Free Topo Maps for Garmin GPS

[+Red90]

with the file size becoming so large, perhaps you should start splitting this up, muh like the Mapsource Topo does. Have one file to actually install the product, then additional downloads for the image files (Southwest, South Central, Southeast, and North).

 

Torrenting it make the most sense.

[+ibycus]

with the file size becoming so large, perhaps you should start splitting this up, muh like the Mapsource Topo does. Have one file to actually install the product, then additional downloads for the image files (Southwest, South Central, Southeast, and North).

 

Torrenting it make the most sense.

 

Eventually I plan on setting up a bit torrent (have to figure out how first...).

 

The problem with a split download, is you'd still need all the pieces in order to install it. I could in theory set up a seperate installer for each area, but then they would appear as seperate 'products' within mapsource, it also becomes a pain in the butt to maintain.

 

In the meantime, I suggest a more direct form of file sharing. You are welcome to burn the installer to DVD and put it in a cache as a trade item.

[Mag Magician]

In recent PMs with ibycus, we have almost certainly determined that the version of Mapsource makes a difference in how his program functions. I was using V.2 of Mapsource and everything went dead on me when I installed. Now that I have upgraded to V.5 Topo Canada, all works well, and I find ibycus topos to be just so-o-o much better in detail.

 

Thanks for all the work you have put into this. It's great!

[+ve1bvd]

Hi...

 

First of all, I'd like to thank you for the wonderful job you have done/are doing.

 

However, after having downloaded section 011 (Nova Scotia), I find that there are some chunks missing. Is this a problem in my downloading, or something missing in the processing? If you have the time, perhaps you could send me a PM or e-mail to my profile address to let me know what to do now. There is one square in Cape Breton Island, one in Guysborough county on the Atlantic coast of the mainland near the Canso Strait, and a significantly large chunk at the SW end of the province--I can give you the deatils if you wish.

 

thanks again for your work.

 

cheers,

 

Phil/ve1bvd

[+ibycus]

The current coverage is

 

 

Is this the same coverage as you're seeing?

 

The missing tiles will eventually be filled in, are there any particular tiles you're interested in? If you like I can check why they aren't there.

[+ibycus]

There are three squares missing from 011 that I can see. 011D15, 011F14, and 011O10.

 

011D15 and 011O10 didn't compile due to the "TreSize" issue. No idea why 011F14 didn't compile.

[+ve1bvd]

I don't have a topo map at hand to give you the exact square I need, but it's the one on Cape Breton Island, if you can figure that out.

 

I'll respond again later when I can get to a map.

 

Thanks,

 

Phil/ve1bvd

[+ibycus]

I don't have a topo map at hand to give you the exact square I need, but it's the one on Cape Breton Island, if you can figure that out.

 

I'll respond again later when I can get to a map.

 

Thanks,

 

Phil/ve1bvd

 

From what I can see, Cape Breton Island covers a number of NTS grids.

 

011F09 Framboise - Should be there

 

011F10 St Peter's - Should be there

011F11 Port Hawkesbury - Should be there

011F13 Cape George - Should be there

011F14 Whycocomagh - Missing

011F15 Grand Narrows - Should be there

011F16 Mira River - Should be there

011G13 Louisbourg - Should be there

011J04 Glace Bay - Should be there

011K01 Sydney - Should be there

011K02 Baddeck - Should be there

011K03 Lake Ainslie - Should be there

011K04 Port Hood - Should be there

011K06 Margaree - Should be there

011K07 St Anns Harbour - Should be there

011K08 Bras d'Or - Should be there

011K09 Ingonish - Should be there

011K10 Chéticamp River - Should be there

011K11 Chéticamp - Should be there

011K15 Pleasant Bay - Should be there

011K16 Dingwall - Should be there

011N01 Cape North - Missing (don't know why, will check)

011N02 Cape St Lawrence - Missing (don't know why, will check)

 

** actually N01, and N02 should also be there.

Edited November 15, 2007 by ibycus

[stmlandplan]

I hope I've fond what I've been looking for here. I really want to be able to upload a USGS 1:24,000 quad sheet or other detailed topo (LIDAR or imilar) to my Gamin Astro 220 (Garmin CSX equivalent). Judging by the discussion on this topic I can see that I don't have either the time or skill to do this. I would like to start with a single USGS Quad sheet for the area around my home but from time to time I hope to upload a topo area for a project (ranging from 20 acres to 500 acres). Is someone able and willing to consult on this with me?

[+ibycus]

I hope I've fond what I've been looking for here. I really want to be able to upload a USGS 1:24,000 quad sheet or other detailed topo (LIDAR or imilar) to my Gamin Astro 220 (Garmin CSX equivalent). Judging by the discussion on this topic I can see that I don't have either the time or skill to do this. I would like to start with a single USGS Quad sheet for the area around my home but from time to time I hope to upload a topo area for a project (ranging from 20 acres to 500 acres). Is someone able and willing to consult on this with me?

 

In principle, its not that hard to do, but there are a couple of things which will make the project feasible.

 

First of all, do you have access to the data in a vector format? It's possible to generate contours from a DEM, but it adds a layer of complication to the process. BMP or JPGs make it much much much much much harder to generate a map from, and you're probably best to forget about it if thats the only data source you have.

 

Second, do you have access to the data in a format that is suitable for 'bulk' downloading. (i.e. FTP rather than some kind of java based interface).

 

Dale

[+Red90]

I hope I've fond what I've been looking for here. I really want to be able to upload a USGS 1:24,000 quad sheet or other detailed topo (LIDAR or imilar) to my Gamin Astro 220 (Garmin CSX equivalent). Judging by the discussion on this topic I can see that I don't have either the time or skill to do this. I would like to start with a single USGS Quad sheet for the area around my home but from time to time I hope to upload a topo area for a project (ranging from 20 acres to 500 acres). Is someone able and willing to consult on this with me?

 

See here: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...=155835&hl=

 

and

 

http://cypherman1.googlepages.com/Creating...hMapSetTool.pdf

 

Lots of detailed instructions specific to USA topo maps.

[+ve1bvd]

I don't have a topo map at hand to give you the exact square I need, but it's the one on Cape Breton Island, if you can figure that out.

 

I'll respond again later when I can get to a map.

 

Thanks,

 

Phil/ve1bvd

 

From what I can see, Cape Breton Island covers a number of NTS grids.

 

011F14 Whycocomagh - Missing

 

011N01 Cape North - Missing (don't know why, will check)

011N02 Cape St Lawrence - Missing (don't know why, will check)

 

** actually N01, and N02 should also be there.

 

OK, it is the Whycocomagh grid that's missing--N01 and N02 are indeed there. I don't get down to the SW part of the province very often, so that can wait; same applies to the bit of coast in Guysborough Co.

 

If it's possible to get the 011F14 up, I'd be grateful...

 

Cheers,

 

Phil/ve1bvd

[+ibycus]

 

OK, it is the Whycocomagh grid that's missing--N01 and N02 are indeed there. I don't get down to the SW part of the province very often, so that can wait; same applies to the bit of coast in Guysborough Co.

 

If it's possible to get the 011F14 up, I'd be grateful...

 

Cheers,

 

Phil/ve1bvd

 

011F14 has been successfully compiled. It will be included in the next version.

[+ve1bvd]

011F14 has been successfully compiled. It will be included in the next version.

 

Does that mean I have to d/l the whole 650+MB again? Your server is a bit slow...takes about 6 hours

 

I know that if I d/l from another server, I can do that in about an hour.

 

thanks for compiling 011F14.

 

Phil/ve1bvd

[+ibycus]

011F14 has been successfully compiled. It will be included in the next version.

 

Does that mean I have to d/l the whole 650+MB again? Your server is a bit slow...takes about 6 hours

 

I know that if I d/l from another server, I can do that in about an hour.

 

thanks for compiling 011F14.

 

Phil/ve1bvd

 

Depends on how smart you are. If it were me, I'd download the missing tile from mapcenter, and then recompile the preview map from the source image file, otherwise you will have to redownload the whole thing again.

 

If anyone would like to offer up some higher bandwidth space for me to mirror this on to, I'm certainly willing.

[+richsnake]

Does that mean I have to d/l the whole 650+MB again? Your server is a bit slow...takes about 6 hours

 

It took me only 50 minutes for the 1.2 gig version.

I was impressed how fast it downloaded.

[Defoucault]

Hi Ibycus I am back from the unsuccessful hunting season. I see that 032g09 and 032g10 did not compile???

 

Also is there a way to download say the province of Quebec without the installer and make my own installer?

 

I find it very long to select all those files at mapcenter for individual downloads.

 

I read the past post and realize your position for maintaining such a fragmented approach. What I was thinking would be a folder of those Quebec topos at Mapcenter or your server and just copy the new version to those folders and zip them. It could be a provincial approach contrary to Garmin's north and south approach to get us to buy all cd's

 

Or is there a way to select multiple files for download at mapcenter??????

[+ibycus]

Hi Ibycus I am back from the unsuccessful hunting season. I see that 032g09 and 032g10 did not compile???

 

Also is there a way to download say the province of Quebec without the installer and make my own installer?

 

I find it very long to select all those files at mapcenter for individual downloads.

 

I read the past post and realize your position for maintaining such a fragmented approach. What I was thinking would be a folder of those Quebec topos at Mapcenter or your server and just copy the new version to those folders and zip them. It could be a provincial approach contrary to Garmin's north and south approach to get us to buy all cd's

 

Or is there a way to select multiple files for download at mapcenter??????

 

Warning... Technical mumbo jumbo follows. May not be appropriate for all readers

I'm always needing to download multiple files from mapcenter (its how I get the tiles in the first place), so I've gotten pretty good at it. Lets see if I can walk you through the process.

 

The way I download multiple tiles from mapcenter is to script the download. I use a program called wget (available free as part of the cygwin project, if you have trouble finding it, PM me).

 

Basically what you do is create a file containing the names of all the URLs you want to download, and then type in wget -i filename.txt at the command prompt.

 

To create the file, you need to figure out which map ids you want. Mostly I've uploaded a given NTS grid all at once, so the IDs are continuous.

 

So, if I go to http://mapcenter.cgpsmapper.com/maplist.ph...n=032&cat=4 you can see that the map id for 032P16 is 6578 (hover over any of the links for it). 032A01 is 6324.

 

Next I go in to excel, and number a column with the appropriate mapids (6324-->6578)

In the column next to that, put in ="http://mapcenter.cgpsmapper.com/getmap.php?type=bin&id="&A1 and copy that down the column next to it.

 

Next cut and paste that column in to notepad, and save as a text file.

 

Go out to a command prompt, and run the wget command as stated above.

 

OK, that's step one. The problem is, the files that get downloaded are not given proper names (you get files out called "getmap.php?type=bin&id=6324", unzipping these can be a pita if you don't do it with a little finess.

 

So in the directory that you downloaded the files to, type "dir getmap* /b > move.bat", next open move.bat (right click on it, and hit edit), hit ctrl-A, ctrl-C (copy everything in the file to the clipboard)

 

Now that you've done that, go back to excel, paste the filenames.

 

In the second column type in

="move """&A1&""" "&mid(A1, 23, 4)&".zip" (note you may have to adjust the 23 a bit to get the mapid in the field).

Copy and paste this cell for all maps.

Select this column, copy to the clipboard, go back to the move.bat file, and select all in there (CTRL-A), and paste. Save, and run move.bat.

 

You should now have a directory full of files called ####.zip. I then use winzip command line interface to unzip them all (or I'm sure you can use any number of tools to unzip them, if you're looking for one, I'm pretty sure there's one available as part of cygwin).

 

***********************************************************************

end of technical mumbo jumbo. We now return you to your regularly scheduled forum banter

[Defoucault]

Hi Ibycus I am back from the unsuccessful hunting season. I see that 032g09 and 032g10 did not compile???

 

Also is there a way to download say the province of Quebec without the installer and make my own installer?

 

I find it very long to select all those files at mapcenter for individual downloads.

 

I read the past post and realize your position for maintaining such a fragmented approach. What I was thinking would be a folder of those Quebec topos at Mapcenter or your server and just copy the new version to those folders and zip them. It could be a provincial approach contrary to Garmin's north and south approach to get us to buy all cd's

 

Or is there a way to select multiple files for download at mapcenter??????

 

Warning... Technical mumbo jumbo follows. May not be appropriate for all readers

I'm always needing to download multiple files from mapcenter (its how I get the tiles in the first place), so I've gotten pretty good at it. Lets see if I can walk you through the process.

 

The way I download multiple tiles from mapcenter is to script the download. I use a program called wget (available free as part of the cygwin project, if you have trouble finding it, PM me).

 

Basically what you do is create a file containing the names of all the URLs you want to download, and then type in wget -i filename.txt at the command prompt.

 

To create the file, you need to figure out which map ids you want. Mostly I've uploaded a given NTS grid all at once, so the IDs are continuous.

 

So, if I go to http://mapcenter.cgpsmapper.com/maplist.ph...n=032&cat=4 you can see that the map id for 032P16 is 6578 (hover over any of the links for it). 032A01 is 6324.

 

Next I go in to excel, and number a column with the appropriate mapids (6324-->6578)

In the column next to that, put in ="http://mapcenter.cgpsmapper.com/getmap.php?type=bin&id="&A1 and copy that down the column next to it.

 

Next cut and paste that column in to notepad, and save as a text file.

 

Go out to a command prompt, and run the wget command as stated above.

 

OK, that's step one. The problem is, the files that get downloaded are not given proper names (you get files out called "getmap.php?type=bin&id=6324", unzipping these can be a pita if you don't do it with a little finess.

 

So in the directory that you downloaded the files to, type "dir getmap* /b > move.bat", next open move.bat (right click on it, and hit edit), hit ctrl-A, ctrl-C (copy everything in the file to the clipboard)

 

Now that you've done that, go back to excel, paste the filenames.

 

In the second column type in

="move """&A1&""" "&mid(A1, 23, 4)&".zip" (note you may have to adjust the 23 a bit to get the mapid in the field).

Copy and paste this cell for all maps.

Select this column, copy to the clipboard, go back to the move.bat file, and select all in there (CTRL-A), and paste. Save, and run move.bat.

 

You should now have a directory full of files called ####.zip. I then use winzip command line interface to unzip them all (or I'm sure you can use any number of tools to unzip them, if you're looking for one, I'm pretty sure there's one available as part of cygwin).

 

***********************************************************************

end of technical mumbo jumbo. We now return you to your regularly scheduled forum banter

OK I will give it a try Edited November 20, 2007 by Defoucault

[+richsnake]

Hi Ibycus,

 

I was wondering, how are your downloads going? Are there lots of people taking avantage of your maps?

[+ibycus]

Hi Ibycus,

 

I was wondering, how are your downloads going? Are there lots of people taking avantage of your maps?

 

Just checked my logs... In the last two months, there's been 200GB of transfer, so probably ~200 or so people have downloaded it.

 

Hard to tell though, as most people don't let me know how they are making out with them.

[QuigleyJones]

So how long do you think I'll be till you have all of canada done?

[+ibycus]

So how long do you think I'll be till you have all of canada done?

 

Don't know. At the moment, my focus is on improving the product as opposed to expanding coverage. (If there are any particular areas you or anyone else is interested in, let me know, and I'll see about processing them).

Right now I'm working on improving how 'toponyms' are processed. (Toponyms are basically most of the labels that are on the map). Anyways, I don''t if any of you have noticed, but things like citys aren't actually in as cities, they are in as labels. This is because in the source data file, there aren't enough distinguishing characteristics of a city for me to pick it out from any number of other entity types, so they all get in there are 'labels' rather than what they actually are.

What I'm doing now, is I've hooked in with another online database which contains more detailed type information for a number of the toponyms, which means I can discriminate between more entity types.

 

Another issue which I want to address is that many POIs are in multiple times. Sometimes this may be appropriate, but sometimes it isn't (like in the case of a city, or sometimes they are in twice, once in english, once in french).

 

Yet another thing I want to address is how to handle the new roads that are slowly being released on to geobase (some of the provinces are releasing roads with names). The new files include an extra database file which has some (although not all) of the names for the roads. Obviously including this would be nice (it shouldn't be hard, just not as straight forward as I'd hoped).

 

There is also the issue of what to do about 'missing' squares. These can be missing for three reasons:

 

1. Something silly happend, and the tile never got processed. This is obviously the easiest to fix.

2. The online compiler can't handle the tile. I don't think upping the TRESize is going to be a particularly useful way to deal with this problem. I've tried it for a number of squares, and its not working. I think the solution to this problem is going to be to grind through these tiles offline, but my computer isn't powerful enough to handle them (anyone got a really sweet computer they want to stress test?)

3. The tiles just don't exist in the source data. This is the issue with some of the 'strangeness' in northern Ontario. I'm guessing the tiles do exist at 1:250k scale, so I'll have to work out the best way to incorporate the lower resolution data to fill in the gaps.

 

And of course through all of this, I have to deal with final exams.

 

I'm guessing it will be at least a year before the whole process is finished.

[G_Manners]

And of course through all of this, I have to deal with final exams.

 

I'm guessing it will be at least a year before the whole process is finished.

And then you're gonna have to update it all again!!!!

 

Awesome work. I downloaded it (a while ago) It's a good supplement for my maps. I appreciate your efforts.

[canadarideforclimate]

Hi,

I just about fell over when I found your site.

.. Holy cow, this is Awsome!

 

As it's exactly what im looking for, as my plan is to be Tracking the Whole transCanada Trail along with the sujested alternates when cycling across canada (different type of bikes)

 

Showing the GPS Tracks, and routes, and waypoints .

(along with THIS topomap)

and have it available for free (as a download to XD card) (and a single XD card to show people) where people can copy the latest update. (a download update would ALWAYS be needed before use anyway)

Available at all the (tourist offices, bike shops, motels) across Canada.

The project would be supported by the local businesses (just as local area paper maps are available, sometimes showing where the TCT and bike routes are.. (but not most).

As this is helping out the local business (because they are listed, and used by so many people)

 

As this map is User Centric, as the points get updated (each type) using google maps. .. and the overall file shown on Google Earth.

Showing the Bike routes and trails all across the country, submitted by tonnes of people.

 

.. and showing the waypoints, listed on google maps.

Each category as a different folder (shown on google earth).

Where those points can be updated by the different users.. anyone to add info, and submit their updated info.

(A team of admins, would be needed to update the master file) (using google maps, collaberate it's possable)

Then these points can be loaded onto the awsome Ibycus Topo map. .. and made available for people to download.

 

(Answering the question about POI collaberations.. so it can include all users. ... (user-centric :-)

People can simply post their own route onto Everytrail.com (for the tracks), and basic waypoints (title only)

.. and post onto google maps more details. ..

and on POI-Factory, people can post their updates for each type of point)

 

..

Anyway I'm hoping that this projct will be usefull for everyone...

(I'm now struggling to figure out how to get this Topomap (along with my POI, and GPS tracks and routes. so it can be converted to an IMG file to be loaded to the GPS)

.. so for now i got is a bunch of tracks from other users, and routes. and a waypoints info (created by me and others) from each google maps file.

 

As imbedding them, lets you make many more categories than MapSource (which is why a google map) (and) POI-Factory file can be uploaded. .. and people can just keep on updating it from ONE master site. (what-ever is the best) ... are there others?

 

...

Still rattling my brain on this, thanks soo much!

 

Sam

 

P.S. More scatter-brained thinking and ideas on by blog (ride website)

http://virtualbikeride.blogspot.com

 

Edited November 29, 2007 by canadarideforclimate

[+Red90]

As it's exactly what im looking for, as my plan is to be Tracking the Whole transCanada Trail along with the sujested alternates when cycling across canada (different type of bikes)

 

Showing the GPS Tracks, and routes, and waypoints .

(along with THIS topomap)

and have it available for free (as a download to XD card) (and a single XD card to show people) where people can copy the latest update. (a download update would ALWAYS be needed before use anyway)

Available at all the (tourist offices, bike shops, motels) across Canada.

The project would be supported by the local businesses (just as local area paper maps are available,....

 

My suggestion is to make a single "transparent" map of the tracks and waypoints. This can then be used in conjunction with any mapping product. This is what I do for the Calgary area, http://www.calgarycachers.net/trailmaps/maps.htm It is relatively straightforward. If you need some help, PM me.

 

I would love to see data for the TCT available somewhere. I can't even find a printed map showing where it goes in our area. It seems very difficult to find information on the trail.

[+KFBradley]

I once emailed the TCT website and requested a KML file for the TCT. They did send it to me, and I converted it to a GDB Mapsource file. Unfortuneatly, the trails are very broken up, and I spent many hours merging pieces of the trail together before giving up months ago. If you want the kml file or my edited GDB file PM me and I'll send it to you. It would be great to get the GDB file completely together, or even just converting the KML to a Garmin map file.

[+ibycus]

I once emailed the TCT website and requested a KML file for the TCT. They did send it to me, and I converted it to a GDB Mapsource file. Unfortuneatly, the trails are very broken up, and I spent many hours merging pieces of the trail together before giving up months ago. If you want the kml file or my edited GDB file PM me and I'll send it to you. It would be great to get the GDB file completely together, or even just converting the KML to a Garmin map file.

 

I'd love to get a copy of this... Could you e-mail it to me? d a t k i n a t i b y c u s d o t c o m

[+Red90]

I once emailed the TCT website and requested a KML file for the TCT. They did send it to me, and I converted it to a GDB Mapsource file. Unfortuneatly, the trails are very broken up, and I spent many hours merging pieces of the trail together before giving up months ago. If you want the kml file or my edited GDB file PM me and I'll send it to you. It would be great to get the GDB file completely together, or even just converting the KML to a Garmin map file.

 

I'd be interested.

 

Looking at the TCT site, I see they do now have GPS derived trail data for section of the trail, so that would be great for a GPS based map.

 

I'm sure I could easily stick the thing together into a Garmin map.

[canadarideforclimate]

I once emailed the TCT website and requested a KML file for the TCT. They did send it to me, and I converted it to a GDB Mapsource file. Unfortuneatly, the trails are very broken up, and I spent many hours merging pieces of the trail together before giving up months ago. If you want the kml file or my edited GDB file PM me and I'll send it to you. It would be great to get the GDB file completely together, or even just converting the KML to a Garmin map file.

 

I'd be interested.

 

Looking at the TCT site, I see they do now have GPS derived trail data for section of the trail, so that would be great for a GPS based map.

 

I'm sure I could easily stick the thing together into a Garmin map.

 

Thanks

 

I too would be interested

I just send off a message to the person at TCT who might help.

(Im also asking about if they can geo-tag those TCT pavilions and Discovery pannels. (on Flickr.))

As it would be great if the trail was made available (as segments) onto google maps.

.. and posted onto EveryTrail.com and Bikely.com (as the un-official route).

With each segment.. I can gladly post it

 

And if you can send that to me.. along with those source files. I can add the route to google earth.

As there got to be a way to post it onto google maps.. (so when the official route changes, its streeming info for everyone to see and use)

 

As far as i can see google maps seems to be the best way to be editing the major points of interest

... (some of which are being used on this map?), as with google maps, others can edit the info. (where shops are, where bridges, tunnels, trail heads are).

.. and POI-Factory.com is a great place to store that info as well (and keeping that updated as more info is posted onto the google maps file)

 

What website is it that you get the POI data from?

 

Looks there's lots of people working on this

[+Red90]

I'm sure I could easily stick the thing together into a Garmin map.

 

I've got the data....and I've changed my mind. It is a pretty sad state. It really needs a lot of editing and would require people with local knowledge to figure out what is good or not. There are lots of roads shown and 1000s of tracks with only a few points. There are over 6000 separate tracks.

 

Beyond that, there are some good, useful long off road tracks that can work out OK.

 

It does provide me with quite a bit useful data for my map set, so I'll add the portions in this area as I can work out what needs editing properly.

[+tuzlo]

There's no topo info over cities?

 

Sure there is. Where are you looking?

 

How difficult is it to make one for 020, 021, 011. Im not looking to get all of the maps, just the ones that cover Nova Scotia. Unfortunately it crosses over 3 series of maps.

[+ibycus]

There's no topo info over cities?

 

Sure there is. Where are you looking?

 

How difficult is it to make one for 020, 021, 011. Im not looking to get all of the maps, just the ones that cover Nova Scotia. Unfortunately it crosses over 3 series of maps.

 

021 and 011 are already covered. There is a bit of a problem with 021 though, its missing roads. I've got a new version of that one ready to go though on my computer, just haven't got around to uploading it to the compiler site.

 

As far as spliting out those tiles from the rest of them, I'm not really in to that idea. Reason being is it adds a whole new dimention to the maintenance.

 

If you'd like to split it out yourself, I can give you some help with scripting the things you'll need to script.

[+ibycus]

I was just browsing through mapcenter, and I noticed a couple of tiles that I hadn't been successful in compiling that had been modified, and successfully compiled by someone else.

 

I think this is great. Sometimes I don't have the time to go through and fill in all the holes automatically, so if you've got a tile that is of particular interest to you, and you've got the skills to fix it (it really isn't hard in some cases...) by all means go ahead and do so. There are however a couple of things I would appreciate:

 

1. That the maps (assuming you haven't made heavy modifications to them) remain called the same thing (i.e. Ibycus Topo - Tilename)

2. That you publish them (if you do publish them) with the same useage restrictions as I published my original ones (i.e. non-commercial, personal use only). My main concern, is I don't want someone else making money off of my work. I don't think any one here would, but there have been cases of people taking maps from mapcenter, tweaking them slightly and then selling them. If the 'non-commercial/personal use only' thing isn't set, there is really nothing anyone can do to stop them.

3. Possibly most importantly, I'd appreciate it if you told me about it, and provided me either with an e-mailed version of the IMG file, or a link to the IMG. That way I can be sure to include your tile in the next release.

 

Oh, one more thing.... If anyone has a really sweet computer (read multi-cored) they'd like to lend me a few CPU hours on, I'd really appreciate it. Most of the missing tiles, I think are just a function of throwing enough CPU hours at it (probably a couple of days per tile, so you'd have to be willing to leave your PC running for a couple of days straight), unfortunately my PC isn't up to the task.

[canadarideforclimate]

I was just browsing through mapcenter, and I noticed a couple of tiles that I hadn't been successful in compiling that had been modified, and successfully compiled by someone else.

 

I think this is great. Sometimes I don't have the time to go through and fill in all the holes automatically, so if you've got a tile that is of particular interest to you, and you've got the skills to fix it (it really isn't hard in some cases...) by all means go ahead and do so. There are however a couple of things I would appreciate:

 

1. That the maps (assuming you haven't made heavy modifications to them) remain called the same thing (i.e. Ibycus Topo - Tilename)

2. That you publish them (if you do publish them) with the same useage restrictions as I published my original ones (i.e. non-commercial, personal use only). My main concern, is I don't want someone else making money off of my work. I don't think any one here would, but there have been cases of people taking maps from mapcenter, tweaking them slightly and then selling them. If the 'non-commercial/personal use only' thing isn't set, there is really nothing anyone can do to stop them.

3. Possibly most importantly, I'd appreciate it if you told me about it, and provided me either with an e-mailed version of the IMG file, or a link to the IMG. That way I can be sure to include your tile in the next release.

 

Oh, one more thing.... If anyone has a really sweet computer (read multi-cored) they'd like to lend me a few CPU hours on, I'd really appreciate it. Most of the missing tiles, I think are just a function of throwing enough CPU hours at it (probably a couple of days per tile, so you'd have to be willing to leave your PC running for a couple of days straight), unfortunately my PC isn't up to the task.

 

Hi, I've send you a message via regular email as i'd like feed back on it. .. I'll copy the message here if you like later.

Cheers,

Sam Vekemans

canadaride for climate at gmail dot com

PS Thanks Red90, i used your sugestion a while back and have my IMG file a separate page (that way when new updates are available i can just overright the file. ... this way it shows up as a layer. Awsome.

[+jimmay]

Oh, one more thing.... If anyone has a really sweet computer (read multi-cored) they'd like to lend me a few CPU hours on, I'd really appreciate it. Most of the missing tiles, I think are just a function of throwing enough CPU hours at it (probably a couple of days per tile, so you'd have to be willing to leave your PC running for a couple of days straight), unfortunately my PC isn't up to the task.

 

I have a 2GHz core2duo (macbook) with 2 gig of ram that may fit the bill. It has parallels installed with a winxp image and I could easily install a Linux distro as well. If this can be done as a distcc type effort I have a 1.8GHz coreduo iMac, and 1Ghz PIII (desktop), 866Mhz PIII (media server) and AMD 2200+ (desktop) Linux boxes also available to crunch some numbers.

 

Jim (j m a y at t e k s a v v y dot c o m)

[+Yorkshire]

Ibycus, Just another thanks for your efforts.

It really is a smooth installation into Mapsource 6.11.6

Love the "traditional" topo colours.

Thanks

[+ibycus]

Oh, one more thing.... If anyone has a really sweet computer (read multi-cored) they'd like to lend me a few CPU hours on, I'd really appreciate it. Most of the missing tiles, I think are just a function of throwing enough CPU hours at it (probably a couple of days per tile, so you'd have to be willing to leave your PC running for a couple of days straight), unfortunately my PC isn't up to the task.

 

I have a 2GHz core2duo (macbook) with 2 gig of ram that may fit the bill. It has parallels installed with a winxp image and I could easily install a Linux distro as well. If this can be done as a distcc type effort I have a 1.8GHz coreduo iMac, and 1Ghz PIII (desktop), 866Mhz PIII (media server) and AMD 2200+ (desktop) Linux boxes also available to crunch some numbers.

 

Here are the instructions I posted over in the Calgary Forum (http://forums.calgarycachers.net/viewtopic.php?t=2625&start=0). It seems that some of the tiles are processing relatively quickly, but more are pretty slow.

 

As people post which tiles they are working on, I'm moving them to the "in process" folder.

 

There is a linux version of cgpsmapper available from the cgpsmapper website. (I've never used it, so I can't comment on it)

 

The main thing, is the dual core issue. The program that needs to run is a *major* CPU hog, but it will only hog a single CPU/CPU Core (so if you need to do other things on the computer, it should still work, albeit possibly slightly slower if you're doing some major multitasking.)

 

I'm going to upload all of the tiles that need compiling to my website at

 

http://www.ibycus.com/ibycustopo/tiles

 

To compile these, you need three things:

1. You need to download a copy of cgpsmapper from http://www.cgpsmapper.com/download/FreeSetup.exe

 

2. You need one of the zip files... Pick one, and then post the name of the file here.

 

3. You'll probably also want to Download run.bat from http://www.ibycus.com/ibycustopo/tiles/RUN.BAT

 

What you need to do is, install cgpsmapper, download one of the tiles, unzip it, and then run "RUN.BAT" in the same directory.

 

When its done (a couple of days later), if you could e-mail me the generated IMG file at d a t k i n a t i b y c u s d o t c o m.

[+jimmay]

I have started on 092M05.zip.

[+JustAFan]

I am another newbie. I have had my Garmin etrex Vista HCx for a week now. I was pretty appalled to find that, after spending almost $300 for the unit, I was going to have to spend almost that much more for maps to make it usable.

 

Ibycus has bridged that gap. I have loaded the complete mapset on my unit more or less successfully. I have issues with missing tiles, but I think they are probably the same ones other people have already mentioned.

 

The whole process is not very intuitive, not because of the maps, but because Mapsource is just not so easy to figure out.

 

I have a wishlist item that I don't think I've seen here. I bought my GPS for outdoor adventures. I have begun geocaching, but also want to use it for fishing. Is there any chance that there is data available to add contour lines to lakes? It would be very convienient to have this included in your maps.

 

Lastly, I am (lke some other posters) very interested in having the ontario roads labelled. I would be a willing contributor to the purchase access to the data. I am certainly willing to contribute $20.

 

Thanks, Ibycus for all your work and dedication.

[+ibycus]

I have a wishlist item that I don't think I've seen here. I bought my GPS for outdoor adventures. I have begun geocaching, but also want to use it for fishing. Is there any chance that there is data available to add contour lines to lakes? It would be very convienient to have this included in your maps.

 

If you can find the data, I can include it. I've yet to find a good datasource for this. (I've got access to some 1:1,000,000 data, but that's really neither use nor ornament). Acceptable data format is just about anything (from a series of XYZs to shape file, to a digital elevation model etc).

 

If you've got a way to record the data yourself, I could even use that to generate the contours (which would obviously be restricted to the lake you collected the data in, and only as accurate as the data you collected).

 

Dale

[+KFBradley]

I thought this was mentioned in here somewhere, but after scanning through all 5 pages, I can't seem to find how to add an IMG file to the mapsource installation so that it appears in Mapsource with your maps. I copied the IMG file into the imgs folder of my ibycus maps install directory, but there's obviously something else I have to do?

[+ibycus]

I thought this was mentioned in here somewhere, but after scanning through all 5 pages, I can't seem to find how to add an IMG file to the mapsource installation so that it appears in Mapsource with your maps. I copied the IMG file into the imgs folder of my ibycus maps install directory, but there's obviously something else I have to do?

 

quote from the Quebec Forum

 

Just had a peek at the build log to 031H12 (The montreal tile), and to my surprise, another user has fixed up this tile for me. I'm in the process of downloading the updated montreal tile off, and it will be in the next version (if its not, please give me a good swift kick when I release it).

 

If you don't want to wait, and you're reasonably technically proficient, you should be able to update your own mapset with the following general proceedure:

 

1. Download the missing mapsheet - http://mapcenter.cgpsmapper.com/getmap.php...49&type=bin

2. Unzip this file to the directory you installed the other maps to. (c:\program files\topomaps\imgs is the default)

3. Come out to a DOS prompt, and do

cd c:\progra~1\topomaps\imgs

dir /b *.img > filelist.txt

open filelist.txt, and do a find and replace in something like word or whatever for .img^p and replace with .img^pimg= (where ^p stands in for the special paragraph mark character)

now you should have a bunch of lines that say something like img=########.img, you'll have to change the first and last entry to make everything consistent.

4. Download and install cgpsmapper free version(http://www.cgpsmapper.com/)

5. cut and paste the following in to wordpad/notepad

 

[Map] 
FileName=NTDBData 
MapVersion=120 
ProductCode=127 
Color=32 

Levels=2 
Level0=16 
Level1=14 

;Levels control the preview display, Level0 should match the BIT value for the 
;last (empty) level set in MapEdit, Level1 seems good if set lower by one. 


Zoom0=5 
Zoom1=6 

MapsourceName=Ibycus Topo 1.2-custom 
MapSetName=Ibycus Topo 
CDSetName=Ibycus Topo 
Copy1=Garmin 
Copy2=Stan 
[End-Map] 


[DICTIONARY] 
;No RGN10 elements on preview map 
Level0RGN10=000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 
Level1RGN10=000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 

;		   0			  1			   2			   3			   4			   5			   6 
;		   123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef0 

Level0RGN20=111111111110000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 
Level1RGN20=111111111100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 

Level0RGN40=111110000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 
Level1RGN40=111100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 

Level0RGN80=111111111111111111111100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 
Level1RGN80=111111111111111111111100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 
[END-DICTIONARY] 

; 
;IMG files to be included in new map-set 
;!!REMEMBER to fix the path to IMG file!! 
; 
[Files] 

[end-files] 

 

Between [Files] and [end-files], cut and paste your file list that you generated earlier. Save this file as topo_pv.txt to the imgs directory.

 

6. Next you have to actually generate the appropriate index files. Come out to a DOS prompt, type:

Code:

cd c:\progra~1\topomaps\imgs

c:\progra~1\cgpsmapper\cgpsmapper pvx topo_pv.txt

 

7. Finally, you have to put the index files in the right place (NTDBData.img, and NTDBData.tdb need to be in the c:\program files\topomaps\ directory... They will be created in the c:\program files\topomaps\imgs directory).

 

I'd do this myself, and upload a patch version, but I'm already working with a dataset somewhat different than the one you are, so it wouldn't work.

 

Note, you'll loose the underlay of the provincial outlines doing this. To put those on, you have to have them (I got them from Geobase) and you have to recompile the generated NTDBData.IMG with the underlay in there (probably want GPSMapedit to do that)

 

HTH,

 

Dale - aka Ibycus

[+Viajero Perdido]

Hi Ibycus. I just started following this thread; it's fascinating what you're doing. (I'm a cartophile at heart.)

 

Oh, one more thing.... If anyone has a really sweet computer (read multi-cored) they'd like to lend me a few CPU hours on, I'd really appreciate it.

I have a semi-sweet computer I could donate outright, if that interests you. IIRC, it's a 1.9GHz Pentium with 768MB or maybe 1GB or RAM, but no OS as I've already zeroed out the hard drive. No keyboard, but there's a 19" CRT as part of the package. If you're interested, PM me. I can even drop it off, as I'll be going through Calgary during the holidays.

 

Going back to the borrowed-cycles idea, which OS do you mean? I've got a newish 2-core AMD running Ubuntu (getting no exercise at all just doing email), but only 1 core in a Windows XP VM. Would either of those help?

[QuigleyJones]

Done 092 M04, email sent

starting 092 L10

[+Viajero Perdido]

Okay, I'll give it a whirl. Now compiling 092K06 and 092L15, one on each core...

 

Update: 092K06 done; took under half an hour (!)

Now compiling: 092L15, 092F04

 

Actually, that first one went so fast, sign me up for ALL the 07s (072, 073 and 074, eight in all).

 

Aaaaand... I'll take all 18 of the 052s too. (My machine is just ripping through the 07s!)

Edited December 15, 2007 by Viajero Perdido

[+cyberrat]

I just want to know when the new version release.. Thank's Great works!

[+Rebes]

Hi guys,

 

Do you know if it's possible to use these maps within Pathaway for Palm? This would be extremely helpful!

 

Thanks,

 

R

[+ibycus]

Hi guys,

 

Do you know if it's possible to use these maps within Pathaway for Palm? This would be extremely helpful!

 

Thanks,

 

R

 

I've never heard of Pathaway. Will it read Garmin IMG files?

 

Another option might be to download Garmin Mobile XT from Garmin's site (or the iQue for Palm Software). They will work with that.

[+ibycus]

I just want to know when the new version release.. Thank's Great works!

 

I've just uploaded my 'current' mapset to my FTP site. Theres no installer as of yet, but if you're anxious, you can use what is there to update your existing mapset. I would strongly suggest you start by downloading and installing the 1.2 version. Then you can follow these steps to update that version to 1.21.

 

There are still some bugs with this version that I haven't got around to working out.

 

Still missing roads in 021 (Sorry )

Still have some bad characters in the french names

Still haven't updated the Alberta Mapset to the latest (there are some old artifact of the early processing in the Alberta tiles)

 

I have however:

Expanded the coverage significantly Coverage image

 

And filled in a lot of the missing tiles (mostly thanks to the efforts of Viajero Perdido and Red90), most notable, the montreal tile is now there.

 

So... here's the instructions (those of you scared by this, I'll eventually get around to writing an installer that will do all this for you. I just haven't yet).

 

I'd suggest you do it using a program that allows you to resume incomplete downloads, and to synchronize directories (I like WinSCP available at http://winscp.net/eng/winscp406setup.exe)

 

Here are some step by step instructions to update your mapset from this datasource using WinSCP:

 

1. Open WinSCP

2. Hostname: ftp.ibycus.com

3. Username: anonymous@ibycus.com

4. Password: Your e-mail address (or make one up, I don't care)

5. Protocol: FTP

6. Hit "Save" (optional)

7. Login

8. In the left hand window, navigate to the mapset (\Program Files\Topomaps)

9. In the right hand window, open the "TopoMaps" Folder

10. Hit the "Synchronize" button on the toolbar(two blue arrows... looks kind of like the refresh button in IE)

11. Hit OK

12. Wait while it figures out what needs synching.

13. Accept the suggestions.

14 Wait.