Hello Forum, having been a keen wilderness hiker and climber for many years I am very familiar with map reading, using a compass and generally being able to look after myself in the wild. I have recently become interested in Geocaching. My young daughter and I are just getting into it, but having bought a Garmin Etrex 20, I have now discovered this whole other world in GPS mapping. I would like some guidance obtaining maps for my Etrex 20. I am a Mac user. Having looked at various links, I am really not sure what I need to download. I know I would like a 1:50,000 of the UK which will include all the usual OS Landranger detail. Can anyone give me some pointers please?
I assume you have found http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl
While I have an eTrex 20 I haven’t ever installed a map on it. Mine is an older low end model without much memory and I use it for gathering tracks. I carry a paper map when out in the hills.
The instructions on this page may help: http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/05/download-garmin-705800810.html.
That’s PC based though, so I’d also read this: https://help.openstreetmap.org/questions/31456/how-do-i-install-the-osm-generic-routablegmap-onto-my-garmin-using-my-mac, or other Garmin / Mac questions on the help site: http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22garmin%22+%22mac%22+site%3Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fhelp.openstreetmap.org&tbs=li:1.
What you actually get will depend on what what the person who creates the map chooses to include. Lots of different people create Garmin maps for OSM (see http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Map_On_Garmin/Download) but I’d just try garmin.openstreetmap.nl first until you’re happy that the process works (you can if you want also create your own and decide what and what not to include).
OpenStreetMap is not “complete” - there’s always more to add. In terms of basic footpath coverage in some places it’s complete, but in others it’s far from so (in some places there’s more information, such as up to date field boundaries, than is present in OS Explorer and far more than OS Landranger).
Also, maps will look different on an eTrex (with its zoomable vector display) than on a paper map with only one zoom level.