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Hello All! I just bought a Garmin Etrex Legend GPS and a Palm Pilot Zire 31 PDA. I use Cachemate to transfer files to my PDA. I use Easy GPS for the GPS unit. I would like to be able to send a map of each cache location to my PDA so I know which streets to take to get there. So far no one has been able to help me. I tried Google Earth and I did numerous searches on the net. Is there a way to convert bitmap images to Palm Pilot format? Please help me! Thanks to All! Mighty McKs
I played around with this once (actually on my Palm Tungsten E2, but the Zire 31 should be the same concept). You need to convert the image file (you say bitmap) to a JPG image file. Then open up your Palm sync-ing software on your desktop computer and drag the JPG file(s) into the software. Now sync your Palm … wait for the big files to sync over. Then use the Palm’s Photo Viewing software to view the JPG files.
I only did this a couple times, as I found it much work and somewhat slow (due to the size of the JPG files to sync). It would almost be easier to just print off the maps (sorry). Keep in mind the JPGs are fairly large you will only fit so many in your Palm, unless you have a memory card too.
The solution I went with is purchasing Street Atlas USA for my Palm (http://www.delorme.com/) … with that software you can put in any coordinates and it shows you a map of that area … you could even have it plot a route to that location for you. It will not show the cache symbol on it, but you have active maps that you can zoom in and out of. You could even buy the “Earthmate” package that includes a GPS receiver module that plugs into your Palm and the Street Atlas USA software.
I should add one more comment on your idea … part of the problem is this:
It’s a “static” (unchanging) PICTURE from a map … so if you are zoomed in far enough to read the name of the cache and the names of the streets, you will likely be zoomed in too far to get enough reference points from surrounding streets.
The advantage of Street Atlas software (or equivilent) on a Palm, or for that matter a mapping GPS receiver, is that when you zoom out the text (cache name or street names) re-size to still be readable. But again if you zoom out on a JPG image on a Palm the letters get tiny and blurry.
The size limitation on a Palm (or other PDA) screen makes it not possible to see a large area of a map and still read text. Mapping software on the otherhand is designed to deal with this.
Get a hold of the detailed maps to load onto your GPSr. Mapsource Roads & Rec will give you the most bang for the buck. The 8MB of memory in your Legend should get you almost the entire state of Wisconsin.
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