[Closed] Garmin OpenStreetMap maps

I've used the built in Garmin map on my edge 1000 which is OSM based as well as OSM maps from other places. The built in map runs much faster and the address search features seems to work better which is something that has always been a problem with the free maps

It seems like Garmin has done a good job with compiling a map with just the right amount of detail to work well on their devices. The free maps often have too much or are styled poorly. You can compile your own though as well to have just the right level of detail but it's a bit of a learning process

Summary: I haven't tried the map you suggest but I find the Garmin map fast and nicely styled. The free maps are always very up to date but a bit slow and not so pretty

I use both because it's easy.

Cheers.

I think that the UK and Ireland TOPO Light map is provided free on some devices (but not my Oregon 700). It seems a shame to have to pay £20 for it but it does look as if it might be worth a punt.

Try the free ones first, you might like them. I use open velomap for road/touring and openmtb for mountain biking as the routing has been adjusted differently for both. There are others.

But as you say it is worth a punt really.

Looking at the openMTB maps it looks like he updates weekly based on the latest OSM data. I'm going round the bridleways locally to me and making sure that the legal status is correct on the OSM side, it's pretty tricky in places. Some of the existing tracks and bridleways have gaps in the access information: an example is a BW leading across a ford - it's been done as a track either side of the ford but there's no connection so if you try and create a route then you'll be diverted around the nearest road. In this instance neither BW was marked as being legally accessible to bikes or horses!

@whitestone - well done for making the corrections :). This is the downside to OSM (either Garmin or free) in that sometimes the routes haven't been correctly tagged so won't auto route correctly. What I like to do is just take a photo with my phone as an 'aide memoire' when I find one so that I can update the map online when I get home. When I upload the photo it is correctly placed on the map so I know where the bit to fix is. Working out how to fix it can be trickier.

The other problem is that sometimes you get into a pissing match with another editor who thinks their version is correct e.g. you could possibly get a landowner who tweaks the map to make it look as though the track isn't passable. It's the downside of open systems.

@leffeboy - It takes a little while to work out the editor software but there's also [url= https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:access ]a lot of different access ratings[/url] - yes & no are easy but the others are all quite subtly different.

Conflicting editors: a potential problem but you can see who edits what, there's a list of who's edited what's within the area on screen for example. I'd imagine that there are some superusers who can arbitrate. I'm going with obvious legal status so bridleways have foot, bicycles and horses are explicitly set to "yes".

Depending on whether I have to draw in a bridleway or just change status it can be anything from two to five minutes per change.

Ah yes, the tags can get interesting, especially if a lot of work was done before standards developed. Nicely done though. I don't know how much agreement there is between Garmin and the other compilers (eg. Openmtb) on how these tags are used for routing

Are the open Mtb maps the one that you can choose how they are rendered? Size of features etc.

I really like that side of things. Useful for the etrex as I always found the size of things on the screen to be a bit small - this overcomes that.

Does anyone know if the Garmin TOPO Light maps are a one-off purchase or if they're updatable?