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Birdseye Imagery

C.sco
over 3 years ago

@AJR talked me into getting a Birdseye subscription, and so far I'm really enjoying it. The 280x280 resolution and, especially, the 8-bit color limitations certainly are noticeable, but the imagery has still proven to be pretty useful for me.

Since I wasn't able to find much online about how the imagery actually works on these watches, (and Garmin doesn't even *officially* recognize that Birdseye Imagery is supposed to work on their watches), I figured I'd post some screenshots for others to see what they can expect if they decide to give it a try.

Here's a walk I did near a city park (120ft map scale):

Here's a more rural Hike I did along a river (200ft map scale):

And just for fun, here's a photo of how the imagery on the watch looks in real life. This is Disneyland (50ft map scale):

Overall, I'd say it was a bargain of an upgrade for $29. And I'm impressed with how well the Fenix handles it, even though it really wasn't designed for it. Map still works great, it takes a little longer to zoom in and out but it doesn't seem to bog down the processor too badly, and I haven't noticed it affecting battery life at all. Is it as good as Google satellite imagery? No. But it's offline satellite imagery on a sports watch! And that's pretty neat I think Slight smile

I've loaded highest-resolution imagery of all the areas I normally hike in (a significant portion if the Sierra Nevadas and foothills), and it's only taking up about 4GB on the watch.

The process to make it all work is pretty simple. Just connect your watch to PC, open Basecamp and let it pull all the maps from your watch (can take an hour or more, maps are huge files), then buy a Birdseye subscription and make sure Basecamp is connected to your Garmin account. Open the Birdseye menu, highlight the area you want to download (it limits you to 75mb per download, or sometimes it lets you download up to 230mb per download), give it a name, check the option to sync it to the watch, and wait for it to download. Repeat for additional areas. Now in your activity's map settings, there will be an option to toggle Birdseye on or off. It seems to play nicely with the factory maps and my TalkyToaster and OSM maps, and automatically overlays all the map data on top of the imagery. I expected it to be a lot more complicated than that, but it really is pretty simple.

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    This is cool.  My subscription with my 64st just expired so I renewed with my F6.  I was allowed to copy over all of the previous downloads I made with my 64 subscription plus new downloads.  Resolution zoomed in is certainly not high def, but passible.  Certainly helps to pick out landmarks that aren't noticeable with Garmin or OSM maps.  

    Thanks for the hint

  • 0 over 3 years ago
    C.sco said:

    I figured I'd post some screenshots for others to see what they can expect if they decide to give it a try.

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    I've been using Birdseye for a couple of years now for hunting and for work.  Sometimes it's beneficial and other times it's useless. The downside depends on when the imagery was taken for some areas.  When I first subscribed, I downloaded maps of my neighborhood to test it out.  To this day, the image shows a truck in my driveway that I traded in back in 2009.  Oddly enough, it's the same exact image as Google Earth. I know this because both show the same solicitor walking down my driveway. Another area I hunt shows a clear cut on hillside that took place in 2016.  I downloaded an area of my brother's property back in Michigan to see the deer runs.  Unfortunately, that image was taken in the winter with barren trees and snow covered ground which did me no good.  So, the info provided by Birdseye is only good if the imagery is recent or if there haven't been any major changes. 

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Birdeyes

    Thanks for posting my video (above) Been using Birdseye maps for a few years now , since my Fenix 5X , it’s well worth the annual subscription, and has proved useful a number of times , I love the fact that you can overlay the maps on top of the imagery, my favourite combination is talkytoasters maps over Birdseye too

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    Great review... 

    I've been using Bird's-eye since the Fenix 5x launch.... Its on my 6x Sapphire now.

    Since the new satellite imagery updates...it looks not as nice on my watch.... but it used to look much better on the watch with the older imagery..... much sharper and crisp....80ft was a great zoom level.... now in my area its more like 300ft now. 

    I find the new imagery very blurry on the watch... and only viewable with larger objects, so I only use it for fun these days... But it looks great on your watch for your area... my area is very blurry on the watch.

    I am however getting into my own "map Theme's"

    all the best... 

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    Very cool, @AJR's post a few weeks back made me also look into. I'm gonna have to grab this mapping! sounds like a bargain for 29$

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Sam201176

    Does it make a difference on what resolution you download the images at? You seem to have a choice between low, medium and high.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Sam201176

    Just saw my name mentioned :) I'm so on-the-ball!

    Glad you guys are enjoying it! I find the imagery's most useful on trails where the non-satellite maps may be quite blank. It's quite useful to help you find unmarked paths as well. Sometimes seeing the extra detail can be a clincher when trying to work out where the route you planned actually goes!

     raises a good point that some of the imagery is dependent on when it was taken - but for my area it's quite current. It's easily tested as I live near a major road in Wales called the Heads of the Valley that has had major work and re-routing in recent years and the newest imagery is definitely quite current! I use it with a map for the UK with rights of way on it and it really helps me trail running in my area!

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Sam201176

    Sam - I know you live in the same rough area as me. What doesn't help is there's a few areas where there was some low lying cloud, and in one area (by Blaenavon) there's actually a plane trail overlaying the map!