This page lists all known available sources of digital maps on the Internet. Scroll down to see the complete list. Many customers have asked us about maps for countries other than the U.S. GPSy is compatible with digital topographic maps of Japan from the Japan Map Center. GPSy Pro is also compatible with BSB charts of Europe, such as the Soltenik charts of Sweden and Fugawi charts of Africa, Canada, Eruope, France, Germany, and Switzerland below. Unfortunately, we don't know of that many other sources for high-quality maps of Europe/Africa/Asia/Pacific. Please e-mail us if you know of any places that sell or provide maps for non-U.S. locations.

Of course, you can always scan in your own maps in TIFF/JPEG/GIF format and calibrate them. Alternatively, GPSy can use the Vector Map Coastline Extractor listed below to produce vector maps on your handheld GPS unit.

We recommend that all GPSy clients upgrade to either QuickTime 3.02 or the new QT4 release when working with digital charts and maps. QT4 contains some important bug fixes as well as additional image optimizations that GPSy (Pro) takes advantage of, both increasing the speed and quality of your map rendering.

Digital map sites of interest:

Ordering Calibrated Topo Maps

GPSy (TM) can read and auto-calibrate topographic (digital raster graphic; DRG) maps from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) EROS data center. The maps are sold on CD-ROM and are scanned, geoadjusted, and geocalibrated versions of their paper topographic maps.

USGS DRG topo maps are available on CD-ROM for most of the continental United States from the USGS. The cost is approximately $115 per CD-ROM, for less expensive options, see the commercial vendors below. For more information on how to order USGS DRG topo maps on CD-ROM, contact the USGS EROS Data Center:

    U.S. Geological Survey
    EROS Data Center
    Customer Services
    Sioux Falls, SD 57198
    
    Telephone:	+1  605 594-6151
    Facsimile:  +1  605 594-6589

    E-mail: 


    WWW:   	USGS DRG Home Page (http://mcmcweb.er.usgs.gov/drg/index.html)
                http://mapping.usgs.gov/esic/cdrom/cdlist.html#DRG
                List of Digital Maps
                http://mapping.usgs.gov
                http://mapping.usgs.gov/esic/to_order.html#cd
                (The "Digital Raster Graphics" (DRG) CD-ROMs are the ones compatible with GPSy 3.0)

   Other USGS Web Sites of Interest:
                http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/eros-home.html
                http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/glis/glis.html             

Commercial DRG Vendors

There are a number of commercial GIS vendors that sell maps in GPSy compatible formats. Look for georeferenced orthophotographs or topographic maps in "TIFF", "TIFF with TFW (ESRI ArcView) File", or "GeoTIFF" formats. Many of these vendors may claim that their products are PC only since they are unaware of packages such as GPSy on the Macintosh side; however GPSy can read PC-based image files just as easily as native Macintosh ones. For example, GPSy is compatible with the Teale Data Center DRGs for California.

Since the USGS DRGs aren't copyrighted (and you're free to make your own copies of the CD-ROMs as well), several commercial vendors are offering the DRG CD-ROMs for considerably less than the USGS:

• GISDataDepot is a new, free site that subsumes GIS Exchange (below) and that promises better coverage of the whole U.S. as well as several other countries
• GIS Exchange -- this is a free site with many DRGs of the whole nation, coverage is spotty but improving.
• JCSI Maps -- is a promising source of cheap DRGs; a reorganized web site is much easier to use, and prices are reasonable ($32 per disk; lower with exchange).
• Gecko Software sells USGS DRGS ($50 per 1 degree block/CD-ROM)

Orthographic Maps

GPSy supports digital orthophoto maps such as those produced by MIT's Digital Orthphoto Map Server:

• USA - MA: MIT Digital Orthophoto Map Server
• USA - MA: MIT Coastline Orthophoto Map Server
• USA - TX: TNRIS Orthophoto Map Server

• USA - WY: Wyoming Digital Orthophoto Browser
  These orthophotos are calibrated with .jgw (JPEG World) files, which are identical to .tfw (TIFF World Files). GPSy will ask you to add the map zone/datum info, sa detailed in the FAQ on TFW files to make them work properly.

Vector Maps

GPSy supports uploading MAPGEN and MATLAB format vector files as track files to your GPS unit. This allows you to upload "background" coastline and geographic feature data to GPS units without built-in maps or whose built-in maps don't cover your local territory in detail.

Vector Map Servers:

• World: USGS Coastline Extractor
  • Note that most hand-held GPS unit only have a 500-1000 track point database, so scale the size and resolution of your requested track map accordingly.

Waypoint Databases

GPSy supports its own waypoint database format as well as MacGPS compatible files; MapFan SPT files; and DeLorme StreetAtlas 4 Route files. Here are some links to internet waypoint databases that you might find useful:

• World: SwopNet Waypoint DataBank -- waypoint database (mainly Europe)
• World: Waypoint Base -- waypoint database (mainly Europe)
• USA: FAA Database of U.S. Airports -- provided on registration
• USA MI-WI: Peter Berbee's Map and Data of Wisconsin and Michigan has waypoint data for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area region.

Ordering NOAA/BSB Nautical Charts and Maps

GPSy Pro (TM) can read and auto-calibrate NOAA/BSB ChartKit format digital nautical maps from BSB and NDI. The digital charts cover U.S. and Canadian territorial waters and you can order Swedish BSB charts from Solteknik HB. Please visit the GPSy Pro web page for more information.

The BSB ChartKit format is an emerging global standard for electronic chart display systems. GPSy Pro supports 1.x, 2.x, and 3.0 versions of this standard. Although right now the BSB format is still limited geographically, there is a strong push to make it an international standard and to have BSB charts for all ports of call. We are also in the process of licensing the ChartPack (PCX) format from MapTech which will give us additional world coverage.

• Africa: Fugawi sells GPS / BSB - Navigationskarten fuer GPS Systeme in BSB v1.1 format.
  Includes: North Africa, Sahara, Sub-sahara, West Africa, Central Africa, Sudan, and Ethiopia.
• Australia: MapTrax sells Austrlian topo maps in BSB v1.1 and GeoTIFF format.
  Includes: Australian and Thai marine charts, land maps, and more.
• Canada: NDI -- official supplier of Canadian Hydrographic Service digital nautical maps of Canadian waters on CD-ROM in NOAA/BSB format
• Canada: Fugawi sells Canadian Topographic Maps and Nautical Charts (in German: Navigationskarten fuer GPS Systeme) in BSB v1.1 format
• Europe: Fugawi GPS / BSB - Navigationskarten fuer GPS Systeme in BSB v1.1 format.
  Includes: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, and Switzerland.
• France: Fugawi GPS / BSB - Navigationskarten fuer GPS Systeme in BSB v1.1 format
• Germany: Fugawi sells German Topographic Maps (in German: Deutschlandkarte fuer GPS Systeme) in BSB v1.1 format
• Sweden: Solteknik HB charts of Swedish waters
• Switzerland: Fugawi sells Swiss Topographic Maps (in German: Navigationskarten fuer GPS Systeme) in BSB v1.1 format
• U.S.A.: MapTech (formerly BSB / ChartKits) -- official supplier of NOAA digital nautical maps of U.S. territorial waters on CD-ROM and is the key developer of the NOAA/BSB format. We are a licensed VAR of the BSB format.
• World: Fugawi sells 1:4,000,000 scale maps of the World (in German: Navigationskarten fuer GPS Systeme) in BSB v1.1 format

Copyright (C) 1997-2007 by Global Mapping Systems and Karen Nakamura. All rights reserved. GPSy^® and GPSy.COM^® are registered trademarks and GPSy Pro^TM and GPSyLink^TM are trademarks of Karen Nakamura. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Mention of a third-party's product does not represent endorsement of or by that product.

This page was last updated on 12 June 2003. We've had hits since February 4th, 1998.