Garmin Screen Examples
 
This is an example of the map screen on a GPSmap 76 with only the basemap enabled and six waypoints (the squares) installed in the receiver.  Mapsource Topo maps are also loaded into map memory but they are disabled (so they don't show).  "Simulator Mode" is in effect (no GPS satellites are being tracked - receiver section is OFF) so the accuracy and elevation values are meaningless.

The "Map Pointer" section is only shown when "pan" is in effect.  The arrow that is not filled in is the pointer and the coordinates given are the location of the pointer.  The bearing and distance between the current location and the pointer is also given.

The North arrow is shown because the display is set to "Track Up" instead of "North Up".

This shows an example of the map screen on a GPSmap 76 with Mapsource Topo maps loaded into map memory and enabled.  The basemap is not shown of course.

The waypoints that are shown above are not being shown on this image.  They are added back in the image below.  Note that a couple of waypoints are covering up the points of interest shown on the map.

The black triangle is indicating your current position when it has a position fix.  Since it is currently in "Simulator Mode", it is your simulated position.

Here's another example of the map screen on a GPSmap 76 with Mapsource Topo maps loaded into map memory and enabled and six waypoints installed in the receiver.

The waypoints are:
SIAMES-TWN, GRDNLA-JCN, PICNIC, TRADNG-PT, ROAD-JCN, and BALNCD-ROK

"Pan" is not in effect so the "Map Pointer" section is not shown and the "white" arrow is gone.

This is an example of the map screen on a GPSmap 76 with the basemap disabled (so it doesn't show) and six waypoints (the squares) installed in the receiver.  Mapsource Topo maps are loaded into map memory but they are also disabled (so they don't show). 
Here is an example of the map screen on a GPS 76 and eight waypoints (the squares) installed in the receiver.  The GPS 76 does not support "background" maps.

The North arrow is shown because the display is set to "Track Up" instead of "North Up".

The black triangle is indicating your current position when it has a position fix.  Since it is currently in "Simulator Mode", it is your simulated position.

This is an example of the map screen on a GPS 76 showing the "City Database".  This is not the optional "Points of Interest" Mapsource product with which you can download more detailed information - more than just cities.
The map screen on a GPS 76 showing the "City Database" but zoomed in closer than the above image.  The smaller towns are not shown in the example above to reduce clutter.  Use the map display options to set when an item type is not displayed.  Individual waypoints can be set to display or not.

The city and marine information database that was supplied with the GPS 76 was replaced with the worldwide city database (see the Venture database).  The world wide city database has smaller towns in it than the city and marine database, which replaces the smaller towns with nautical information.

The map screen on a GPS 76 showing the "City Database" but zoomed out.  They are all "large" cities.  "Medium Cities", "Small Cities", and "Small Towns" are not shown at this zoom level.
The map screen on a GPS 76 showing a route.  The eight waypoints (from above) are connected in the sequence that you would like to travel.  The images below show some of the information you can get when a route is activated (navigation started).

A route contains a fairly limited number of points so it may be a rather rough representation of the path to be traversed.

The active route screen on a GPS 76.  The arrow indicates next destination (waypoint).  Note the mileage to the points from your current location in the route.  Clicking on the arrows next to "Distance" will bring up other values.

GRDNLA = Garden Lane (road)
SIAMES-TWN = Siamese Twins (point of interest)
ROAD1 = generic road point created by mapsource

The route screen on a GPS 76.  This shows the route definition and you can modify and delete the route from this screen.
This is another example of the map screen on a GPS 76 showing a number of waypoints (the squares) and a track log (the dotted line).  This track log was recorded by the GPSR while the trail was walked.  It was transferred to the computer for storage and can be transferred back to a GPS receiver so that it can be used as a trail map as shown.

Some GPS receivers can not have a track log transferred to them by a computer and some computer programs can't transfer a track log to any GPS receiver.

A track log contains a much larger number of points than a route so it may be a rather good representation of the path traversed.

A route is fairly easy for people to create and was designed to be navigated.  The concept of a track was created to store where you traveled (a breadcrumb trail).  GPS receivers are starting to get the ability to navigate a track.  In Garmins, this is done by "saving" the track to a storage area.  A "TracBack®" can then be done.  With some receivers from other manufacturers you can backtrack the track log directly.   If a receiver is going to give you turn directions, distance to next point, ETE's and ETA's to next point, etc. the receiver has to decide where the next leg to be navigated is located by some sort of processing of the track log to find significant points.

A Garmin "saved track log" created from the track log shown above.  This can be navigated in either direction with the "TracBack®" function.  So it serves as a more detailed route (has more points) than a conventional "route" but doesn't have named waypoints that may give you additional information.  For instance you don't get the message "Turn Right at JC9".
The map screen on a GPS 76 showing the track log and the "saved track log" that was created from it.  You can see that some of the fine detail was lost but it's still a close approximation.  How much detail will be lost will vary depending on the original track.
 
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Copyright © 2003 Dan Anderson. All rights reserved.