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Neal Johns
Super Nomad
Posts: 1687
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Lytle Creek, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: In love!
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Baja Expedition Topo Map Review
Baja Expedition Topo Map Review
Map Available ($89) From: http://www.bicimapas.com.mx/baja_gps_map.htm
or
http://www.lbmaps.com/baja_exp_.htm
Screen shots of larger cities:
http://www.lbmaps.com/exp_screshots.htm
Now that I have been to Baja a few days with the map installed on a Garmin 176C here is the final review:
Pros:
1. It is probably the best Baja map you can get to load into your Garmin GPS.
2. Its detail is somewhere between the AAA map and the Baja Almanac map.
A. It has topo lines and when you put the cursor on any unidentified elevation line, it shows the elevation of that line.
B. A large number of Rancho?s are named.
C. A large number of Peaks are named.
D. A large number of Arroyo?s are named.
E. Many dirt two track roads are shown (cursor ID?s them as Trail).
F. It has ?Snap to Highway? when enabled by your GPS (when 500 feet or so from a major highway, the moving map ?car? jumps to the road.). It does
not snap to dirt roads (good).
G. Hwy. One is in the right place in the Catavina area ? but the old road is not shown.
H. Large City streets are great.
Cons:
1. It is a work in progress, it has several amateurish flaws.
A. Several towns were left out; San Felipe is a blank spot with the roads not connected, Catavina is missing (Rancho Inez and airport are there); El
Marmol is missing, etc.
B. Several fairly major roads are missing, the road to BOLA stops short a few miles of getting there, the road to El Marmol is missing, the normal
road to Desengano (Mile 7 off the BOLA road) is not shown, the one a few miles east is etc.
C. When you drive on the BOLA road, your ?bread crumb trail? erases the nice heavy red line of the pavement and leaves the fainter dotted line.
Minor annoyance.
D. The normal road to Desengano (Mile 7 off the BOLA road) is not shown. The one a few miles east is shown.
Summary:
Recommended. I?m glad I bought it. When you travel over a road that is not on the map, you will leave a track that will ?stick? to the Garmin map
managing program MapSource, so one day I will have the perfect map. Ha!
If a town is not on the map, create a Waypoint and name it ?Catavina? or whatever and it is labeled forevermore.
Other Alternatives:
Use a laptop or PDA with a GPS connected with scanned Baja Almanac (or whatever) maps in combination with OziExplorer mapping software.
http://www.oziexplorer.com
Sample of travels around El Marmol area with tracks:
[Edited on 11-24-2005 by Neal Johns]
[Edited on 11-24-2005 by Neal Johns]
My motto:
Never let a Dragon pass by without pulling its tail!
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Mexray
Super Nomad
Posts: 1016
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: California Delta
Member Is Offline
Mood: Baja Time
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Thanks for the update...very interesting!
...looks like it has possibilities...
BTW, shouldn't you be out in the bodega 'stuffing the turkey'....on this Turkey-Day, eve?....
Hope you and all the other 'Nomads' have a happy Thanksgiving Holiday!
According to my clock...anytime is \'BAJA TIME\' & as Jimmy Buffett says,
\"It doesn\'t use numbers or moving hands It always just says now...\"
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Bob H
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5867
Registered: 8-19-2003
Location: San Diego
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Mexray
Hope you and all the other 'Nomads' have a happy Thanksgiving Holiday! |
Audrey and I are lifting our glass to wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving to you and Pat. And, maybe a cigar too! Hah. 
The SAME boiling water that softens the potato hardens the egg. It's about what you are made of NOT the circumstance.
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wornout
Senior Nomad
Posts: 595
Registered: 10-24-2004
Location: San Felipe, Baja California
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Bad Days
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I bought the other version of their baja map, LBMaps.com Baja V1.1 about a year ago. It was around $30 if I remember correctly. It is ok but does
not have the detail you show. Below is a zoom of San Felipe. Looks like I might wait for version 2 of the topo. Thanks for the info.
This Space Available, E-Mail Me If Interested.
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Taco de Baja
Super Nomad
Posts: 1913
Registered: 4-14-2004
Location: Behind the Orange Curtain, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Dreamin' of Baja
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Neal Johns
Baja Expedition Topo Map Review
Cons:
1. It is a work in progress, it has several amateurish flaws.
A. Several towns were left out; San Felipe is a blank spot with the roads not connected, Catavina is missing (Rancho Inez and airport are there); El
Marmol is missing, etc.
B. Several fairly major roads are missing, the road to BOLA stops short a few miles of getting there, the road to El Marmol is missing, the normal
road to Desengano (Mile 7 off the BOLA road) is not shown, the one a few miles east is etc.
C. When you drive on the BOLA road, your ?bread crumb trail? erases the nice heavy red line of the pavement and leaves the fainter dotted line.
Minor annoyance.
D. The normal road to Desengano (Mile 7 off the BOLA road) is not shown. The one a few miles east is shown.
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Thanks for the great review Neal.
I would suggest you email your "negative" findings to the company, so they can work in updating in their next version. You can't improve something
you don't know is broken.
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turtleandtoad
Senior Nomad
Posts: 730
Registered: 1-20-2005
Location: Wherever I park. See sig for current location.
Member Is Offline
Mood: Good if fishing
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Does it have an automatic "notify of error" function to let the company know where the problems are, like S&T?
Mike & Robin; Full-Time RV\'ers
37\' Georgetown w/3 slides & 275 Watts of Solar Power
06 Taco TRD
www.turtleandtoad.com
I am here
To paraphrase Frank Lloyd Wright; I\'m all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let\'s start with keyboards. --
Mike Dean |
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Neal Johns
Super Nomad
Posts: 1687
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Lytle Creek, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: In love!
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T&T, I don't think so....
My motto:
Never let a Dragon pass by without pulling its tail!
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Barry A.
Select Nomad
Posts: 10007
Registered: 11-30-2003
Location: Redding, Northern CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: optimistic
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This is super---thanks, Neal----
On your sample map--------is the waypoint on the far right side of the map labelled "broke" what I think it is???-----the actual location of the
famous Toyota "breakdown"?
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bajalou
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4459
Registered: 3-11-2004
Location: South of the broder
Member Is Offline
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You're a bunch of ???????
Bound and determined to make me buy another GPSr aren't you. You know my faithful old 12XL won't show all this stuff so you just have to keep
tempting me Grrrrrrr
Oh well, Ebay here I come.
No Bad Days
\"Never argue with an idiot. People watching may not be able to tell the difference\"
\"The trouble with doing nothing is - how do I know when I\'m done?\"
Nomad Baja Interactive map
And in the San Felipe area - check out Valle Chico area |
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Neal Johns
Super Nomad
Posts: 1687
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Lytle Creek, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: In love!
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Barry A.
That is indeed where the front suspension ball joint seperated!
BajaLou,
Wait a few months until Garmin refreshes their line with the new SirfStar III chip. It is a real wonder. I have a Holux Bluetooth GPS with it and get
seven satellites in the living room of a two story house, and works great in canyons. Garmin announced a couple of months ago they were now in bed
with Sirf and some of their new models have it inside.
I will be going to CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas in January and will smoose with the Garmin reps and see what is coming up. (I have a
fake company - Crabill-Johns, Inc. named after my old girl friend, that gets me in. Don't tell Marian)
That said, I have a severe case of GPS Envy after seeing buddy Jay's (TacoFeliz) Lowrence Baja 5" color screen in his Tundra. Size counts. It's so
bright my eyes still hurt!
But it won't take the Baja Topo map (for Garmin only). Hee Hee Hee
My motto:
Never let a Dragon pass by without pulling its tail!
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bajalou
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4459
Registered: 3-11-2004
Location: South of the broder
Member Is Offline
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I'm waiting for you reports Neal - thanks
No Bad Days
\"Never argue with an idiot. People watching may not be able to tell the difference\"
\"The trouble with doing nothing is - how do I know when I\'m done?\"
Nomad Baja Interactive map
And in the San Felipe area - check out Valle Chico area |
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willieb
Newbie
Posts: 6
Registered: 11-22-2005
Member Is Offline
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Don't know if this helps, but a freind of mine wrote a book on making your own gps maps.
Some free sites and maps in the book for down loading.
I just got the book and have not had a chance to look at it yet.
Sorry if I spoke with out looking into it better.
www.MakeYourOwnMaps.com
Dan
P.S If the book is of interest to anyone I will be on my way down in jan to L.B
could bring them down for someone
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Neal Johns
Super Nomad
Posts: 1687
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Lytle Creek, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: In love!
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Yeah, Willib, I have watched the Garmin Map crack teams at work for years and confess that it is completely beyond my capabilities to use their tools
to make maps for the Garmin.
If anyone wants to try, the links to the tools are in the Bicimapas web site.
My motto:
Never let a Dragon pass by without pulling its tail!
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willieb
Newbie
Posts: 6
Registered: 11-22-2005
Member Is Offline
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Hi Neal, I well understand, it sounds over my head too. Got the book just because he is my freind. But I thought I would share some of the free
resources.
www.jdcox.com
www.gpsinformation.net/waas/maps/usaphoto.html
www.digitalgrove.net/USAPhotoMaps_Instructions.htm
www.kimdara.com/usaphotomaps/index.html
For free maps online
www.gpsy.com/maps
For vector data
data.geocomm.com
There are more if anybody wants them
best regards
Dan
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wornout
Senior Nomad
Posts: 595
Registered: 10-24-2004
Location: San Felipe, Baja California
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Bad Days
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Hey Lou, get you checkbook out:
Noticed that Bass Pro Shop is listing Garmin 60 & 76 C(S)x models that are similar to the corresponding current ones but with the Sirf III GPS
chip and a TransFlash memory card.
http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.TextId?hvarTextId=736...
[Edited on 11-27-2005 by wornout]
This Space Available, E-Mail Me If Interested.
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bajalou
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4459
Registered: 3-11-2004
Location: South of the broder
Member Is Offline
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Those are looking good Wornout, and not quite as pricey as I expected - now just get someone to buy the 1600 Single Port long block I've got in the
garage and I'll get my order in.
By the way, jdmcox is the producer of USAPhotoMaps - a great program for downloading TerraServer data - which is only of the USA. Sure wish they had
Mexico.
No Bad Days
\"Never argue with an idiot. People watching may not be able to tell the difference\"
\"The trouble with doing nothing is - how do I know when I\'m done?\"
Nomad Baja Interactive map
And in the San Felipe area - check out Valle Chico area |
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LarryB
Junior Nomad
Posts: 28
Registered: 9-10-2003
Location: Gig Harbor,WA & Los Barilles,BCS
Member Is Offline
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Neal
If you can send me some of them tracks you are laying I can work them into the next version.
By far the hardest part of producing Baja GPS maps is finding data. In the US we have so much information we are tripping over it. The government
agencies give it away for free.
Mexico is a bit different. The Mexican government wants a large amount of money for what little data there is, especially Baja data. The topo data
used to make the "Expeditioner" was gathered by US satellites and given to the Mexican government, who will not, without royalties, allow anyone to
use it. That is the biggest reason for the high price relative for what one can buy in US maps. The other big reason is the relatively low demand for
Baja GPS maps. But the demand is growing.
Anyway, it's nice to see a real world review.
Thank,
Larry
www.LBMaps.com
[Edited on 11-28-2005 by LarryB]
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ursidae69
Nomad
Posts: 275
Registered: 2-22-2004
Location: Youngsville, NM
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I just emailed lbmaps to ask about Magellan and then saw your post LarryB. Any chance you'll have some software soon that will work with magellan's
MapSend software? I have a Magellan Explorist 600. Thanks!
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LarryB
Junior Nomad
Posts: 28
Registered: 9-10-2003
Location: Gig Harbor,WA & Los Barilles,BCS
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As of now there is nothing available. Magellen had requested a while back that we stop using their proprietary file structure. So we stopped
developing maps for their GPS units. However, lately there are a few new things developing with them that I should know more about soon. Watch our
websites.
Larry
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Mexray
Super Nomad
Posts: 1016
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: California Delta
Member Is Offline
Mood: Baja Time
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LarryB...Question for you...
I've got a couple of Garmin GPS handheld units, but just recently bought the new 'Garmin GPS 18 USB' set that provides a US Mapsource Data CD, along
with with a Garmin GPS 'puck' antenna for use with a Laptop PC...
Threw it on my old Compaq Laptop, stuck the 'puck' to the inside of my windshield and started navigating around my Northern California
neighborhood...works great right out of the box, and the positions shown on their Mapsource maps seems to be right on target! Lots of good features
for routing, finding places in urban areas, has audio alerts on established tracks, etc, etc...and my 15 inch laptop screen is a lot easier to read
than any smaller unit.
Now the big question....can I install your Baja files (software) on my laptop and navigate around below the border with my new Garmin 'puck' showing
the way?
I like what Neal has shown above...Thanks.
According to my clock...anytime is \'BAJA TIME\' & as Jimmy Buffett says,
\"It doesn\'t use numbers or moving hands It always just says now...\"
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