Tracks4Australia Report
Submitted: Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 18:48
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Member - Doug T (W.A)
I can give people a report on the performance of the Mapping software working in a Garmin Nuvi 660, I detoured from
Cue WA west out to
Dalgaranga Meteor Crater, after I left
Cue there is a maze of tracks and roads , the Tracks4Australia had all the tracks I needed and showed the way right to
the Crater, then had all the tracks down to Mt Magnet, where I switched back over to Mapsource, I feel it was dollars
well spent, in fact it is much better than ExploreOz and Raster, they have more detail but Tracks4Australia can be zoomed in or out to give an idea of where the track is heading, In the comparision page I done Site Link
Dalgaranga is in the wrong location, that Co-Ord was taken from the World Database www.unb.ca/passc/ImpactDatabase/ the
actual location would be under the first (a) in the name, I have found some sites are up to 5klm out as was
Yarrabubba , they had the Lat/Long for the station, the Impact location is about 5klm S.E down the road .
Doug
Reply By: Member - Andrew (QLD) - Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 19:05
Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 19:05
....in fact it is much better than ExploreOz....
Just don't let David hear you say that! :-)
Andrew
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Reply By: Willem - Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 19:44
Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 19:44
Hmmm Doug...a bit of foot in mouth??? I take it you mean Oziexplorer not Exploroz
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Follow Up By: Member - Doug T (W.A) - Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 21:08
Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 21:08
Thank you Willem , now before I go and attack the other one , been waiting for you to pop up , Willem , have a look what my Son does , before's and after's
Site Link
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Follow Up By: Willem - Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 21:42
Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 21:42
Interesting that the before shots were all taken on dull cloudy days and the after shots on brighter days...:-D
Must be somewhere in Queensland?
He does a good job though.
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Follow Up By: Member - Doug T (W.A) - Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 21:57
Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 21:57
Don't know where he was working on the houses , Your obsevant about the cloudy days , I hoped he would drive trucks when he used to come with me on school holidays back in the 1980s but now with all the BS going on in the industry I'm glad he didn't, He just turned 30 y/o back in November , I think he has got himself into a good money earner
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Follow Up By: Member - Doug T (W.A) - Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 22:22
Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 22:22
Willem
Don't know if this link will work ...maybe but I want one
Site Link
FollowupID:
481717
Follow Up By: Willem - Sunday, Feb 11, 2007 at 20:00
Sunday, Feb 11, 2007 at 20:00
Doug
That one is not for me. I can see it broken very quickly. There is very little frontal protection and them tyres are pretty useless too. But no doubt one can rework it to be off road useable.
I am stuck with my choice for the time being unless I go downmarket to an old Tojo....lol
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Reply By: Gramps (NSW) - Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 20:36
Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 20:36
"in fact it is much better than ExploreOz and Raster, they have more detail but Tracks4Australia can be zoomed in or out to give an idea of where the track is heading,"
Sorry if I have misinterpreted Doug but OziExplorer can be zoomed in/out as
well.
AnswerID:
220993
Follow Up By: Member - Doug T (W.A) - Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 21:16
Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 21:16
Gramps
I thought you knew better than that, would you kindly show me how OziExplorer can be zoomed , or am I mis-Using the word . what i see is magnifying , not zooming , when magnifying Raster or OziExplorer it only pushes it away or pulls it in , unlike Mapsource or Tracks4Australia that can increase the amount of detail the more one zooms in , or are my eyes playing tricks on me.
Doug
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Follow Up By: Gramps (NSW) - Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 21:26
Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 21:26
LOL Doug, we may be at cross purposes here. I have'nt used Mapsource or Tracks4Australia so I can't comment there.
If you use the 250k Mosaic from Topo 2005 Rasteron say 5% in Oziexplorer, you progressively get more detail as you magnify (zoom?) to 100%+. The detail was always there, just our eyes could not pick it up.
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Follow Up By: Member - Doug T (W.A) - Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 21:36
Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 21:36
Gramps
That's it ,Mapsource and Tracks4Australia zoom by klm and Raster by %
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Follow Up By: fruers - Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 23:03
Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 23:03
This is the difference between raster (oziexplorer) and vector (magellan, garmin) mapping.
Vector images (as used in handheld mapping GPS) are drawing based on mathematical information (draw a line of type z from position x to position y) whereas raster images are drawn using pixels. When you're looking at a raster image you're always seeing all the pixels that are there (though as Al points out, they may be indistinguishable) whereas vector maps can decide what to display from the information available (hence more detail as you zoom in). In relation to digital mapping, vector is a far superior technology but because of the amount of work involved in defining the data the available maps are inferior to those available in raster format. As Greg mentions in a good post below, the natmap 250k sheet is superior only because of the data that has been used to create it.
Google "raster vs vector" for more thorough information.
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Reply By: Sarg - Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 21:06
Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 21:06
So does Magellan DAST, & it won't send you in the wrong direction.
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Reply By: MartyB - Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 21:24
Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 21:24
Doug,
Are you using T4A or T4A pro?
Also how do you find the accuracy in T4A? I use T4A and it often shows me driving beside the road I am supposed to be on. I have thought about upgrading to T4A pro but the accuracy has put me off.
Marty.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Member - Doug T (W.A) - Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 21:33
Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 21:33
Didn't know there was a Pro , wasn't advertised on the GPSOZ website, Yes if you have the zoom down to under 300 m it shows the icon off the road but then so does Mapsource in the country , in the city it's spot on down to under 100m, and I don't have my settings Locked to Road , there is not much benifit at all to be zoomed to under 500m in the country
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Follow Up By: MartyB - Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 21:48
Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 21:48
Thanks Doug,
Obviously you have the standard version.
There is a yahoo group for T4A where yoiu can purchase pro from. $50 from their site. It is also on ebay for $44 from the same person. Something about some upgrade options if you pay the $50.
Site Link
Also you can download some contours maps to run at the same time as T4A they are free.
Site Link
Marty.
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Follow Up By: madcow - Monday, Feb 12, 2007 at 07:28
Monday, Feb 12, 2007 at 07:28
There is no free update option if you purchase from ebay. If you buy direct at $50.00 there will be one free upgrade available when it is updated.
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Reply By: The Explorer - Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 22:57
Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 22:57
Hello Doug - The base data for Tracks4Australia (T4A) is actually exactly the same data used to make the 250K Raster Maps/Mosaic..in Garmin format. The plan with T4A is for people to supply additional track information collected during trips to slowly but surely increase the level of detail (emphasis on slowly). Not surprisingly the T4A map you have shown on your comparison page has the same tracks, location names, creeks etc as the 250K raster map ie no more detail whatsoever ..and in fact less detail as the 250K map shows
well names and some fencelines.
In my opinion the 250K raster is better (in this case) as it is far easier to discern between various tracks and creeks. Location names are in some cases are also better defined on the 250K Raster in relation to the feature they are identifying eg the exact location of Gunnethurra Pool is some what vague on the T4A map...on the 250K raster it can be seen as a definite pool along the river. I am lead to believe that the Pro version of T4A has features such as this as coloured polygons so possibly just a shortcoming of the free version.
Cheers
Greg
| I sent one final shout after him to stick to the track, to which he replied “All right,” That was the last ever seen of Gibson - E Giles 23 April 1874 Lifetime Member
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Follow Up By: Member - Doug T (W.A) - Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 23:10
Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 at 23:10
Greg
yes I do agree Raster has more detail ie Wind-Pumps dams,
rabbit proof fence, power Lines , fence lines ,
,,but that bloody snake has me worried so will close , I would be happy to see him with a black head
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Follow Up By: The Explorer - Sunday, Feb 11, 2007 at 10:22
Sunday, Feb 11, 2007 at 10:22
No worries Doug - saw a Black-headed Python up near Praire Downs just before Christmas - awesome beast, it was nearly 2.5 metres long. Be careful of snakes with black heads though - there are several venomous species with black heads, for example there is a form of the Gwardar that has a black head - could be mistaken for a small B-h Python to the untrained eye.
Cheers
Greg
| I sent one final shout after him to stick to the track, to which he replied “All right,” That was the last ever seen of Gibson - E Giles 23 April 1874 Lifetime Member
My Profile My Blog Send Message
Moderator |
FollowupID:
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Reply By: hl - Sunday, Feb 11, 2007 at 07:26
Sunday, Feb 11, 2007 at 07:26
Hi,
We were driving tracks in the Bago Sate Forest (Paddy's River
Dam area) a few months ago, and there was not a single track in T4A, even City Navigator had more!
So, be wary and don't think you can rely on it at all. I know it is all done from contributions, but it's not quite there yet!
Cheers
AnswerID:
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Reply By: Sand Man (SA) - Sunday, Feb 11, 2007 at 11:00
Sunday, Feb 11, 2007 at 11:00
Doug,
You are "blaming" OziExplorer when in fact this software just displays whatever map you have loaded. So it is the map detail and not OziExplorer that defines the detail, or lack of it.
I'm also not familiar with Tracks4Australia but from your description it would be similar to the proprietary software used on the Magellan GPS. (DiscoverAus & Great Desert Tracks) As you zoom in on these, more and more detail is displayed.
I often have DiscoverAus, or Great Desert Tracks running on the Laptop as
well as OziExplorer, but personally, OziExplorer using NATMAP Raster Premium gets my vote.
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