CachingCentral

Garmin has released a Mac version of MapSource which can be pre-ordered – http://www.gpscity.com/cp?&s=00001&cr=022108GU&it=cnusa8ntm.

Garmin has also released an update to MapSource for the Windows platform at http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=209. They list the following as the latest updates:

Changes made from version 6.13.6 to 6.13.7:

• Fixed an issue sending maps to units on Asian language computers.
• Fixed an issue where the vertical profile was not displayed correctly.
• Fixed an issue when transferring data to a blank SD card.
• Fixed an issue where the map tile name was not displayed correctly on the unit after transferring to the device with MapSource.

According to Garmin and the Mac Garmin is still committed to the Apple and lists the various ways Apple users can use Garmin products and some news about what is in development.

There’s a link to download a beta of the new Apple beta software called Bobcat. A direct link is http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=3886

http://www.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=209 (47.3 MB)

Changes made from version 6.12.4 to 6.13.1:

• Improved the View in Google Earth feature.
• Improved the Find Nearest Places dialog.
• Improved the transfer of user data to removable media drives for marine units.
• Added support for transferring user data to Symbian Garmin Mobile XT devices.
• Added a temperature field to the tab delimited text output.
• Fixed an issue where a track or route vertical profile that spanned a detailed map boundary had an erroneous fissure on the plot.
• Fixed an issue with URIs (links) in GPX files that contain non-ASCII characters.
• Fixed an issue when opening a GPX file that contains a new-line as the first character of a waypoint comment.
• Fixed an issue with adding duplicate link entries in the waypoint dialog.
• Fixed an issue with rendering maps in a locked map product that contains terrain shading data.

Since I’ve been geocaching, all that was available from Garmin for local topo maps has been an older release. I see that they have now released Topo 2008.

Read more about it at the Garmin Topo 2008 page.  It includes the typical Garmin online map viewer so you can see what you are getting before you purchase it.

Jeep has a bunch of games to play at http://www.jeep.com/games/ with one of the games being a Jeep Geocaching Challenge. Ater a simple site registration, you get to download a zip file containing the game. The zip file is 63MB, so you don’t want to do this on dial-up. You extract the zip file to a subdirectory (takes about 80 MB) and run jeep.exe to start the game. It’s a pretty system resoruce intensive game, but very cool, and free.

Game Description:
Are you ready to hunt for the cache? You can find them by exploring five different areas in one of four Jeep vehicles or challenge yourself to a number of exciting Mini-Missions.

Game Features:

• Explore the terrain in one of four Jeep vehicles: 2007 Grand Cherokee Limited, 2007 Commander Limited, 2007 Liberty Limited, and 2007 Wrangler Rubicon.
• Hop out of your Jeep vehicle at any time to access hard-to-reach areas on foot.
• Collect cache to unlock postcards and e-mail them to your friends.
• Compete in five timed Mini-Missions and get your score on the Global Leaderboard.
• Experience realistic weather effects in five different terrains.

Garmin has updated the firmware for the 60Cx, 60CSx, 76Cx & 76CSx units to v 3.20.  I think all units are reporting the same changes.

 

Changes made from version 3.10 to 3.20:

• Updated daylight saving time dates.
• Add capability for 2 wide data fields on map, compass, and highway pages.
• Add capability for 1 wide data field on map page.
• Added data card information page.
• Add selectable alarms for proximity waypoints and custom POI.
• Improve labeling and scanning of custom POI on the map page.
• Address issue where custom POI finder would erroneously produce no results.
• Add capability to see vertical profile of an autoroute using DEM topo data.
• Fixed issue with incorrect dates showing when editing the date field for Sun & Moon page and Hunt & Fish page.
• Fix issue where invalid find menu options could show when using the Auto Order feature.
• Fix issue with the Swiss grid providing incorrect coordinates.
• Fix issue where route names would be converted to upper case during editing.
• Update data card driver to support SD version 2 cards.
• Corrected problem with NMEA input that could corrupt Waypoint names in WPL sentences.

Download the updates off the following links:

Garmin 60Cx
Garmin 60CSx
Garmin 76Cx
Garmin 76CSx (as of this posting it doesn’t show the 3.20 but I think it’s the same as the 76Cx so you can use that download)

Garmin has released an update to MapSource. The file is large at over 45MB.

Changes made from version 6.11.6 to 6.12.2:

• Changed the default file format to GDB version 3.
• Added web links. This feature allows user created internet search options to appear on context menus. These search options can use either location or name information.
• Added a MiniMap.
• Added new waypoint symbols (contacts, geocache, hunting, etc.).
• Added support for multiple links on waypoints, routes, and tracks.
• Added additional guidance for the user when clicking on the ‘View in Google Earth’ menu item.
• Added support for writing waypoints, routes, and tracks to SD cards for new chart plotters.
• Enhanced the driving directions page in the route dialog to provide additional statistics.
• Added a notes area to the route dialog. These notes are printed with driving directions.
• Added two options to the routing preference ‘Try to Avoid’ list: ferries and seasonal road closures.
• Added support for multi-line comments for waypoints.
• Added a transfer preference to specify if (and which) serial ports should be searched for Garmin devices. This should solve problems for users that have badly behaved internal modems that cause MapSource to hang.
• Added the ability to join tracks from the Tracks page.
• Added track color to the list on the Tracks page.
• Changed the behavior of the track draw tool to populate the elevation in tracks if the map product has DEM elevation data.
• Changed several feature symbols (mountain peak, city, and airport) to be smaller so they don’t obscure as much of the map. This only applies when the large symbol size is selected.
• Adjusted the layout of several preference pages for improved usability.
• Changed the behavior of several dialogs to ignore the degree symbol in user provided coordinate strings.
• Fixed an issue when selecting map sets larger than 4 GB in size.
• Fixed an issue with saving files to offline network drives.
• Fixed an issue with preserving line feeds inside of comments in GPX files.
• Fixed an issue with printing when the ‘No Map’ product is selected.
• Fixed some line rendering issues on Blue Chart map products.
• Fixed an issue with some postal code address searches not finding results.

Download the MapSource update.

Garmin has posted USB Drivers software version 2.2 at http://www.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=591.

All that is listed as changed is Vista support.

Garmin released an update to it’s Spanner program, now at version 2.1. The program should allow most USB connected Garmin units to output standard NMEA protocol. In addition, it seems to support multiple virtual COM ports which means you could run multiple programs simultaneously all accessing the same GPS.

You can download the Spanner program from Garmin’s site at http://www.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=1627

CacheStats, a Windows program which processes a GPX file and produces a slew of info on it, has been updated to version 2. I previously mentioned it a month and a half ago in Simple program to give you your caching stats and the programs developer has enhanced the program listing the following:

Check out CacheStats at http://www.logicweave.com/cachestats.html