GPS with paper maps

[Toadflax]

I know this must have been asked before, but searching brings up so many hits.

Being 'old school' I still like using map and compass, but am wondering about getting a handheld GPS as a backup for when walking alone, or as a help in 'get me out of here' when the weather clamps down. I.e. primarily as a locator device, but on-screen maps would be nice.

I like the look of something like the Etrex20/30, but the price of mapping is putting me off, especially as I'm not intending to be walking the entire UK. I do have a good collection of paper OS maps, and it seems you can scan these and load them up onto GPS systems, but wondered if anyone had an experience of doing this, and how effective it is.


Thanks


Geoff

 

[greensurfingbear]

I bought a satmap GPS for just over £100 on eBay second hand and bought OS map software for southern Scotland for about £20. The map software was new from satmap company. They have dropped prices of maps as apparently is have reduced price if their data.


It isn't touch screen GPS as I preferred the idea of keeping my gloves on

Orric

 

[Ogri the trog]

Hi Geoff,
I am trying to make a similar journey - though technology itself is thwarting me at the moment.

A good friend has recommended downloading "EasyGPS" and finding maps from "The Hug" - both of which are free, but you may have to compromise on scales and certain details.

Hope this helps, as it is the point at which I have become stuck.

Ogri the trog

 

[ebt.]

If you've got an android phone you can try out back country navigator. They have a free trial version.

The full version is about a fiver and includes OS mapping....

 

[Toddy]

I fret a bit about HWMBLT out on the hills on his own; not that he's not capable, just that accidents do happen. So I 'firmly suggested' (he says I can't nag ) that maybe one of the handheld satnav's might be a good thing.
Well, he got one, and I'll ask him to reply to this thread with details when he comes back from his walk this morning, and he does use it, but the biggest problem he's encountered is how the hang to carry it safely (he's 'lost and found it' twice, iirc) yet still have it accessible and not bumping away all the time against either his hip or his chest.
If you're wrapped up to the nines then gloves on and off is another issue too.

Interested to hear how others get on with them, and what they recommend re models and maps. Son1's birthday's coming up and as usual I'm struggling to think of something to get him. He's out on the hills every weekend, so...good things

M

 

[Toadflax]

Thanks, Toddy - that's my sort of situation too. These things are available now, so why not use them to help safety a bit.

Cheaper ones (e.g. Garmin eTrex10) look like they will basically give you a grid ref - which is all you really need if you are carrying map and compass and are competent. Once you have position, you can sort a route.

But then the eTrex20/3 models are fairly affordable and, with a colour map display screen give you a lot more, but without decent maps on them, don't seem to be much more use than the cheaper ones.

But if I can scan my OS maps and load them up, then I have the best of both worlds.


Geoff

 

[baggins]

i've never really been keen on handheld gps, but have an app on my phone called mycoords, which gives me my os grid ref to within 20mtrs.
that way, if the weather really does clag down and i do loose my position, i can get a pretty good fix on my location and i'm not carrying yet another piece of equipment.

 

[Bowlander]

I have the etrex 20. Its brilliant. It comes with a voucher for 600 sq km of OS 1:25k which you can select from garmin birdseye/basecamp. Its really robust and accurate, battery life is c.24 hours and runs on aa's. Totally weatherproof, I leave my Galaxy S4 in the car and just take a rugged old phone and the etrex.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Xparent Green Tapatalk 2

 

[Ecoman]

I have an etrex10 and I have Routebuddy Atlas installed on my iPhone which is in turn inside a waterproof/shockproof case. They are only there as a quick reference location devices. They are also good for working out distance walked and time taken. More for a reference when I get home rather than while out walking.

I never rely on them to pinpoint my location but rather to back up my map reading. You cannot beat paper maps, a compass and an eye for the land (these don't break down on you).

 

[forestwalker]

I have an old Garmin GPS 12XL. No map, just positions. Well, it does draw a map, in the form of a black line on an othervise blank screen. But it gives poitions, and I can save waypoints and even routes between them. Usefull backup.

For the safety issues I'm thinking about investing in a PLB of some sort. Either sign up for the Spot, so that the NSA and my familly can know where I am, or a plain one.

 

[Toadflax]

Thanks for the various responses - and some useful tips. I am indebted to some of the people on here for putting me on the right track.

It had been suggested that a scan of an OS map (obviously this would be scanned from a paper map that you had bought) could be calibrated using Google Earth (load up as an image overlay) and then calibrated by dragging the corners of the rectangle to match the satellite image. It could then be exported for loading into a GPS device. I was having a real struggle to get the scanned image to match (so if anyone else has done this and has any tips), and I've found the following method that *seems* to work (but not having bought a GPS yet, I can't say for certain).

1. Get a copy of mapc2mapc (http://www.the-thorns.org.uk/mapping/). Trial version available for testing, but then £10.
2. Follow the instructions here (http://www.the-thorns.org.uk/mapping/GEcalibrate.pdf) to pick some points in Google Earth, save the points in a calibration file, then load the original scanned image and the points into mapc2mapc, then pick the equivalent points on the scanned image. The program then matches the two, and allows export of the generated map in various GPS device formats.
3. Exporting as KMZ (Garmin) and opening it in Google Earth produces a pretty good match of scanned map to satellite imagery, so I imagine that it may well be a good match on the GPS unit - but needs testing.

Once I'd worked out what to do, it only took about 5 minutes to turn a scanned map into a KMZ file.

I suspect that if you want lots of OS maps on your GPS, you may well be better off buying the digital collection. But if you already have the maps, and only want to load up a few, something like this may well work. If anyone with a GPS feels like testing this and feeding back...



Geoff