Re: GPS for mountain walking


Paul Saunders wrote:
> Dundonald wrote:
>
> > Thanks Paul. So now that OS maps are available on both Garmin and
> > Magellan I guess I can go for either, although the free contour
> > downloads you talk of (I checked the link you provided earlier) looks
> > pretty good too.
>
> Yes, they are, but they really need roads (at the very least) to go with
> them. The roads and rivers which come with the basemap are few in number
> and not very accurate.

How's that for service, 5 minutes or so later after my post I receive a
reply from you! :) Do/can you overlay the contour maps over the
basemaps that you have on the screen?

>
> > This may seem a dumb question, but again because I'm
> > new to GPS and I haven't had one demo'd to me (yet), when you have
> > those contour maps on your GPS handset screen, does your 60CS mark
> > your location point correctly over those contour maps?
>
> Yep. It's not a question of whether the GPS marks your position accurately
> (which it usually does), but a question of whether the maps are accurately
> aligned, and they are. The free contours are not perfect, there are errors
> in places, but on the whole they are very good (not as detailed and accurate
> as the new Garmin mapping though obviously). Most of the time the reported
> height on my GPS is consistent with the contour lines. Occasionally they're
> slightly out (recently my GPS reported my height as 58m but I was above the
> 60m contour), but that's nothing to worry about. The biggest error I've
> seen was over 20m, but that was rare, and it certainly wasn't life
> threatening.
>
> They're extremely useful IMO, I've never had cause to complain about them.
> Even if they're not spot on they're significantly better than nothing. The
> most blatant error I've seen is a steep 50m high conical hill on the sand
> dunes at Oxwich Bay, which doesn't actually exist, but that's no big deal, I
> know it's just an error. If that happened in an unfamiliar mountainous area
> I might get a bit confused, but a quick check of the map would sort that
> out. Mostly it's very accurate, highly recommended for the price! :-)

If you're interested in answering a couple more dumb questions of mine,
I wont repeat them in this reply but they can be found in my response
to Adrian's last post to your reply, if you know what I mean ... ?!!

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: GPS help
    ... detail to plot walks and see contour. ... and GPS). ... To see rivers and other landmarks (like roads) ... 10-100x the data on it that you can get from even the UK Topo V2 maps on ...
    (uk.rec.walking)
  • Re: GPS for mountain walking
    ... > new to GPS and I haven't had one demo'd to me, ... > those contour maps on your GPS handset screen, ... as the new Garmin mapping though obviously). ...
    (uk.rec.walking)
  • Re: Good GPS for multi day?
    ... Be sure you get something with a newer chip (in Garmin, ... To conserve batteries on most units, disable WAAS and enable "battery ... 70 ft hills don't always show up on 100-ft contour maps. ... slightly different process to get the contour lines than he does. ...
    (rec.running)
  • Re: Good GPS for multi day?
    ... Be sure you get something with a newer chip (in Garmin, ... To conserve batteries on most units, disable WAAS and enable "battery ... 70 ft hills don't always show up on 100-ft contour maps. ... slightly different process to get the contour lines than he does. ...
    (rec.running)
  • Re: Good GPS for multi day?
    ... 70 ft hills don't always show up on 100-ft contour maps. ... slightly different process to get the contour lines than he does. ... I do this especially if I can get hold of good trail data from some ... local source like a county GIS department, park service, or the USFS, ...
    (rec.running)
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