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I'm with a company that acquired the USGS Topo geoTIFFs and am in the process of converting them to KMZ files for use in Google Earth.

I am interested in converting them into other formats for different GPS devices, and am seeking advice as to the most popular file types and any available conversion software that you could recommend.

I have Global Mapper and Mapwel.

I am interested in what the most popular platforms are, any 'how-to's', etc.

Thanks in advance.

Well the most popular platforms are not going to let you do that, why would they?

Actually, if you have .kmz files they are already compatible with the Garmin Oregon, Colorado and Dakota GPS units. Last week Garmin introduced beta software which lets you display raster imagery on these models and I have been testing it. With Globalmapper it's trivial to create these in the correct format. It is limited to a maximum of 100 map tiles at 1024x1024 if you want full quality display of the map however. Here's an example of a USGS 24k topo on the Oregon.



See this thread for more info: http://forums.gpsreview.net/viewtopic.php?t=15841

Sure you can. Just like Boyd has shown here. However, it may take a lot of work depending on your skill level or software's capabilities.

You may be confused about what the OP was trying to do. He was not trying to use one vendor's map on another vendor's GPS. He was trying to create maps that can be used by one vendor or another vendor's GPS.

Traditionally the manufacturer is trying to create either a partnership with a specific vendor or trying to support their own products and this will be in the best interests of the manufacturer and/or vendor.

With regard mapping etc there is no such thing as a "standard" and just about all (real) mapping is still very propriety and still very aligned with third party vendors or the manufacturers own products.

Ultimately there should be a one standard mapping format that suits all but this is still some ways off until all manufacturers and vendors can agree on one standard. At the moment it is not in their own interests to really open up any system to a standard mapping format apart from de-facto version of GeoTiff's, JPG's, ECW's etc.

Now there is chance for manufacturers lets see them support ECW for instance, somehow I doubt it?

My Cartographer has been unable to convert his work to GPX. I have contacted Garmin and they were unable to help, except to refer me to this site. I have tried to add my information to Map Source maps but they are not nearly as good as those available here on paper. I cant tell if the example here is simply a zoomed in view? I think we need to use GPX so information can either be added or taken away, as one zooms in or out? I would also be willing to send our mapping to a firm that would be able to make it work.

I'd assume your "Cartographer's" work is a map, and GPX does NOT support maps. Here's the definition of GPX:

What is GPX?
GPX (the GPS Exchange Format) is a light-weight XML data format for the interchange of GPS data (waypoints, routes, and tracks) between applications and Web services on the Internet.

See more details here.

Bob