Non Garmin GPS maps for Garmin

[Hank49]

I need a Belize marine map to download into my Garmin GPSmap76. I hear there are suppliers that are ....independent? I've looked on the Internet and can only find Garmin's America's map in Bluechart and Mapsource. I'm looking for a more Belize specific detailed map of our reef and waters.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

Garmin very closely controls the format of its maps. There are some third party map
developers: http://www.garmin.com/cartography/mpc/ but nothing for Belize.

Those who have tried to get around Garmin's licensing have gotten an IMMEDIATE visit
from Garmin's lawyers.


Chuck

 

[Tom Winters]

Garmin is one strange company. Awesome stuff - they make lots of stuff I have used reliably for years, but a little spooky on the corporate side hd'ed there in the Caymans. My kind of corporate environment if I still had to work.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

I think the Garmin address in the Caymans is a letter drop to dodge taxes. They seem
to be really headquartered in Olathe Kansas. They seem to be starting to treat the GPS
biz like razor blades: sell the razor (GPS) cheap, sell the blades (cartography) dear.
Fortunately, one BlueChart covers most of California and down into Baja.

 

[lostinspace]

try google earth

 

[Hank49]

try google earth

Can you be a little more specific? I know Google....but. Thanks

 

[Hank49]

Garmin very closely controls the format of its maps. There are some third party map
developers: http://www.garmin.com/cartography/mpc/ but nothing for Belize.

Those who have tried to get around Garmin's licensing have gotten an IMMEDIATE visit
from Garmin's lawyers.


Chuck

This sucks. Are Belize maps available for other brands?

 

[Charlie99]

The "Google Earth" that another poster mentioned is just a repository of satellite and aerial photos. Kind of a neat toy, but doesn't have any marine data.

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I can't help you with anything that gives you maps to download into the Garmin 76, but the program "GARTRIP" http://www.gartrip.de/ does allow you to work on a PC with scanned nautical charts. You can calibrate them, make waypoints and routes, and download them into your Garmin 76 (just the waypoints and routes, NOT the map). Shareware, so you can test it out for free.

I used GARTRIP to take some scanned NOAA charts of waters near my Massachusetts summer home, mark some buoys, rocks and sandbars, and download the waypoints into my Etrex series GPS.

Not exactly what you were looking for, but perhaps it will help a bit.

 

[Hank49]

I used GARTRIP to take some scanned NOAA charts of waters near my Massachusetts summer home, mark some buoys, rocks and sandbars, and download the waypoints into my Etrex series GPS.

Not exactly what you were looking for, but perhaps it will help a bit.

I'll check it out. A friend of mine told me he has some software he downloaded into his units on his rental charter boats. But I have to wait until he comes back to Belize to find it out. I'm getting to know this area pretty well but living on an east facing shore has it's problems. The sun is in your face going out in the morning and coming back in the evening. And we have rocks that pop up out of nowhere. Thanks for you help. Hank