Garmin Edge Touring - Aus Maps

RichJS

Likes Dirt
Anyone else got themselves a Garmin Edge Touring? They look like a discounted 800 with reduced functionality software - focussing on navigation / touring instead of performance / fitness. I got one and am trying to figure out how to get decent routing ..

I have been downloading .img files directly to the SD card and have tried a couple of different OSM maps. A quick trip across to the next suburb generates wildly different routes according to whether I choose cycling / touring cycling / MTBing route option, and whether I use the OSMAustralia or OSM.nl maps. They often turn a 3.5km trip into a 7+kn journey - pretty much none of them resemble Google Maps' walking or riding suggestion.

So, what maps are people using? Are you just putting them on the SD card, or doing stuff with Garmin software (BaseCAmp / whatever)?

There's always Garmin's City Navigator Australia & New Zealand, which you can pay $$ to Garmin for, or ..

Shonkymaps. http://shonkylogic.net/shonkymaps/ - "The data is the 250k scale set from Geoscience Australia." I gather others are using these for other Garmin Edge units. Anyone able to give the lowdown? Will try these soon.

http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/ - Seems a few options here .. Generic Routable (new style), or maybe Routable Bicycle (Openfietsmap Lite). Anyone know if there is a difference between the two for Aus maps? I've used the Routable Bicycle map and it seems OK for navigating yourself around here - as long as you don't want to take the shortest distance, despite choosing the "shortest distance" routing option in the Edge Touring.

http://www.osmaustralia.org/garmin.php - downloads of Aus OSM maps per state. Comes as multiple .img map tiles - routing between tiles doesn't work? Address lists / POI not as usable as garmin.openstreetmap.nl? I just upgraded firmware and I think since the change to v2.70 I'm being told these maps don't contain routing info (or I did something else wrong, not sure..)
 

geoff_tewierik

Likes Dirt
I just use ridewithgps.com, plan out my route on the OSM cycle map option using follow road or draw line where required, export to .tcx and .gpx and upload those files directly into the directory on my Garmin 810 when it's connected to the PC.
 

RichJS

Likes Dirt
The idea of navigating with the Edge Touring is supposed to be that you don't need to have a PC to put a route into the unit. You just tell it you destination*, by selecting a point on the map, or a saved location, or selecting a POI from the saved database - and it calculates an appropriate route (Cycle / Cycle Touring / MTBing) straight away for you - and re-routes if you go off course. Just like a car GPS - except car GPSes appear to be cheaper and more reliable.

Right now it's telling me that my maps aren't routable every time I press the "Ride" button.. after it's figured out a route to my destination for me. Le sigh.

* - or tell it you want to go on a N kilometre ride, and it'll come up with 3 random routes for you.
 

RichJS

Likes Dirt
a man could just go here for $30.
Yes, one could buy the Unlocked (pirated) maps on an SD card from Ebay - or just download the same files for free and avoiding having a third party profit from the situation. As far as I can tell, getting the Edge set up means obtaining the gmapprom.img file from City Navigator which contains all the road maps, whilst the Australia and NZ DEM map contains the topology map.

So, how about the alternatives to Garmin City Navigator / Topo?

The routing offered by the OSM files I tried seemed inferior to City Navigator. However, CN doesn't have paths / trails like OSM bike maps do so I would have thought OSM could be better than .. Anyone happy with maps / routing they got from OSM? If so, how did you get them?
 

silentbutdeadly

has some good things to say
We use an OSM Navigator app on our Android tablet in the car...and it is pretty much useless as a navigator over any distance greater than 200 km and merely not great at anything less. We use it as a fine scale road atlas rather than a navigator per se and for this purpose it is fine. Even the app developer says that OSM is not yet a reliable tool as a basis for computer driven navigation.

Some of the HEMA base maps might suit you but they will set you back coin...
 
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