Quick Start Guide
This guide is designed for people familiar with Google Earth, their GPS, and computers. If you are not familiar with all of these – please refer to the more detailed user manual that is also located on this DVD.
1) You will need to copy the contents of the DVD to your hard drive. This requires approx. 5 Gig of free space, and may take up to 20 minutes to complete.
Once the copy is finished, browse to your newly saved data. There will be the following 4 folders.
(Montana screen shots used for demo purposes)
Data Folders:
GOOGLE EARTH NATIONAL FOREST OVERLAYS
This folder contains all the available National Forest overlays for the state. This data will be used with the Google Earth program that is installed on your computer. For optimum performance, we recommend loading / using only a single National Forest overlay at a time.
GPS FILES
This folder also contains all the National Forest overlays, but the data is formatted such that is compatible with most mapping Garmin GPS units. To load these on your GPS, we recommend you get a SD or Micro SD media card for your GPS. You will need to create a folder on the media card. Name the folder Garmin. Within the Garmin folder, create another folder named CustomMaps. Browse to the GPS Files folder on your hard drive. Select the National Forest overlay of interest, and copy it to the CustomMaps folder on the media card. The card is now ready for your GPS, and the overlay will show up under your map list.
NOTE – Dependent on GPS settings, most GPS maps will be active at zoom levels < 5 miles
GOOGLE EARTH HUNT DISTRICT OVERLAYS
This folder contains files that will be used with the Google Earth program that is installed on your computer. They can be used alone, or in conjunction with any other Google Earth overlay. For example, you may be viewing the Gallatin National Forest overlay and want to see where the Deer / Elk hunt district boundaries fall within that forest. You would simply add the Deer / Elk hunt district overlay to Google Earth.
**** WE ALSO OFFER FREE DOWNLOADS OF STATE GAME MANAGEMENT UNITS FOR YOUR GPS ON OUR WEBSITE WWW.HUNTINGGPSMAPS.COM ****
GOOGLE EARTH LAND OWNERSHIP OVERLAY
This folder contains a file that shows major landholdings for the entire state. For example – USFS, BLM, STATE, INDIAN LANDS, USFWS, ETC. It is recommended to use this file alone, or only with the HUNT DISTRICT GOOGLE EARTH OVERLAYS. Using this file in combination with the GOOGLE EARTH NATIONAL FOREST OVERLAYS can be done, but older or slower computers may struggle with amount of data that is being loaded.
Google Earth Setup Tips
1) Keep loaded data to a minimum to increase performance
2) Under Tools – Options – 3DView – keep elevation exaggeration between 1.5 – 2.5
3) The transparency slider is the most useful tool within Google Earth for these files. Review the user manual if you are not familiar with it.
4) If a particular file does not load, or will not open; try restarting Google Earth