Laptop GPS World

What is the best Garmin streetmap to get for Canada?

Thanks

Garmin's latest CNNA NT 2009 has very good road detail in a majority of Canada. However MetroGuide Canada v4, though getting a bit long in the tooth, has better geographical representations in a lot of areas [edit: MetroGuide Canada v5 has been released]. If you are only concerned with navigating through built-up areas, I would go with CNNA NT 2009.

I have both with MapSource on my tablet. If you could tell us a particular area of interest, I will send a screen shot for comparison.

Terry

Canada is a pretty big country. What part(s) are you interested in?

In general, if your travel will be mainly in, and between, major population centres, Garmin's City Navigator North America 2009 (NT or non-NT, depending on your nav device) would be the best choice. That includes regions like southern Ontario, lower mainland BC, Edmonton-Calgary corridor and cities of some significance like Winnipeg, Halifax, Regina, Saskatoon, etc.

Garmin uses data from Navteq for the City Navigator North America product. Navteq has little interest in areas of lower population, especially in Canada, but it does a decent job of keeping the more populated areas up to date ... keeping in mind that nobody's map data is much better than three years old by the time it is checked, packaged and hits the market as a product.

If you are interested in more rural areas, Metroguide Canada is the better product. It's much better with small towns and villages, and streets and roads, out in the boonies. I use it in western Canada in rural Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta and the interior of BC. It also has far superior representation of geographic features like parks, lakes, rivers, etc. The geographic features are complete and accurately represented.

For Metroguide Canada, Garmin used data from DMTI Spatial, a Canadian company with superior map data for all parts of Canada. They also supplied the data for Garmin's Topo Canada maps. I have both and it looks like the geographic features in Metroguide Canada are lifted straight out of the Topo Canada data. If you turn off the elevation lines in Topo Canada it is impossible to see any difference in the geographic features between the two products until you get zoomed in far enough that you can start to see all the small creeks and little trails and fire roads and that sort of detail that you only get in Topo Canada. In fact when you get into the Rockies and zoom way in it's surprising how many of the forestry roads show up in Metroguide Canada.

Unfortunately, Garmin has decided to abandon the Metroguide Canada product at version 4. They still sell it but they have decided not to do any further updates. So if you need up to date urban information you will be disappointed.

I use both City Navigator North America and Metroguide Canada. I update City Navigator about every second version so my city information will be reasonably current. But I still use Metroguide Canada more often because I do a lot of travel in rural Sask and Alberta and in the Rockies.

Your best bet is to go to Garmin's site and look at both products using Garmin's online map viewer. Look at the areas that interest you in both products (you can open up two tabs or windows in your browser and open one product in each) and make up your own mind.

...ken...

Thanks for that, its main city street nav that I am looking for so will go with 2009.

What software or device are you using it with. One of the advantages of MG Canada v4 is the maps are not locked. CNNA NT 2009 will come with an key which must be associated with one device only (e.g. Garmin GPS).

Terry

Will be a Nuvi 760

If it is new, it will come with CNNA NT 2009 (assuming you are in North America). Or if it doesn't, you will be entitled to a free download of that product as soon as you register it. If you go for the download, make sure you have a fast internet connection. Its 2 gig.

If it is used, you can probably still get the download but you will have to pay to unlock it.

Terry

I have a recently purchased Garmin Nuvi 250w. I have been researching this specific topic for a few days now The Nuvi has CNNA NT 2009 installed. I too have been looking at Metroguide Canada to install. Unfortunately Metroguide is quite dated, maps and POIs. So I would only use it in certain circumstances. Mostly for when travelling through rural Ontario.
My question is this. I can load different maps into the Nuvi. I have the option in the maps set up area as to what maps I want to load. Can the two maps co exist at the same time? Can CNNA be the base map and Metroguide sit on top providing mapping details where NCCA lacks specific detail?
Thanks

You can add maps from MG Canada v4 or Topo Canada as both are not locked. From experience with Mobile PC, I think you will not be able to view those maps unless you turn off the main map. On my 200c it is under settings - Map - Map Info.

Terry

Attached Images

200cmap.jpg (35.9 KB, 12 views)

I had the TOPO Canada map given to me. I installed it. In the map settings I have both maps loaded. The TOPO map seems to get along with City Navigator. I can definitely see more details, such as stream and smaller trails. If I just load TOPO I see far more detail in regards to lakes and streams, small trails. But to two seem to co exist. I was just wondering if Metroguide and City navigator would do the same or if they would conflict with one another. I guess I can always send an email to Garmin to get a definitive answer. I was just wondering if anyone had tried this.
Thanks for the response.

They don't conflict. You can see from the screen capture that they are both active. I just can't say if you see any more detail.

Terry

I added Canada Topo for the local area and see no difference unless I disable CNNA NT 2009.

Terry

So I guess they will co exist without conflict. As far as more detail. I wonder in certain areas were City Nav is lacking, rural area etc. if Metroguid will pick up the slack.
In regards to seeing more detail with the TOPO. I had TOPO and City Nav both going today (about an hour North of Toronto, rural area.) There differently was more detail (not as much when TOPO is running by itself), But there were a few little streams that were not present when just running City Nav. It also depended on how zoomed in I was on the screen.

Yes, this 200c screen is so small that I couldn't say what I might see in a different area. I'll leave it active and keep an eye on it while driving.

Thanks

Terry

They will not conflict but they are not transparent. The reason you saw the extra detail of the little streams in CNNA is because you were zoomed in so tight. Some smaller features, especially geographic features, do not appear until you get zoomed in quite tight.

City Navigator North America NT 2009 will not allow other maps to display "through" it. If it's enabled it's what you will see. In order to see Topo Canada or Metroguide Canada you will have to disable (uncheck) CNNA NT2009.

Here's the order of precedence if you have CNNA, Metroguide Canada and Topo Canada maps all loaded. If all are enabled, only CNNA is going to display. When you disable CNNA, Metroguide Canada will display. In order to see Topo Canada you will need to disable both CNNA and Metroguide Canada. If anything else is enabled you will not see Topo Canada.

That's just the way it works unless you have maps that have been created as transparent overlays. None of the products we are discussing here are transparent. Only one product will display at a time, no matter how many are enabled and there is an order of preference as I described above.

You can test this easily. Find some really obvious feature(s) that is different between CNNA and Metroguide Canada. That might be something like a new road or subdivision that is in CNNA but not in Metroguide Canada. Make sure that the map segment for that area is included in the Metroguide Canada maps you transferred to Mobile PC. Start with both mapsets enabled. You should see the new feature(s) on the screen. This will be true no matter whether you zoom way in or not. You will not see the older version until you disable CNNA. Then you will see the older version of the area in Metroguide Canada.

And if you have the segments to cover the same area loaded from Topo Canada and have the display of elevation lines turned on, you will not see the elevation lines or any of the unique Topo Canada features for the area until you disable both CNNA and Metroguide Canada.

There is no conflict among them. The reason there is no conflict is because there is a preferential order among them for which mapset Mobile PC will display if more than one is enabled.

...ken...