Free vs paid maps for GPS device

[peregrinator]

Are there any significant advantages in using a paid Australian map rather than a free one? If so, which brand is best? For a portable GPS device, not a telephone.

[Mark F]

It "depends"
- the area you want the maps for,
- the use you plan for the maps,
- the quality of the available maps, free and paid for.

When I use my gps rather than my phone with geopdf maps, I have only ever used free ones usually based on osm as they have been more complete and accurate than the commercial offering.

[keithy]

As Mark suggested it can depend on the area you intend on using the maps in.

I have various Garmin bought maps from various different countries and they vary in their accuracy and content. Some match the paper maps I have bought and some are a little lacking in comparison with free OSM maps I have for those regions as well.

Locally for Australia I have the Garmin Topo maps from V3, V4 and the V5 lite. There has been previous discussion in the forums about some errors introduced in the V5 Topo maps. I find for Vic and Tas i use the OSM maps as they have more trails. The contour lines in the version compiled by Andrew here on the forums is more accurate than the OSM contour lines I had previously.

For NZ I have been using their NZ LINZ maps. For various states you can get geopdf maps from the various land authorities. But it can be fiddly to get those into a Garmin friendly custom map format.

For Magellan there is a previous thread on free maps for those devices.

[GPSGuided]

It all depends on the brand and model of device that affect the available maps to it. Some brands are quite restrictive while others have more choice. And at the consumer level, I think all would agree Garmin's mapping units are most flexible in accepting a number of paid options as well various OSM based solutions.

For me and for outdoors use, I never bothered with paid maps but used OSM based maps. Apart from more information for most locations, I often contribute more map data before a planned trip to a location and see the input reflected in a few days for use.

[peregrinator]

Thanks to all for your replies. Quite encouraging to read that “paid” ain’t necessarily the best.

I have been using the OSM maps from Andrew that keithy mentions. They’ve worked well for me, but I was just wondering why some people pay plenty dollar for commercial products. Apart, that is, from the possibility that they may be brainwashed!

As for Mark F''s “depends”, I should have written “SE Australian map”, not “Australian map”. I’m currently bushwalking in all parts of VIC, along with some parts of SA and NSW. I have a Garmin Etrex 20, but it is a backup to printed topos and compass. I have no need for GPS mapping in any other context.

[onward]

Of course you can make your own from a wide range of online data. Most state governments seem to provide base data such as roads, hydro, etc and other helpful datasets such as mines, campsites, closed railways etc.
I use QGIS, bit of learning curve, but it directly downloads OSM, esri, Google etc maps and you can overlay the other data on the maps, add your own etc.
I am still learning how to get it all into garman's format, but easy to create geo referenced pdf/tiffs

[peregrinator]

Onward, I am both impressed and intimidated by you and others with the ability to make their own. If there were no time restrictions, I'd like to get into that. But as I noted, GPS-ing is something I am using as a backup to using compass and printed topos, so I can't justify the number of hours that would be necessary for me to do the learning you refer to.