Issues with GPS and maps in WA

[Rocky 5]

Hi,
I've had some frustrations with available published maps and GPS units in Western Australia and would be grateful for advice on a few issues:

1. I currently use a Garmin GPSMap 66i, but have found that Garmin Australian Topo V6 lacks a lot of detail in the field and some of the contouring is a bit sus.
2. I downloaded some maps from Geoscience Australia, but all these were hopelessly out of date (like 20 years)
3. I then looked at WA Landgate maps, but these only download in PDF format, which you can't directly load into my GPS or Garmin Basecamp.

As I travel to fairly remote areas, I'm pretty keen to get hold of nav data I can rely on. Also I often collect data in the field and geotag a lot of additional information onto Basecamp.
I did look at Hema and other commercial maps, but they are not really flexible enough when it comes to the type of data I want to collect and add.

Therefore I would be grateful if someone could advise me on the following questions:

1. Does anyone know of an application that will convert geo attributed pdf files into GPX format?
2. Are WA Landgate maps generally detailed and accurate recent surveys - or do they simply tend to rehash old map data with a few updates
3. Has anyone else had on the forum had issues with Garmin Australian Topo V6's lack of detail?

Any feedback would be welcome.

[tastrax]

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on discovering the first thing about gps and maps (they are usually less than optimal)!

The good news is there is OpenStreetMap (https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=8/-32.723/116.818) where you can add/edit and update maps and then there are some kind souls that make that same data available as maps for Garmin devices.

https://www.bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopi ... 21&t=28893
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... tBMpX-Js9H

My suggestion is to take a look at OpenStreetMap and see how your areas of interest look and then start editing them if needs be (but be aware that there are rules on adding data/tags etc). Then using the link above add the WA data to your device. NOTE - the gps data its updated every few months so your edits are not instantaneously going to appear on your GPS.

The general alternative to a GPS is an app on your phone/tablet. That's worth another topic if you want folks advice on what they use. Some of these handle PDF maps.

[Rocky 5]

Thanks Phil, what a great website!
I compared maps around Bell's rapids area in WA and was especially happy with the detail shown on the Topo view using OSM (which left the Garmin Australian Topo map for dead).
I also happened to blunder into the British Ordnance Survey website, which now also offers global zoom-in maps. I then read an article from back in 2021, which implied that Ordnance Survey UK are planning to upgrade their maps of Australia, with a view to improving resolution and the level of detail. They will offer these upgraded map views to members only, which you can switch to under the "Premium Topo" viewing option.
I have to say their standard map of Bells Rapids was pretty much on par with OSM's, although one feature I did like was the ability to switch to an overhead birds eye view, which can be very useful on occasions. The contouring shown on the map was exactly the same as OSM, so I presume they started off using pretty much the same government data files.
The "Premium Topo" view is blocked, unless you have logged in as a member, but I may do a bit more research on this one and see if joining as a member is worth while. I haven't checked out what Ordnance Survey offers in terms of downloads, but it would indeed be nice if you could load their maps date onto other devices.
Anyway, thanks again for the pointer and I will post any additional info I come across.
Best regards,
Rod.

[bernieq]

Also I often collect data in the field and geotag a lot of additional information onto Basecamp.

The .img map files that tastrax linked can be copied into the /garmin folder for use on your GPS. The same is true for Basecamp. The .img flies need to be in a /garmin folder on a removable drive (for example, a USB flash drive). You need to have the drive mounted before you start Basecamp.

BTW, those .img files are created and are made freely available by andrewp (thanks andrew). They are updated once or twice a year. If you read the mapinfo.txt file, you can see where all the data comes from.