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Base layer of MapBuilder Topo (with lots of trails) and overlay (40-50% opacity) of scanned topographic maps.There are hundreds of permutations of maps you can create in CalTopo. You can choose from many map layers and also overlay maps on top of other maps. You can explore the tools and layers of CalTopo on their tutorial page. CalTopo has a powerful set of mapping tools that you can use for free. Garmin Custom Maps Videoįirst off, visit the free CalTopo website and find the area that you'd like to create a map for. If you want to do it for free, you can follow Garmin's instructions here. Additionally, CalTopo is a powerful tool that probably has many other potential uses for you. If you need custom maps, I consider it worth the subscription cost. Update: You now need a CalTopo Pro account to create custom maps this way.
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In this guide I'll show you how to create the maps, download them to your Garmin, and view them in Google Earth to visualize the topography. Today, using CalTopo, creating custom maps is dead easy. Custom maps have been available for Garmin GPS units for quite some time, but the process was clunky and tech-heavy. It means that you don't necessarily need to buy a Garmin GPS with maps included, and it also means that you can create highly customized maps based on your use scenario. When you use the CalTopo website, these custom maps can be almost anything that you can imagine. If you have a Garmin GPS unit, you can create and download custom maps onto your unit. Using Basecamp to Plan With Custom Maps.Downloading a Custom Map to Your Garmin GPS.
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That sounds like a really awful idea instead of using vectors, but if that's the way they want it. It sounds like a "custom map" in the Garmin instructions you are reading is not a vector, but an image. jpg which you can easily export from 9.Ī jpeg be overlaid on Google Earth Pro and sized as best as possible to the underlying image. The topic shows what's in the KML to use a ground overlay image. It's a recommended link in the main KML, KMZ topic. See the Example: Import KML with GroundOverlay Image topic.
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