• The $29.99 subscriptions will be available starting this March
• Imagery will include “0.5 meter per pixel resolution in many areas of the United States”
• There is no mention of world-wide imagery in today’s news release, though it was mentioned on the Garmin BirdsEye imagery product page last week, which is unavailable right now
• Another BirdsEye web page has been announced, though it too is currently unavailable
• Image packets will be delivered in multiple resolution levels to avoid pixilation when zooming
• In response to a question, a Garmin PR contact told me “we have nothing to announce re: USGS maps at this time”; my take on that – it’s coming!
• The full news release is pasted below:

Garmin International Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), the global leader in satellite navigation, announced today that it will begin offering BirdsEye Satellite and Aerial Imagery, an annual subscription service that gives users the option of loading highly-detailed photo-based maps to select Garmin handheld navigators.

“Without a doubt, BirdsEye Satellite Imagery reinforces Garmin as the leader in outdoor cartography,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin’s vice president of worldwide sales.  “Whatever the occasion, outdoor explorers can find the ideal Garmin handheld and accompanying maps to complement their specific requirements.”

BirdsEye Imagery is raster-based, meaning it is compiled using actual aerial photos and images that are scanned, geo-referenced and overlaid onto the handheld GPS receiver’s display.  Unlike vector cartography, the resulting images depict actual buildings, vehicles, roads, trails, and land features found nearby – giving explorers a unique understanding of their surroundings.

The images are among the most highly-detailed available – offering 0.5 meter per pixel resolution in many areas of the United States.  Users can also view imagery at every zoom level – from 12 miles to 20 feet – unlike other offerings that force users to stay at pre-determined zoom levels.  BirdsEye Satellite Imagery also lets users overlay vector maps, to get a better idea of terrain contours and points of interest.  The data is collected by DigitalGlobe, a leading global provider of commercial high-resolution world-imagery products and services.

“With today’s innovations in geospatial technology, having a true sense of ‘place’ is no longer a guessing game but a reality,” said Jill Smith, chairman and chief executive officer of DigitalGlobe. “Our industry-leading satellite constellation and aerial network allow us to collect the most current imagery that, when combined with Garmin’s devices, offers users an accurate picture of their environment wherever they are. We are excited about the possibilities that this opens up for users.”

In practice, BirdsEye Satellite Imagery can help make time afield more productive and enjoyable.  Hunters can easily identify potential tree stand locations, draws, and natural game funnels.  Hikers can quickly locate trailheads, campsites, and scenic vistas.  Geocachers can better assess terrain difficulty and parking areas close to caches.  Even tourists and travelers can navigate amusement parks or historical battlefields like never before.

This imagery can be displayed on Garmin’s Oregon®, Dakota™, and Colorado® series of outdoor navigators.  An annual subscription is $29.99, and it allows the user to unlimited downloads for a single Garmin device.  Customers use Garmin’s free BaseCamp™ application (www.garmin.com/basecamp) for the PC or Mac to quickly load and easily manage BirdsEye data.  For armchair trip planning and review, subscribers can view the same BirdsEye imagery on their PC or Mac when their applicable device is connected.

BirdsEye Imagery is only the latest cartographic advancement from Garmin.  In addition, Garmin Custom Maps is a free and simple utility that transforms paper and electronic maps into customized downloadable maps for Oregon, Dakota, or Colorado handhelds.  The power of Custom Maps is exemplified through paper and digital maps labeled for specific events and purposes, such as a college graduation invitation that lists campus buildings; a roadmap of a parade, marathon, 5K or bike race; a park pamphlet showing trailheads; land-management maps of wildlife and game areas; or a historic illustration of an area as it once stood.  For more information, visit www.garmin.com/CustomMaps.

BirdsEye Satellite and Aerial Imagery will be available in March 2010.  For more information, visit www.garmin.com/birdseyesatimagery.

G-Raster

Created by Lester Pawlowicz of Free Geography Tools, G-Raster allows you to create maps from imagery freely available online. The following formats are supported:

• GeoTIFF
• MrSID
• NOAA BSB (.kap)
• ERDAS (.img)
• USA PhotoMaps Big JPEG
• UTM world file images
• World file images for other coordinate systems

TopoFusion

One of my favorite mapping programs, TopoFusion, has a new beta for registered Pro users, that allows for easy export of any of the imagery you can view in TopoFusion. This includes:

• USGS topos (to 2 meters/pixel)
• Landsat (to 15 meters/pixel)
• Color aerial (to < 1 meter/pixel)
• B/W aerials (DOQQ; to 1 meter/pixel)
• Urban aerials (to 0.25 meter/pixel)
• Australian topos (about 6 meters/pixel)
• Canadian topos (about 6 meters/pixel)

A cautionary tale

This past weekend I loaded a large .kmz file to my Oregon 400t and bricked it. I was able to recover it using this technique (the second one) posted by GPS Fix. So remember, the Garmin firmware release is a beta. Leszek suggests loading .kmz custom maps to a micro-SD card; that way you can just pull the card if anything goes wrong. Sage advice, indeed!