sharkbait Posted December 16, 2006 Report Share Posted December 16, 2006 I picked up Garmin Topo Canada program at Canadian Tire. It has maps of all of Canada on 4 discs. You can load all the discs or just one depending on the region you are flying in. Most of the country is 1:50,000 but the North is 1:250,000 If you have a Garmin GPS 18 for your computer you could turn your laptop into a moving map display. Attached is a scan of a small scale map. Copyright Garmin of course. Note there is no aviation info on the maps but you can creat user waypoints and routes. You could also make a route, save the map at the scales you want and email it to someone else who has Garmin software or download onto a Garmin GPS such as a 295 or just a handheld. All potentialy cool stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosco Posted December 16, 2006 Report Share Posted December 16, 2006 What'd cost y'a.........about 160 right. just askin and was wonderin if it's worth the coin.........i'm thinkin about it for my 276C thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkbait Posted December 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2006 What'd cost y'a.........about 160 right. just askin and was wonderin if it's worth the coin.........i'm thinkin about it for my 276C thoughts? 170 I think. I have only been playing with it for a few days but if I was flying in Canada I would buy it in a flash. I also have the basic Garmin world map which has the entire world but without a lot of Topo Data - it is not very expensive and you could use that just to load waypoints and routes into. Topo Canada I assume comes with the world map also. I have an old smaller IBM laptop which I plan to load it onto and take it on my next tour just to see how usefull it can be. I figure with a flight planning W+B program plus the ops manual and checklists ect.it could be useful. Cautious experimentation should lead to the truth of the matter. For something like a Search the route tool would be ideal - very quick to create a pattern and fast to download. You can also upload data on routes flown from the portable GPS onto the Laptop. Cheers Sharkbait Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xrkyle Posted December 17, 2006 Report Share Posted December 17, 2006 I can't speak to TopoCanada's usefulness while flying but it is great on the ground. I use it a lot for dual sport and adventure riding. A lot of the data it is based upon (Natural Resources Canada) is old but it's still quite accurate. You can try the interactive software out at Garmin's website. I'd recommend anyone looking at anything GPS (at the consumer level) to look at GPScentral.ca. They have very knowledgable staff and their prices are the best in Canada. Topo Canada is $140 there. For real accurate and precise work, you may want to consider something like CDGPS. This is the kind of stuff you'd want if you needed to plant a load down within a foot or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mustache Gear Posted December 17, 2006 Report Share Posted December 17, 2006 I have a Garmin Map 76 and you can download mapsets to it aswell as waypoints for selected areas so you don't have to overload you unit with too many wapoint. On the map screen you can zoom in and see small creeks and contour lines and let me tell you when you have surveyers on board and they are looking for two creek intesections in the middle of the winter it's really usfull. If they like flying with you because you can find what they are looking for like survey pins based on s^&$ty descriptions(If you've ever flown surveyers you know what I'm saying) than they will want to fly with you agian...it pays for a gps and computer program pretty fast. Cheers MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rotorboy2 Posted December 17, 2006 Report Share Posted December 17, 2006 Topo Canada is great. Works great with the 296. I love it. You can also get MetroGuide as well, street info for when using your GPS in 'automotive' mode. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RotorDroop Posted December 19, 2006 Report Share Posted December 19, 2006 $129.95 at www.gpscity.ca Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nakhigh Posted December 19, 2006 Report Share Posted December 19, 2006 I use the Topo Canada Software on a small tablet pc with a Garmin GPS antena plugged into the USB port works great as a moving map display. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treetopflyer Posted December 19, 2006 Report Share Posted December 19, 2006 I use the Topo Canada Software on a small tablet pc with a Garmin GPS antena plugged into the USB port works great as a moving map display. Are you using a current verison of MapSource? All the latest versions don't appear to accept the GPS data realtime but I know the old versions used to. ttf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nakhigh Posted December 19, 2006 Report Share Posted December 19, 2006 I'm using version 2.00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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