GarMax overview

GarMax is aimed primarily at glider and light aircraft pilots and is especially useful when flying cross country. It provides clear and precise details of controlled airspace boundaries as well as waypoint and airfield information.

The purpose of GarMax is to upload user selected airspace, waypoint and airfield data into Garmin GPS's that have a moving map facility. There are several airspace data files that are shipped with the software, these contain lists of UK class A, class D and airways airspace. The airfield and waypoint data files include :

1) 2006 BGA waypoint list for glider pilots

2) Worldwide waypoint lists for glider pilots

3) UK Airfields and Private airstrips

4) Lists of European airfields

Users only need a minimum of knowledge to get this software up and running. We have tried to keep it simple because it is software that is going to be used infrequently. The area most likely to cause "concern" for users is the setting up of their GPS - although this is quite straightforward and we have tried to explain the process clearly in the user guide.

GPS models supported

Garmin 38 Garmin 12xl
Garmin 45 Garmin II+
Garmin 89 Garmin III
Garmin 90 Garmin III pilot

Software requirements

IBM compatible PC
386 processor or higher, 2 MB of memory
Windows 95,98,NT,XP
3 MB of hard disk storage space

Other hardware requirements

Compatible PC download cable to connect a computer to the GPS.

Data and software updates

Airspace data and software updates ( which may include corrections ) will be made available during 2006

Airspace data supplied with GarMax

The airspace data is supplied in several different files. Airspace blocks from different files can be combined to build up any special airspace requirements a user may need - although the files that are supplied probably deal with 95% of users requirements.

The number of "pts" represents the number of GPS track log points required for each file.
"Southern" is all of southern UK up to and including Manchester
"Northern" is all of northern UK down to and including the Daventry CTA
- ALL_A All class A
- ALL_D All class D
- ALL_D_A All class D and class A
- NT_A_ALL Northern class A
- NT_D_A Northern class A and class D
- NT_D_ALL Northern class D
- ST_A_ALL Southern class A
- ST_D_A Southern class A and class D
- ST_D_ALL Southern class D
- DANGER All Danger Areas
- RESTRICT All Restricted/prohinited Areas
- DROPZONE All Parachute Drop Zones
 

Waypoint data supplied with GarMax

There are many master waypoint files included, which contain sets of waypoints from countries around the world. The most important one for glider pilots in the UK is :

- BGATP06 941 waypoints The 2006 BGA waypoint list for the UK
- AF_UK 244 UK Airfields with altitude AMSL and ICAO codes for licensed airfields where applicable
- AF_* European Airfields France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Holland etc.
- AF_STRIP Unverified Unlicensed private airstrips - only to be used with prior permission from the owner.