Garmin 1:24,000 New York Map Download

from posts on the fingerlakestrail email group by Don McClimans and Joe Dabes

There is now a NY state topo map that you can download to your Garmin GPS. The direct link to the map is http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/111/. Once in Garmin Topo, open Garmin Topo and in the upper left corner it will appear as a map choice: pick "New York Topo."

This is a 24,000:1 equivalent map, with 10 and 20 ft contour intervals, showing topography, roads, water (lakes, rivers, streams), and railroads. This new map has considerably more detail than Topo 2008 which is 100,000:1. However, to see the difference you need to zoom in so that the "scale" on your Garmin GPSr or MapSource is 800 ft or less.

You can load this map into Garmin MapSource, and then download the map to your GPS unit. The gpsfiledepot.com site has detailed instructions for how to do this if you need help. This website seems to say you can download Garmin MapSource Topo for free, if you have a Garmin unit, even an automotive Nuvi. This is not the case. You must have MapSource already installed in order to install this latest version. Yup, no free lunch here. MapSource Topo costs about $80 at Amazon (see the link in the right column to place an Amazon order that benefits the NCTA).

Gpsfiledepot.com is a nice site to know about if you have a Garmin GPS. There are 24K maps for many states, as well as road maps, maps for multi-state regions, etc. They are done by various volunteers, so the quality probably varies. Map availability is growing rapidly -- the NY map has only been available since early February.

Excellent tutorials are available at GPS File Depot on how to load these maps into your Garmin and how to switch map sets that are loaded into your Garmin handheld unit. Yes, you can have more than one set of maps on your handheld.