Suggestions for a mapping program

[jeephobby]

I'm starting to finally use my GPS for something more important than geocaching - Jeep trail tracking! As a test, I took my GPS along with me for my ride into work and had tracking turned on. I then used the DNR Garmin program to download the waypoints and tracks to my PC. I saved the output in several formats such as shape files, Google Earth, etc...

I imported the results to Google Earth and while interesting, the trails that I plan to run are in a low quality section so they won't look good. I also downloaded the Fugawi program and couldn't get it to be much more accurate than showing the United States map. So, which mapping program is everybody using? Garmin, of course, offers many, but they all have a hefty price tag. Plus, Garmin doesn't let you do trialware and I have a little trouble shelling out over $100 without knowing what I'm getting.

So, SSL, I've been thinking about this for a while. Thanks for any suggestions.
Dale

[victorymike]

For detailed trail maps I use National Geographic Topo maps. Although you can't load them into your GPS they are much higher detail than the Garmin MapSource Topo maps. I have used them to place geocaches deep in the woods away from oil pipelines, powerlines, etc...to prohibit any cheating...maximum hike-age. You can download your tracks into the software from your GPS and it works really well! 1:50,000...twice as detailed as Garmin Topo's 1:100,000.

[jeephobby]

The price seems reasonable for NatGeo Topo, too bad they don't do a trialware version so you can see what you get. Did you have any troubles uploading your tracks/waypoints to Topo from your GPS? That's primarily what I'm interested in.

[victorymike]

Transferring tracks and waypoints is as simple and straightforward as it is in Garmin's MapSource. Just a few obvious mouse clicks. Something like "Transfer", "Receive from GPS", "Tracks" done (program isn't sitting in front of me right now but that is how I remember it).