Jump to content

Free Maps for Garmin GPS


ibycus

Recommended Posts

I've just updated my mapset with Montana. I'd be curious to know how this data compares. (I asusme you have some kind of mapset based on your data already).

 

There is definitely some stuff in yours that isn't in mine.

 

Actually the Montana Mapset at www.miscjunk.org (IndyJpr) contains the Tiger2000 road data. Its the exact same data that Garmin uses for thier Topo2008 maps which we all know is not the most accurate BUT it does contain a considerable amount of off-pavement data (forest roads, trails etc.). For Montana there is a Transportation GDB that is SUPER accurate and contains alot of off pavement data but its spotty as far as statewide coverage. You can find that data on NRIS and its called Montana Transportation Framework Data.

 

What I DID do was to make a transparent map with this data to plop over the awesome Topo maps from IndyJpr. This allows me to cross reference TWO road data layers at the same time. I generated a TYP file to color the roads pitch black (on the Colorado series this shows up nice) and to make them two pixls wide. The light grey roads in the Colorado under the thinner more contrasty black roads of my transportation road layer make disinguishing the two layers very easy. You would think it would be confusing to have TWO road layers showing, but its all in the width and color.

 

The transportation framework road data for Montana is way more accurate than the Tiger2000 data but like I said before the Trans Frmwk data is spotty. The Trans Frmwk data is almost identical in accuracy to the City Navigator 2008 roads but is way more inclusive. There may be a way to hybridize the data (trans. frmwk. AND Tiger2000) either by batch or one road at a time. That would truly be the cats meow. I don't know how to batch process something like that or if there is even a way to do it. Try downloading the Tiger 2000 data and the Transportation Framework Data and play around. There may be a way.

Link to comment

The reason was I wasn't scaling back my contour interval sufficiently in steeper areas.

I am still thinking about how best to handle that. Steep areas might generate crossing contours while in the 'flat' areas next to them there will be less than 1 contour per mile (using a 20' contour interval).

 

I am not confident enough to edit the registry, but your list and .img download works well. Thanks.

 

I have been downloading the BNDT and Census data using MS IE 'copy to folder' on a 4 year old computer running XP.

Link to comment

I just downloaded and executed the Montana update. Going to the Sun road, thru Glacier National Park, still shows the road only on the east side of Logan Pass.

 

Otherwise, that's a great map! Thank you!

Post that error in this thread: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=187709

 

This isn't indyjpr's thread.

 

Although I did just release a Montana update.

 

Wondering, what age does this imply for the data?

Link to comment

You guys should know that OpenStreetMap (www.openstreetmap.org) has been seeded with TIGER data and is actively being improved (and you can help!). There is a utility (mkgmap) which can take an OSM data file and convert it directly to a Garmin IMG file (skipping cGPSMapper). Not routable, but that's my project, in the works.

Link to comment

You guys should know that OpenStreetMap (www.openstreetmap.org) has been seeded with TIGER data and is actively being improved (and you can help!). There is a utility (mkgmap) which can take an OSM data file and convert it directly to a Garmin IMG file (skipping cGPSMapper). Not routable, but that's my project, in the works.

 

What version of the Tiger data has it been seeded with? It sounds like much of this data has been significantly updated in the lastest version. How do they compare? Is there a way to take the data 'in bulk' and transfer it? (i.e. would it be possible to download the entire country? Load in to Mapsource? etc?

 

So are you bypassing cgpsmapper all together (i.e. compiling yourself?) or are you using cgpsmapper on the back end?

I started trying to write my own IMG interpreter as a prelude to a compiler, using a format description I found on sourceforge. I got fairly far with it... not to the point where I was actually plotting anything mind you, but it was pretty close. Then I found out that the format description I had wasn't totally accurate, and I never got around to finding where the differences were (for starters, my routines would only read IMGs compiled by older versions of cgpsmapper).

 

Dale

Link to comment

You guys should know that OpenStreetMap (www.openstreetmap.org) has been seeded with TIGER data and is actively being improved (and you can help!). There is a utility (mkgmap) which can take an OSM data file and convert it directly to a Garmin IMG file (skipping cGPSMapper). Not routable, but that's my project, in the works.

 

I've been slowly adding trails and correcting roads on openstreetmaps in my area. Last week I finally tried loading these maps to my garmin, it was awesome out hiking and having all my trails on the maps. I already have auto-routing with my garmin maps so I just used my older small microSD card for the openstreetmaps map data so I can just switch cards if needed.

Link to comment

Does OSM contain all the data about the size of the road (interstate, highway, arterial, etc)?

 

I assume you know about these codes right?

 

S1100 Primary Road

S1200 Secondary Road

S1400 Local Neighborhood Road, Rural Road, City Street

S1500 Vehicular Trail (4WD)

S1630 Ramp

S1640 Service Drive usually along a limited access highway

S1710 Walkway/Pedestrian Trail

S1720 Stairway

S1730 Alley

S1740 Private Road for service vehicles (logging, oil fields, ranches, etc.)

S1750 Internal U.S. Census Bureau use

S1780 Parking Lot Road

S1820 Bike Path or Trail

S1830 Bridle Path

S2000 Road Median

 

That, along with looking for words like US Hwy or Interstate Hwy should give you fine enough control over road type.

 

Dale

Link to comment

Those are some, but ya see, the issue is for example:

In arizona we have Hwy, State Route, County Route, Indian Route, Loop, Bypass, Interstate and I'm sure there are others. The data I used had the codes.

 

I wonder if thats in one of the myriad of other DBFs that come with the data. I haven't really had a proper look through them yet, but there seems to be quite a bit of supplemental information.

 

Can't you use the codes it gives you as a first pass, and then refine with the contents of the text as needed?

 

Dale

Link to comment

Does OSM contain all the data about the size of the road (interstate, highway, arterial, etc)?

Yes, absolutely, but it uses UK conventions such as "motorway", "trunk", "primary", "secondary", "tertiary", "unclassified". There's some discussion on the OSM Wiki as to how those should map to US highways, but in general it's done how you would expect. There's this page on the Wiki, but I think not all of those tags were implemented.

Link to comment

You guys should know that OpenStreetMap (www.openstreetmap.org) has been seeded with TIGER data and is actively being improved (and you can help!). There is a utility (mkgmap) which can take an OSM data file and convert it directly to a Garmin IMG file (skipping cGPSMapper). Not routable, but that's my project, in the works.

 

What version of the Tiger data has it been seeded with? It sounds like much of this data has been significantly updated in the lastest version. How do they compare? Is there a way to take the data 'in bulk' and transfer it? (i.e. would it be possible to download the entire country? Load in to Mapsource? etc?

I'm pretty sure it was TIGER 2005 (not sure if it was the first or second 2005). The Tiger Line IDs were preserved, so it may be possible to update them later if there's better data. It's possible to download the entire country--you can download the entire OSM planet if you want. However, you'll have to chop up the file to feed manageable chunks into mkgmap. A Java utility named Osmosis is handy for that. I don't know about getting the resulting maps into Mapsource; it's probably just a matter of setting up the infrastructure to create a nice packaged version such as you have created.

So are you bypassing cgpsmapper all together (i.e. compiling yourself?) or are you using cgpsmapper on the back end?

I'm not the author of mkgmap, nor am I involved with its development. It is skipping cGPSMapper, though, and writing the IMG directly. The Wiki page is here. My routable map project will have to use cGPSMapper for now, though, until someone else decodes the routing IMG format and makes it open source.

I started trying to write my own IMG interpreter as a prelude to a compiler, using a format description I found on sourceforge. I got fairly far with it... not to the point where I was actually plotting anything mind you, but it was pretty close. Then I found out that the format description I had wasn't totally accurate, and I never got around to finding where the differences were (for starters, my routines would only read IMGs compiled by older versions of cgpsmapper).

 

Dale

You can check out the source of mkgmap if you'd like. It's referenced on the Wiki page I linked above.

Link to comment

New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, since I live close to what is considered the "Tri-State" area where these three states all meet.

 

Do your maps show county boarders once installed on the Garmin units? That is one option I wish they (still) had, since one of their first map sets did do that.

Link to comment
Not routable, but that's my project, in the works.
What is the essence of routing?

 

Is it taking every road segment, intersection to intersection, and assigning a road type "value"? Then the routing algorithm picks a route based on the rules you've selected? Or different?

 

Thanks

Link to comment

I just downloaded and executed the Montana update. Going to the Sun road, thru Glacier National Park, still shows the road only on the east side of Logan Pass.

 

Otherwise, that's a great map! Thank you!

 

I checked the Census data for Flathead county. Going to the Sun highway is code S1400 (Local/rural road or city street) and not as S1200 secondary road (highway). Flathead county has undergone realignment so the locations should be right on. Just an error in coding by Census and/or the contractor. I am sure there are many more in the data set - always is.

Link to comment

I just downloaded and executed the Montana update. Going to the Sun road, thru Glacier National Park, still shows the road only on the east side of Logan Pass.

 

Otherwise, that's a great map! Thank you!

 

I checked the Census data for Flathead county. Going to the Sun highway is code S1400 (Local/rural road or city street) and not as S1200 secondary road (highway). Flathead county has undergone realignment so the locations should be right on. Just an error in coding by Census and/or the contractor. I am sure there are many more in the data set - always is.

 

For kicks, could you check the coding of GTTS for Glacier County? GTTS shows fine on the east of Logan Pass, which is the county boundary I think. GTTS was finished in 1932, by the way....

 

Thanks again......

Link to comment
Not routable, but that's my project, in the works.
What is the essence of routing?

 

Is it taking every road segment, intersection to intersection, and assigning a road type "value"? Then the routing algorithm picks a route based on the rules you've selected? Or different?

 

Thanks

Well, you have to add routing nodes, which indicate what roads connect to which other roads, and at which point. Then you also need a routing class (0 to 4) to indicate the relative importance. You'll also need to indicate the speed, whether it's one-way, if certain vehicle types are restricted, etc. Then there's house numbers and turn restrictions. In theory OSM has all this (except house numbers and turn restrictions still are up in the air), and I have had some success in the past transforming into a routable Polish format file for input into cGPSMapper. I used XSLT, though, and it choked on even 10 MB of data.

Link to comment

I'm currently uploading my map of Alabama. By the time you read this, it should be uploaded.

 

http://www.ibycus.com/ibycususa/IbycusUSA.exe

 

For those of you without an existing mapsource product (including Trip and Waypoint Manager, which comes with many GPSrs), follow the instructions below to get a copy (I've spoken with a Garmin Employee, and they confirmed that this does not in fact violate their license agreement).

 

Step 1:

Download and Install "Garmin Training Center"

http://www8.garmin.com/support/collection....ct=999-99999-04

 

Step 2:

Download and Install the latest Mapsource Update

http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=209

 

This will give you a working mapsource install with a basic world basemap (very low detail)

 

Step 3:

Download and install my mapset

http://www.ibycus.com/ibycususa/IbycusUSA.exe

 

Probably a dumb question, but by doing this, is it going to overwrite my existing basemap or topomap? or is it going to be an entirely different mapset that I can switch back and forth with other maps on my GPSr? I am using a Colorado 300 with topo 08 loaded on it, if that makes a difference. Thanks!

Link to comment
Probably a dumb question, but by doing this, is it going to overwrite my existing basemap or topomap? or is it going to be an entirely different mapset that I can switch back and forth with other maps on my GPSr? I am using a Colorado 300 with topo 08 loaded on it, if that makes a difference. Thanks!

 

Not having actually played with a Colorado, I can't say with 100% certainty but I'm relatively (>99%) sure that it won't overwrite the preloaded maps. Assuming the Colorado works anything like any other Garmin GPS, there are several different files that maps are stored under. One is for preloaded maps, one is for supplemental maps. Loading any new supplemental maps will wipe out any older suppllemental maps, but will leave intact any pre-loaded maps.

 

Dale

Link to comment
Probably a dumb question, but by doing this, is it going to overwrite my existing basemap or topomap? or is it going to be an entirely different mapset that I can switch back and forth with other maps on my GPSr? I am using a Colorado 300 with topo 08 loaded on it, if that makes a difference. Thanks!

 

Not having actually played with a Colorado, I can't say with 100% certainty but I'm relatively (>99%) sure that it won't overwrite the preloaded maps. Assuming the Colorado works anything like any other Garmin GPS, there are several different files that maps are stored under. One is for preloaded maps, one is for supplemental maps. Loading any new supplemental maps will wipe out any older suppllemental maps, but will leave intact any pre-loaded maps.

 

Dale

 

Thank you for responding. Topo 08 does not come preloaded on the Colorado 300, just the base map. I did put the topo map on there though and I think it is loaded as the supplemental map. So this map would replace the topo? Is there a way to have them both on there?

Link to comment

Just for kicks, could you check the coding of GTTS for Glacier County? GTTS shows fine on the east of Logan Pass, which is the county boundary I think. GTTS was finished in 1932, by the way....

 

Thanks again......

GTTS is coded as S1200, secondary road in Glacier County. It changes coding at the county boundary.

Link to comment

Thank you for responding. Topo 08 does not come preloaded on the Colorado 300, just the base map. I did put the topo map on there though and I think it is loaded as the supplemental map. So this map would replace the topo? Is there a way to have them both on there?

 

The Colorado supports three different img files in internal memory:

 

gmapprom.img

gmapsupp.img

gmapbase.img

 

The 300 uses gmapbase.img for the base map. If you download other maps you can give them one of the other two names and they will coexist with the basemap. If you already have a gmapsupp.img just use gmapprom.img.

 

Checkout M10 in the FAQ for more details.

 

GO$RS

Link to comment
Not routable, but that's my project, in the works.
What is the essence of routing?

 

Is it taking every road segment, intersection to intersection, and assigning a road type "value"? Then the routing algorithm picks a route based on the rules you've selected? Or different?

Well, you have to add routing nodes, which indicate what roads connect to which other roads, and at which point. Then you also need a routing class (0 to 4) to indicate the relative importance. You'll also need to indicate the speed, whether it's one-way, if certain vehicle types are restricted, etc. Then there's house numbers and turn restrictions. In theory OSM has all this (except house numbers and turn restrictions still are up in the air), and I have had some success in the past transforming into a routable Polish format file for input into cGPSMapper. I used XSLT, though, and it choked on even 10 MB of data.
Good bit more complicated than I imagined, even one-way streets.

 

Thanks

Link to comment

Thank you for responding. Topo 08 does not come preloaded on the Colorado 300, just the base map. I did put the topo map on there though and I think it is loaded as the supplemental map. So this map would replace the topo? Is there a way to have them both on there?

 

The Colorado supports three different img files in internal memory:

 

gmapprom.img

gmapsupp.img

gmapbase.img

 

The 300 uses gmapbase.img for the base map. If you download other maps you can give them one of the other two names and they will coexist with the basemap. If you already have a gmapsupp.img just use gmapprom.img.

 

Checkout M10 in the FAQ for more details.

 

GO$RS

 

GO$RS,

How do you assign gmapprom.img to this new map? I have selected the segments that I want to send to my GPSr, but don't see where I can assign it as that map. thanks.

Link to comment

Thank you for responding. Topo 08 does not come preloaded on the Colorado 300, just the base map. I did put the topo map on there though and I think it is loaded as the supplemental map. So this map would replace the topo? Is there a way to have them both on there?

 

You can follow the other instructions given here (manually name the IMG file to one of the other names), alternatively, you can select all the maps from the different sets in mapsource at the same time, and load them all to a single file.

 

Dale

Link to comment

How do you assign gmapprom.img to this new map? I have selected the segments that I want to send to my GPSr, but don't see where I can assign it as that map. thanks.

 

Make sure you don't have any file called gmapsupp.img in [drive]:\Garmin (or SD card). If you do, move it, copy it, rename it, etc so that it doesn't get wiped out.

 

In Mapsource create the mapset and download to your internal memory or SD card, it will be called [drive]:\Garmin\gmapsupp.img by default. In your computer's file manager (i.e. explorer) you can now rename the file to one of the other recognized image names.

 

GO$Rs

Link to comment

Hi,

 

I just downloaded your Canada Topo map set and i seem to be having a problem. The huge data set installed just fine, in Mapsource i see the map name as Ibycus1.22 and when i select it i see the outline of Canada and tons of little squares for the individual maps. However, that is all I see. If i zoom in all i see is the yellow colour of the country, nothing else. No trails, no topo information, just an empty map. Does anyone know how I can resolve this?

 

I have Mapsource v6.13.6.

Ibycus topo 1.22 installed in default location c:\program files\TopoMaps

Garmin mapsource installed to c:\garmin

Link to comment

I just downloaded your Canada Topo map set and i seem to be having a problem. The huge data set installed just fine, in Mapsource i see the map name as Ibycus1.22 and when i select it i see the outline of Canada and tons of little squares for the individual maps. However, that is all I see. If i zoom in all i see is the yellow colour of the country, nothing else. No trails, no topo information, just an empty map. Does anyone know how I can resolve this?

 

Try CTRL-G (Show GPS Map detail)

Link to comment

OK I downloaded the IbycusUSA.exe file then installed it, and I see the IbycusUSA folder in my program files. That folder contains a tigerdata.img file, a tigerdata.tdb file, and a imgs folder full of .img files . But I can't seem to fiqure out what to do from here. I already have mapsource installed and I have a 60csx. I have never installed a map before.

Link to comment

I think you should concentrate on the Est of the USA,

as this is where most of the population is. :-)

Vermont and Florida would be logical as next in line. ;-)

 

Can these be downloaded by State easily,

easier than that Newfoundland/Labrador list anyways,

that I do not understand?

 

I would love an easy solution to have

Canadian provinces separately for example,

as they would fit better on separate DVDs,

(or CDs for some, like Prince-Edward-Island) ;-)

 

Thanks you for all your work!

Link to comment

I think you should concentrate on the Est of the USA,

as this is where most of the population is. :-)

Vermont and Florida would be logical as next in line. ;-)

 

Can these be downloaded by State easily,

easier than that Newfoundland/Labrador list anyways,

that I do not understand?

 

I would love an easy solution to have

Canadian provinces separately for example,

as they would fit better on separate DVDs,

(or CDs for some, like Prince-Edward-Island) ;-)

 

Thanks you for all your work!

 

The whole thing should fit on a single DVD. I've been somewhat reluctant to split these up by province. Mostly because it really adds to the overhead of maintaining them. Plus you end up with duplicates, and overlaps and goodness knows what else.

 

I'm currently looking at making the dataset available on DVD for those who want them (obviously there would have to be a fee involved in that case), but that would help with the people who have a tough time getting them to download.

 

Dale

Link to comment

Some here will be familiar with my Canadian Topo Maps. Well, on March 31st, the US Census Department released all kinds of fancy new data on to their website, including features like rivers, lakes, streams, roads (with names and address information), power lines, some trail information, etc.

 

Unlike the Canadian data source, there is no topo information on these maps. (While topo data is available for the US, I haven't found one that splits the data by county, which to do manually would be rather difficult).

 

Anyways, I've taken a 'first pass' at getting these maps on to a Garmin Unit. They seem to look fairly good to my eyes, but I have no idea how accurate the data is (Canadian Census data for the roads is ridiculously bad), but on the surface it looks like its not too bad (in many cases there appears to be more detail than what is no my City Navigator v7 maps, my dataset for Alabama that I've processed is ~50MB)

 

Before I go too far, I wanted to make sure that there is some interest.

 

There are a couple of deficiencies in my maps, some of which will be harder to address than others.

 

Weaknesses

There is no 'auto-routing' capability on these maps. Its also not likely that this will be there any time soon.

Addresses aren't included - these may eventually be included.

Data is split by county - this means lots of individual map tiles. This isn't likely to change.

Maptiles are named with an obscure numbering system (specifically according the FIPS # of the county if that means anything to you). Again, not likely to change

Given that the data is split by county, and counties have irregular boundaries, the map tiles overlap... this is fixable...don't know how big of a deal this is, but its something people would notice.

No street level addressing

No Topo Data - Not likely to change unless I can find a datasource that splits the data by county...or possibly create a seperate mapset to overlay on these maps.

 

Strengths

The amount of data seems to be pretty high. (50MB for Alabama)

The quality of the data at least seems good on the surface.

Probably relatively up to date data (brand new release)

Free.

 

Given the above, how useful would this data be to people? If there is no demand, I likely won't go too far with it. I've got Alabama done, and I've downloaded a few more states (a state takes me a couple of hours to fully process start to finish).

 

If there is interest, I can post my Alabama map tonight. If you're really interested in your home state, let me know, and I'll try to get the data for it downloaded, processed compiled and uploaded.

 

Dale

 

**edit to add link to the mapset

http://www.ibycus.com/ibycususa/IbycusUSA.exe (future versions will likely be linked to under http://www.ibycus.com/ibycususa, but there is nothing else there right now)

 

I would love to see you create a map for my state of New Mexico ( NM ). Thanks...

Link to comment

I've just updated my mapset with Montana. I'd be curious to know how this data compares. (I asusme you have some kind of mapset based on your data already).

 

There is definitely some stuff in yours that isn't in mine.

 

This is great stuff!

 

Perhaps I missed it, but is there a tutorial on how to convert the data from the Tiger website to load onto the Garmin?

 

Thanks!

Link to comment

I've just updated my mapset with Montana. I'd be curious to know how this data compares. (I asusme you have some kind of mapset based on your data already).

 

There is definitely some stuff in yours that isn't in mine.

 

This is great stuff!

 

Perhaps I missed it, but is there a tutorial on how to convert the data from the Tiger website to load onto the Garmin?

 

Thanks!

 

I'm using some custom programs to do it. I'd share them, but they really aren't in a 'finished' state. You could use GPSMapEdit to do it, but assigning entity types isn't the most straight forward thing to do. I don't know how other people are handling this, possibly through a series of search and replaces on the DBF files.

 

Dale

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...