How to load all the US Topo maps to your Garmin GPS

[SiliconFiend]

Greetings:

The combinemaps routine seems like it might work well for my eTrex HCx. I am using Garmin MapSource Topo version 6.15.11 and I want to combine all of the US basemaps in MapSource Topo. However, when I run the combinemaps program I get the following error message:

 

Clearing read only bit on c:\Garmin|USCombined\Temp\05617461.img

cgpsmapper 05617461.img

Error: cgpsmapper rc=-1

 

and the routine fails on the first image translation.

 

I’ve looked through the internet but I cannot seem to find a reference to this specific problem. Does anyone have a solution idea?

 

Thanks,

 

SW Idaho

It's been a while since I used the program, but a couple things come to mind. First, if the vertical bar that you show above is actually in the file name, that could cause problems. I'm guessing it's just a typo, though. Second, make sure cgpsmapper is on your path. Third, maybe try an older version of cgpsmapper?

[SWIdaho]

Greetings:

The combinemaps routine seems like it might work well for my eTrex HCx. I am using Garmin MapSource Topo version 6.15.11 and I want to combine all of the US basemaps in MapSource Topo. However, when I run the combinemaps program I get the following error message:

 

Clearing read only bit on c:\Garmin|USCombined\Temp\05617461.img

cgpsmapper 05617461.img

Error: cgpsmapper rc=-1

 

and the routine fails on the first image translation.

 

I’ve looked through the internet but I cannot seem to find a reference to this specific problem. Does anyone have a solution idea?

 

Thanks,

 

SW Idaho

It's been a while since I used the program, but a couple things come to mind. First, if the vertical bar that you show above is actually in the file name, that could cause problems. I'm guessing it's just a typo, though. Second, make sure cgpsmapper is on your path. Third, maybe try an older version of cgpsmapper?

 

Thanks for the reply. The vertical bar is a typo in my note. I checked the path and everything seems correct and I still get the error message.

 

SWIdaho

[pathensley]

I was able to use this technique on the 1999 US Topo maps as described, & now I'm trying to use it on Worldmap v4's 2153 maps, reducing it to 240 maps - so I spent hours making gdb's from 3x3 grids of the original maps, then ran the combinemaps script - but gpsmapper crashes w/error 1073741819, during poi info sorting. Sounds similar to the error discussed in this thread, but all the "useful" sounding links mentioned therein appear to be dead, so I can't figure out how to resolve my error.

 

If somebody has WM4 & wants to try my gdb's, here's my zip file.

 

Thanks!

Edited August 19, 2011 by pathensley

[maxgeopk]

Has anyone created working gdb files for the US TOPO 100k 2008 version? I'm not really good at this stuff and I want to transfer the whole map to my gps =/

[brian.r.hamilton]

I haven't taken the time to catch up on this thread but was notified of a recent reply. Seemed like a perfect opportunity to mention GPSFileDepot.com. You can download all kinds of great topo maps there for free & they are much better quality than Garmin IME - at least better than TOPO 2008 that I have. There is also a great transparent layer called MyTrails with tons of trails from all over the country. If you send the author GPX files of your local trails, he will add them & include them in the next version!

 

Also, I'm currently using an 8 GB micro SD card with the entire US & the trails layer on it with zero problems on my good old reliable & very accurate HCx.

Edited February 20, 2013 by brian.r.hamilton

[+Marcie/Eric]

I haven't taken the time to catch up on this thread but was notified of a recent reply. Seemed like a perfect opportunity to mention GPSFileDepot.com. You can download all kinds of great topo maps there for free & they are much better quality than Garmin IME - at least better than TOPO 2008 that I have. There is also a great transparent layer called MyTrails with tons of trails from all over the country. If you send the author GPX files of your local trails, he will add them & include them in the next version!

 

Also, I'm currently using an 8 GB micro SD card with the entire US & the trails layer on it with zero problems on my good old reliable & very accurate HCx.

 

I got a notification out of the blue too.. lol... I may have to check this out. ^

[brian.r.hamilton]

BTW, I do have all of the US topo maps on an 8 GB card, but using 2 img files (with only one loaded at a time - east & west US). Each img file is still subject to the 4 GB file size limit. There is no way around that as far as I know.

 

Also, the topo maps I use are at http://gpsfiledepot.com/maps/byuser/49. The trail data is at http://gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/53. There are lots of other maps, trails, GIS data, etc. at GPSFileDepot.com.

Edited March 6, 2013 by brian.r.hamilton