedious it is to mark out a track. If you create a course in Garmin Connect you can click one point and then another and it draws a nice track tracing the actual walking track. Where as with BC I feel like I'm clicking 9043 times. I feel like I'm missing something very obvious!

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