I've just purchased a Magellan Meridian Colour and am now looking at some software for it. Being BRAND NEW to gps's (never even turned one on yet), I am thinking of buying Discoveraus, I'm into 4wdriving and would like to be able to find new tracks with it. Is this the way to go or can somebody suggest something better? Any help appreciated.

DiscoverAus is great for offroad driving, shows plenty of 4WD tracks, use it with Ozi explorer for detailed mapping and you cant go wrong.

Ozzie

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Next Destination, who develop Discover Aus, have just released a Topographic version that would be well worth a look. With Discover Aus, which is custom made for Magellan handsets, you are able to upload maps directly to your handset, find all the trails you want whilst out driving and then download the tracks you have just done to your computer at home.
The other option is Oziexplorer which you can use on just about all GPS handsets. The limitations of Oziexplorer is that you can't upload maps to you GPS handset only tracks and waypoints. OziExplorer does not come with any maps so you need to also purchase maps that can be used with Oziexplorer. There are 1:25k and 1:100k NSW topo maps available on this site to download for free.

Hope that helps a bit
Brutus

yes I heard about the new topo version for megellan,, where can I get a sneak preview of it.


Ozzie

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No sneak peaks needed! it's available now. Although Magellan only have stocks of it on an SD memory card. The CD's will be sent out as soon as they get them (read Nov/Dec).
Available at any good GPS shop (read GPS Australia Online).

or I know Arthurking83 has just bought a copy, he's done an initial review HERE


Cheers
Shady

I'm happy with the DAST topo.
I would have like to have been 'more than happy' but there are one or two niggles.
I would dare say, it's worth the money, considering the effort gone into creating the software.
I extracted the VIC image in vector format, and the detail of the state is incredible!
I can't wait till the CD software comes out, and I really hope that I can load one of the state image files(VIC) to an SD card, on its own, as the meridian really slows sometimes with all that data on the 512Meg SD card.....

Very soon I will compare DAST topo to the earlier version of DAST, as I've just 'highjacked' my mates copy of 'old' DAST.
I will append my 'review' very soon....

cheers.

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How many versions of DAST are there?

I have just bought a secondhand CD and it is ver 1.0 and it's copywrited 2003. Are there updates or newer versions available (other than the topo)?

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong...
There is only one version of DAST, there is the latest incarnation DAST topo available in SD card only(PC software to follow??).
But there is also the Hema maps "Australias Great Desert Tracks" (AGDT) also available.
There are a few (3 maybe 4) versions of Mapsend that have been available.
I have an old copy of WorldWide BaseMap, it's really bad as a mapping solution for Australia!
It would be OK if you were flying around the world and wanted a "general idea" of what land mass you were over :
But Australia's coastlines is so far out of alignment with reality! StKilda/Brighton/Sandringham (seaside Melbourne suburbs) are all under water according to WWBM!

If you check the NextDestination website there is one update for DAST...
It's only for Win'95, '98, and Me users.

hope this helps.

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Yes - as far as I know there was ever only one version of DAST.
Cheers
Greg

Hi

Australias Great Desert Tracks, can someone that uses this software tell me if there is a lot of detail on these for outback locations. ie: old mines , reefs , etc for prospecting.

cheers dave

Hi again Daveo!
(Don't quote me here ) But I think that if you have ever seen/used the GDT maps, then it's exactly the same info. Just usable on the Magellan series.
There was a small review Here detailing some differences, but more about accuracy!
I thought about getting GDT, but I really prefer to see those kind of maps on paper (large print, more "overall" picture, kind of thing!).

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Hi Arthur

Thanks again, and if I was going prospecting out into the deserts I would be taking some hard copy maps I think as well (just for backup of course). I will read a few more threads on the comparisons, GDT etc.

cheers dave

No, for that you are better off with the old AUSLIG 1:250K geology maps, they are chock full of info about .. well.. Geology.. and of course old mines

I have occasionally found roads/tracks that have not been used for decades by using the info on these maps. They are about 30 years old at least. I use them with Oziexplorer, you used to be able to download them off the Natmap site. That and the NATMAP 250K are much better suited to your purposes. I do a little exploring with a PDA hooked up to my Magellan on my motorbike.

I've used DAST, GDT and Ozi expolrer with my Magellan and have found DAST to have more off road tracks than the others. I've driven down trye tracks in the Big Desert NP that didn't appear on any maps that others travelling with me had but were shown on DAST. It confirmed that we were on a track of some sort and not just following another vehicle who was lost. Having said that i've just aqcuired heaps of digital maps off a mate that I am currently looking at using with the laptop and PDA.

Hi Trevor

Thanks for the info. I have tried downloading NATMAP files but have been unable to get them to open in Oziexplorer and I dont know what it is I am doing wrong???? May be you can give me a few pointers.

cheers dave