Modern Vespa

After receiving my new Garmin GPS yesterday (thanks again for the great deal link), I installed my ancient maps on it and noticed that it has problems routing correctly. So being the stingy bastard that I am I was looking for free maps and found openstreetmaps.org. Has anyone ever used these maps or have any experience with them?

I know it is a huge community with multiple map compilers, but any info would help!

In any event I will report my experience here once I have some!

One thing I have noticed is that these maps are often a lot more up to date than anything commercially available in my price range, some are updated daily! Take that Garmin!!!

Out of curiosity, I looked at those maps. My neighborhood was built about 7-8 years ago ... and none of the streets appear on their maps. Sometimes, one gets what they pay for. Have you tried purchasing maps, either on a microSD card or CD-ROM based off eBay?

I've successfully used OffMaps on the iPad, whose data comes entirely from OpenStreetMaps. It worked well enough for my purposes, though I wouldn't say they were perfect.

I think the concept is very good, though, and I have made small correction contributions to the project. Eventually, it might be a really fantastic resource in the same way that wikipedia is.

Just out of curiosity, though: didn't your Garmin GPS come with maps preinstalled?

Thanks for the replies!

I am just downloading a compiled Texas map that I will test and report back! I have a few new developments in my area that I can see if the maps are newer or older than my 6yo mapsource from Garmin.

The GPS I have is the 60 CSx, which is a outdoor GPS and has a worldwide base map, i.e., very little detail. With the extra maps I am hoping to make it into a routing GPS I can use on my scooter, with points of interest, all addresses I am in the vicinity of and so on...

I think Adrian is talking about this handheld SSR: Great deal...Cabela's has the Garmin 60csx at 60% off. They are primarily designed for hiking, camping, sailing, etc. So, they don't have much as far as street-level maps pre-installed.
Once you buy the maps, they are great for motorcycles/scooters. Here's mine on my LX.
GPS MOUNTS

That is the one Danny, thanks!

More info on the Garmin maps: I currently own Garmin MetroGuide North America V7, which, I will admit, is not the newest version. It is so old, btw, that V8 has been discontinued and Garmin now sells City Navigator. I was not able to route from my house to my school because it only had major highway intersections as routing points. Its POI database was so limited that it did not even have my University in it. I am sure they have updated all that by now...

I have now downloaded a Texas map from Free routable maps for Garmin brand GPS devices. You actually select tiles (parts of a map) or a predefined region and then enter your email address. The site then compiles your selection and sends you an email with a link once it is done.
There are multiple versions you can download namely:
* Installer for Garmin MapSource (Windows).
* Installer for Garmin RoadTrip (Mac OSX)
* Combined image for direct manual placement on the GPS device (gmapsupp.img)
* A zip file containing the tiles in the request, especially useful for Linux users (e.g. QLandkarte)
Your compiled map files are available for 48 hours to download.
I downloaded the Installer for MapSource, an .exe, as I already have MapSource. It installed without any problems and now in MapSource I can select which Maps I want to use, the Garmin or the free ones.

I transferred the free ones to my GPS, searched from my University from the POI (improvement) and routed there. The route takes me from where I am (improvement) to where I want to go, all along roads and no longer as the crow flies for some distance (improvement).

The maps are not 100% up to date, for example they do not include some new roads that where built about 2 years ago. But then again even Google Maps did not include them till about 6 months ago... But as volosong stated, in his area they are more than 5 years old.

I think it is a great way to get maps of places I will be going for a holiday, and only use for a limited amount of time. I'd rather use 2 year old maps than spend $80 for something that I will use for 2 weeks...

I will keep on testing these maps, as much as I can with my limited travel. The maps rely on people submitting new data, and as Jess said, hopefully it will increase in years to come. It seems that certain regions are more up to date and have a wider variety that others. Germany seems to have many sources of maps, while Africa, what a surprise, is very limited.

Here is the link to different regions of the world: OSM Map On Garmin/Download.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm teaching "Map Interpretation and GPS" at the local community college this semester and will have to spend some serious time understanding and becoming familiar with these data. I've make the textbook "recommended" and instead are strongly encouraging my students, especially the geographers and fire tech students, to purchase hand held GPS devices instead. Your sources may turn out to be extremely useful to my students. Thanks again.

First day of using maps: Works flawlessly. No problems routing, or rerouting, even taking in consideration really little roads... And the exactness is a lot better than on my old Garmin Maps, i.e. my GPS symbol never strayed from the road. I am impressed!

That's great, Adrian! I spent something like $140 on the City Navigator maps a couple years ago. I see you can get them for about 1/2 that now, but free is even better
Did you get the RAM mount for the GPS as well? I haven't used mine much locally, but it was great at Amerivespa.

I agree Danny, free is great! You might want to compare your City Navigator maps and see which ones are more up to date... Unfortunately I am not quite sure yet how to check the map date from either source yet...

I have not gotten the RAM mount yet, I am not riding much at the moment, but I will for sure if I make it to AmeriVespa next year or ride any other inter- or intrastate routes.