Metroguide VS City Select?

[Gr8rhino1]

I was wondering exactly what you would lose if I just bought metroguide for Europe instead of City Select for Europe? I understand that I would not get automatic routing on the unit itself, but can I route on the computer with metoguide and download the map to my IQUE? The most that I need is a line to follow on my IQUE and my gps to show me where I am at. I hope this makes sense.

[rwsmith123]

You can't download routes from PC to the iQue for any map set.

Routing is the only thing you don't have with MetroGuide that you have with CS.

[Gr8rhino1]

So metroguide would pretty much just make My IQUE a real expensive paper map?

[rwsmith123]

You could make your own route on the iQue. Set routing to offroad, route to your destination (it will be a straight line), then add via's at turns, curves, etc.

You can still find addresses, POI's, see where you are at a glance, etc. Still much better than a paper map.

[Ken in Regina]

Originally posted by rwsmith123
You can't download routes from PC to the iQue for any map set.

Routing is the only thing you don't have with MetroGuide that you have with CS.

Rich, which "MetroGuide" do you have, or where did you get this information? I have MetroGuide Canada and it routes just fine on my iQue.

Let me say that again: ALL of the routing features work on MetroGuide Canada on my iQue. It's a far superior product for Canada than City Select North America (yes, even better than CSNA v6).

[apersson850]

Metroguide Europe will not route in the GPS.

It will route on the PC, but there is currently no way to get that route transferred to the iQue.

You can't add vias to off-road routes on the iQue. At least not yet (R3).

You can see where you are, on the MG maps, and do a coarse routing calculation on the basemap. That will give you a line to follow, along the roads of the basemap, and then you can see if there are more suitable roads on the MG map.
I suggest turning recalculation off, since it will rather frequently think that you've left the road (on the basemap), when you are following other roads, on the MG map. Just keep the original route in the background, so that you make sure you are going in the general direction.

This is about the same level of guidance as I get with my old Vista, if I have MG maps and a route downloaded from the PC in that GPS. That model does support up- and download of everything, including routes. But it can't autoroute on itself.

[Gr8rhino1]

This is the one thing that I really do not like. How hard is it to get a line to transfer from your computer to a pda? I really hope that Garmin is planing on making this happen, it is nothing new and should be available. One other thing that I would like is to be able to download construction areas. You can do this on streets and tips and on route 66.... so this is not new either...

[Ken in Regina]

Anders, perhaps we are talking about two different things.

As I understand "routing", I can either select a location in the phone book on my iQue, or do some sort of "Find" on my iQue, and then ask the iQue to calculate a route for me to get there from wherever I am.

That works perfectly with Mapguide Canada v4 maps on my iQue. I may not always agree with some details of the route presented to me, but it always is a route that makes sense from the computer's perspective and would definitely get me where I want to go in a reasonable manner. I have never encountered the "straight line/crow flies" symptom you describe. It is always a usable route (allowing for map data errors that occur on every map set to a greater or lesser degree).

It is my understanding that you cannot transfer routes created on the PC to the IQue, regardless of the map product(s) you have installed on the PC. That is, the inability to transfer routes from the PC to the iQue is a shortcoming of the iQue implementation at this time and has nothing to do with the mapsets you are using.

Am I misunderstanding something?

[rwsmith123]

MetroGuide Canada is an exception to the rule. MetroGuide USA and MetroGuide Europe will not do routing on the iQue. If they did then there would be no need for the more expensive City Select product.

[Ken in Regina]

Thanks, Rich. I didn't realize that the other Metroguide products didn't route.

I guess we're lucky up here in the Great White North. Even Topo Canada does a surprisingly passable job of routing. And I didn't expect it to be able to route on roads at all .. just straight line/crow flies stuff.

...ken...

[apersson850]

Topo Canada most likely doesn't allow any kind of autorouting (by which I mean the ability to find the "best" road, not just giving you a straight line).
But if you have the routeable basemap loaded in the iQue, then it will use that for autorouting, even if you are looking at a topo map. That's perhaps what you see?

[DownEaster]

Is it possible to easily switch between MetroGuide and City Select while using the IQue? I upgraded to CS6, but I notice that there's better detail in MG4 in the Atlantic provinces, however the main highways are more current in CS6.

I'd like to be able to navigate using CS6, then when I get near the destination I want to switch to MG4 maps.

Any possibilities?

[jrose1g]

Is it possible to easily switch between MetroGuide and City Select while using the IQue?
Yes, assuming you have loaded maps from both. Go to GPS Preferences, choose Maps from the left side pull down menu and Detailed from the right side. Then pull down the Options menu by tapping the upper left corner and you will be given the option to Enable........ Just choose the map set you want to use.

[Ken in Regina]

Originally posted by apersson850
Topo Canada most likely doesn't allow any kind of autorouting (by which I mean the ability to find the "best" road, not just giving you a straight line).
But if you have the routeable basemap loaded in the iQue, then it will use that for autorouting, even if you are looking at a topo map. That's perhaps what you see?

Nope .. or at least not entirely. On the packaging and on the Garmin web site it says "many routable roads and trails". So it does indeed contain autorouting, and the amount that I have encountered is what has me so pleasantly surprised.

I guess part of it is a matter of expectations. Even though the promotional information says that it contains routable roads and trails, the vendor I purchased if from strongly cautioned me not to expect that it would be like the "real" autorouting products. So my expectations were not high.

...ken...

[Ken in Regina]

Originally posted by DownEaster
Is it possible to easily switch between MetroGuide and City Select while using the IQue? I upgraded to CS6, but I notice that there's better detail in MG4 in the Atlantic provinces, however the main highways are more current in CS6.

I'd like to be able to navigate using CS6, then when I get near the destination I want to switch to MG4 maps.

Any possibilities?

I do this in the Rockies with MG Canada V4 and Topo Canada. I use brute force .. two SD cards. On one card I have loaded up everything in western Canada I want from MG Canada and a little bit along the south side of 49° from CS North America. On a second card I have loaded the Topo Canada tiles I want from south-western Alberta and southern British Columbia.

I run the MG Canada/CSNA card by default. Then, whenever I want to wander off the beaten path I just pop that card out and pop in the Topo card.

I have almost totally duplicate coverage between the two cards, so if I forget to switch the Topo card out when I get back on the pavement, it doesn't force me to switch cards back to the MG/CS maps until it's convenient to do so.

As has been described, in Map Install in the Palm Desktop you can select tiles from both MG and CS for the areas of coverage you want. When you install the map, they will be merged into the image file that is built. For my purposes I found it easier to get a second card (on sale) and just switch them as needed.

I would love to be able to just get a bigger card and load duplicate tiles from MetroGuide and the Topo maps and have the topo information overlayed on the MG data. I tried it for a small area and Map Install will do it without a fuss. But wherever you have tiles from the MG or CS mapsets, they get preference and the topo details are not displayed.

[Derodeo]

Is there any way to tell at a glance WHICH set of maps one is looking at when you have overlapping map sets installed and enabled?

[apersson850]

If one is a topo map and the other is City Selcet, or Metroguide, then it would be evident from the appearance of the map.
But you can't tell the difference between MG and CS, until you try routing along them.

Interesting, this with "routable trails" on a topo map. Ken, could you do me a favor? Disable the basemap, display the topo map (make sure MG/CS maps are disabled), then try calculate the route on the iQue again.
You see, I've never seen this feature on a topo map before, so I want to be really sure that it actually works.

[Ken in Regina]

Originally posted by apersson850
Interesting, this with "routable trails" on a topo map. Ken, could you do me a favor? Disable the basemap, display the topo map (make sure MG/CS maps are disabled), then try calculate the route on the iQue again.

If you will tell me how to disable the basemap (too lazy to figure it out myself; no driving desire to know) I would be pleased to check it out for you and report back.

The Topo Canada map is on a separate SD card, so there is no problem with cross-contamination from the MG or CS stuff.

...ken...

[Ken in Regina]

Okay, Anders, I may have figured it out. I had a few minutes tonite so I poked around a bit in the Que menus. Found Preferences/Maps/Misc and unchecked "Basemap".

Is that it?

Anyway, after unchecking "Basemap" I tried a route from a golf course where I work part time in the summers to my home in the city. This is a route that starts out on a private gravel road in the resort and proceeds about 15 km over grid (gravel) roads to the north side of town, then into town on an expressway and surface streets to my house. It worked fine.

Just to verify (I think?) that it wasn't the basemap doing the work - in case what I did was not the way to disable it - I took out the SD card with the Topo Canada maps and tried routing with just the iQue. I assume that would use the basemap since I have no maps loaded into the iQue itself.

Regardless of whether I had "Basemap" checked or unchecked, I got an error when I tried to route saying that there were no roads at or near the starting point and it just gave me a straight line joining start and destination.

Finally, I put the SD card with the topos back in, checked Basemap, unchecked Detailed Maps and tried again. This time I got a totally different route. The routing took me down to a nearby paved road, way south of the route it gives me with the detailed maps, and then into town. When I zoomed in tight I could see none of the grid road network that the topo maps show me in the rural area outside of town.

Does any of that make sense to you? Does it prove anything to you one way or the other?

...ken...

[apersson850]

Well, then it does indeed seem like it can use information on the topo map for routing. What you find to disable the basemap is exactly what I was referring to.

It also makes sense that without the card inserted, it will have no maps at all available for routing. Thus a straight line from start to destination.

Finally, you seem to have had the route calculated on the basemap, not the detailed map. Which should give a route, albeit another one.

The conclusion must be that there is some routing support in these topo maps. First time I've heard about that. Live and learn, I guess.