Garmin MetroGuide DVD ROM (USA)

With a map-download-compatible Garmin GPS, MetroGuide U.S.A. allows you to load map detail, addresses, business listings, and points of interest from any region in the continental United States, Alaska, and Hawaii. You can transfer MetroGuide U.S.A. data from a personal computer to your GPS unit or to a blank or preprogrammed data cartridge (compatible with StreetPilot III).

You'll see details such as the locations of restaurants, banks, gas stations, and tourist attractions, plus much more. In addition, you can use your GPS to look up street addresses and points of interest, then navigate to them with the help of onscreen arrows and street-level detail. You'll be able to drive to any city address in the large database using an electronic map that shows street-level detail.

Note on compatibility: The trip and waypoint management functions of this product work with nearly all Garmin GPS units, excluding the GPS 100 family and panel-mount aviation units. Specifically, the map download features of this product work with the eTrex Legend, eTrex Vista, eMap, GPS V, StreetPilot, StreetPilot ColorMap, StreetPilot III, and GPSMAP 76, 176, 182, 188, 232, 238, 295, 2006, and 2010.

Product Description
PERFECT FOR THE URBAN JUNGLE, MAPSOURCE METROGUIDE NORTH AMERICA V7 DVD OFFERS SIMILAR COVERAGE AS CITY NAVIGATOR, INCLUDING DETAILED MAPS THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES, CANADA AND PUERTO RICO AND NOW WITH VERIFIED COVERAGE FOR ALASKA. METROGUIDE OFFERS AUTOMATIC ROUTE CAPABILITY ON THE PC, AND IS COMPATIBLE WITH GARMIN UNITS THAT DO NOT HAVE AUTOMATIC ROUTE CALCULATION THEMSELVES. BEST OF ALL, THIS PRODUCT IS FULLY UNLOCKED! SEE THE PRODUCT COMPATIBILITY TABLE (RIGHT) FOR A LIST OF PRODUCTS THAT GARMIN RECOMMENDS WITH THIS SOFTWARE. FEATURES INCLUDE: MAPS CONTAIN FULL COVERAGE THROUGHOUT THE U.S., CANADA AND PUERTO RICO, INCLUDING METROPOLITAN AND RURAL COVERAGE NOW WITH VERIFIED COVERAGE FOR ALASKA INCLUDES DETAILED MAPS CONTAINING HIGHWAYS, INTERSTATES, BUSINESS AND RESIDENTIAL ROADS WITH ATTRIBUTES SUCH AS TURN RESTRICTIONS, SPEED CATEGORIES AND OTHER NAVIGATION FEATURES NEARLY 6 MILLION POINTS OF INTEREST SUCH AS: FOOD AND DRINK LODGING ATTRACTIONS ENTERTAINMENT SHOPPING EMERGENCY SERVICES POST OFFICES CAMP GROUNDS MOVIE THEATERS AND MORE WILL AUTOMATICALLY CREATE POINT-TO-POINT ROUTES IN MAPSOURCE ON THE PC SUPPLEMENTAL COVERAGE OF HAWAII PROVIDED USING UNVERIFIED GOVERNMENTAL SOURCES TRIP AND WAYPOINT MANAGEMENT FEATURE LETS YOU TRANSFER WAYPOINTS, ROUTES AND TRACKS BETWEEN YOUR GARMIN GPS AND YOUR PC** **THESE FUNCTIONS OF THIS PRODUCT WORK WI

Also, MetroGuide v5 can only be used to create routes on a PC. You cannot use its maps to create routes on a StreetPilot or other GPS that does its own routes. You can use the City Select CDs to do this.

Finally, if you're wondering what the difference between this and Roads & Recreation, that is intended for older and low memory (1MB or less) units. If you have 8MB or more, get MetroGuide.


Stop! Get the new version five!   April 17, 2003
 27 out of 35 found this review helpful

Version five is out, just ordered and got version four -- ouch!


It'd be nice if the maps were updated in the near future.   March 15, 2003
 19 out of 21 found this review helpful

I got this for my eTrex Legend. Like the other reviewers have said, the maps are pretty badly out of date. If you're in a relatively new area, don't expect this CD to have any streets listed.

If you are navigating in an established area that's been around for more than three or four years, you'll find the maps to be pretty helpful. They are very detailed, and I've found that even if a restaurant isn't properly located on the map, the marker is usually within walking distance of where it should be. Note though, that because this map data is rapidly aging, a lot of these restaurants have gone out of business and no longer exist.

I live in Los Angeles, and the area is so big that Garmin split it up into two maps on this CD. One covers just about everything west of the 710 freeway, and another covers everything from the 710 east out to Palm Desert and Orange County. The problem is that these two maps are like 7 megs EACH.

If you live in the Los Angeles area and require full coverage, the 8 MB of the eTrex Legend just isn't enough to hold it all at once. That's not a big deal for me, but it would have been nice to know that beforehand.

If you have a need for coverage of the entire LA/OC area, you'd be much better off with an eTrex Vista which has 24 megs of memory (and costs more than twice as much as the Legend!)


Works Great on My Garmin   February 1, 2003
 7 out of 7 found this review helpful

Much has been written in these Amazon.com reviews about the problems with this product. And, I find it hard to disagree with much of what has been said. However, when I load it into my GPS Map 76S it is a beautiful thing. It looks better on the GPS than on the computer. I also like the ability to build, and save, routes on my computer and then load them in the GPS as needed. It is much easier to use a full computer screen and a mouse to click the waypoints, rather than using the much smaller GPS screen and controls. Probably my biggest gripe is the pre-defined areas that can be loaded to the GPS. One corner of New York City is on the New Jersey map. So to get the as small part of the western side of the Island of Matthatten, you have to use valuable memory loading the top half of New Jersey. MapSource is not as nice a map as my DeLorme, which I use all the time on my computer. However, this is the only game in town for use with the Garmin GPS. If you want a map to use on your computer get DeLorme or the Microsoft product, both of which are cheaper that MapSource. If you have a Garmin GPS this is a product, despite some flaws, does work very well.