If the format of the maps is binary with difficult interpretation or encrypted, it is almost impossible for a normal user to create their own maps.ДЄt the time this article was concluded (0), there were no GPS units available that allowed the consumer to create their own background maps. Unfortunately, this policy restricts other people from creating their own GPS maps in each manufacturer's proprietary format. To impede the unauthorized copy of the maps, each company creates its own encrypted system or a system of binary files with indefinite structure to protect their data. The GPS manufacturers pay a premium for the digital maps, passing the cost on to the consumer. Up to now it is possible to obtain maps with a good detail level for countries in North America, Europe and a dozen of other countries. Even trails in such places as Grand Canyon National Park (USA) are not properly mapped. Many areas of special interest are not adequately mapped for GPS use. If you think that the lack of detailed maps is only a problem of the developing countries, you are wrong. If the cost of the maps for a single city is so expensive, imagine the cost of detailed maps of a whole country with more than 5500 cities, like Brazil! I also contacted some companies that specialize in cartography, who offered me street maps for US$1,200.00, with restriction for any redistribution. I tried to acquire municipal maps from the City Hall in AutoCad-DXF format, but they said the maps would cost US$10,000.00. You can't imagine the difficulty that I have had obtaining a digital map of my city. Since 1998 I have receive hundreds of e-mails complaining about the level of map detail provided by Garminв„ў, Magellanв„ў, and others.To their credit, this limitation is not exclusively the manufacturers's fault - obtaining digital maps of developing countries is an almost impossible task.

Note that in all, there are no significant details that help with GPS navigation. The pictures below show the city of Belo Horizonte respectively in the Garmin MapSourceВ®, Lowrance MapCreateВ® and Magellan MapSendВ®. In spite of the fact that Belo Horizonte is the third largest Brazilian city with more than 2.1 million inhabitants, the map only shows some main highways and the simplified border of the urban area.

The side picture shows the level of detail of the map of Belo Horizonte City (where I live) in GPS III+. These maps possess a low level of detail but cover all the World. GPS manufacturers have had to resort to public domain maps supplied by the government of the United States, through US Defense Mapping Agency. For developing countries, the main source of cartographic data are the government agencies that often don't possess structure and budget to provide the maps that the market demands. The use of background maps by GPS users in Latin America always has presented difficulties because of the lack of available digital maps. In spite of the emphasis on Latin American countries, the techniques shown here can be applied to any other part of the word. By Odilon Ferreira Junior - Author of GPS TrackMakerВ®Дoug Adomatis of Travel by GPS ( The present article shows the Author's personal experience with the MAPDEKODE program together with GPS TrackMakerВ® and MapSourceВ® for creation of complete background maps for Garminв„ў GPS receivers.

Img file garmin mapsource