GPS help

[GbayGiant]

Anyone know what the best maps are for Georgian bay fishing with a Lowrance ?

 

And what exactly is the map create software ?

 

Thanks.

[Guest skeeter99]

buy a navionics chip pre loaded with the maps for the great lakes and ontario $149

 

I got a bootleg version of map create and dont like it, navionics is the way to go

 

hotmaps platinum or the gold card for east great lakes should do

 

look on the internet or call around prices vary greatly

[Rich Clemens]

John:

 

I have MapCreate 6, the Canadian Topo Version. It comes as a series of 6 CD's and contains topographical information for just about all of Canada ... if not all. I had the buy the entire kit, which includes an MMC card reader. You have to register each MMC card with the software and you are limited to 5 cards total. I think it was $149.00, with a $50.00 rebate. I installed the entire package on my PC at home.

 

The reason I bought this is to make maps of the areas that I fish, that ARE NOT included on the current Navionics cards. At the time I bought this software, I don't think the Navionics chips had the charts for Nipissing. I fish the French River each year and, to date, these still are not included. I wanted something that I could use for Navigation, marking Waypoints, etc. on this body of water, so Mapcreate was about my only option.

 

Now, MapCreate shows only topographical information. So I get the basic outline of the river. These DO NOT include water depths, hazards, etc. On the maps I did created, I recorded icons to mark hazards and waypoints for fishing spots. I have both a hand-held Lowrance H20 and an LCX 28C HD for the boat. With the maps I created, I set up two MMC cards - one for each unit. These are working our pretty well for my French River trips, with specific trails, and other data.

 

To use Mapcreate on the PC, you have to load one of the CD's, even though I have all of them already loaded. It's a way to make sure you are the owner of the software. It comes up with an high level view of Canada and you can zoom in/out, move east/west/north/south .. any way you want to zero in on the part of Canada you want to create a map for. It's rather easy, Click on the area of the map and move the cursor diagonally across the page to create a box over the area you want. Simple as saving that area as what they call a map border file. You can also manually enter known waypoints and Icons, create routes, etc. The latter is saved as a GPS data file.

 

All this can be saved onto the MMC with a card reader that came with the kit. This card reader plugs into your USB port. Once I created the maps I wanted, I just saved them onto the MMC and plugged them into my units and they worked fine. On the water, I was able to create new routes, waypoints, icons, etc. and these were also saved onto the MMC. Once back home, I was able to copy the data files back onto my PC as a backup copy. So, I am able to keep my PC and both GPS devices in sync.

 

If the waters you fish most often are already pre-programmed onto existing Navionics cards, that is the direction I would go. The 2007 version of Navionics Hotmaps included Lake Nipissing, but only west to Rt. 64. Since I started going to the Lakair GTG, I went ahead and purchased the card. Much more detail than you can get with MapCreate and I think they are adding more and more bodies of water each year.

 

If the G-bay is on the Navionics card ... spend the money and buy it. MapCreate can be used for unmapped areas and, I believe, and also be used for ground navigation, but I have not used it for land travel.

 

See what's on the latest Navionics card and if the areas you fish most often are on it ... but the chip and save your money on MapCreate.

 

Hope this helps a bit. If you are really looking for MapCreate software, check the classifieds of OFC. I think Irishfield (Wayne) has an unopened package of MapCreate 6 listed there - or at least he did have. Wayne's at his summer home right now and won't be around much until later this fall, but does pop in on occassion.

[GbayGiant]

Thanks for the detail guys, I guess the gold card is the way to go, sucks that the French isn't on it as I am very close and fish it too.

[wallyboss]

The French is not considered a naviguable waterway so I don't think it will ever be on a map.