Free Maps for Garmin GPS

[-Oz-]

Thats something to consider... I wonder how big the IMGs I'm creating will be. Not going to change now, but its something to consider...

 

How big an mp file do you find compiles to ~8MB?

I found the limit to be right around 110mb. Larger than that it went over 8mb.

[+ibycus]

Thats something to consider... I wonder how big the IMGs I'm creating will be. Not going to change now, but its something to consider...

 

How big an mp file do you find compiles to ~8MB?

I found the limit to be right around 110mb. Larger than that it went over 8mb.

 

For my topo, I took the long way around and compiled them all as small tiles, and then checked to see if I joined them together in blocks of 16 if I'd hit the 8MB boundary. Looking at my source files (which are still being built), I'm guessing I'll have a few tiles over the limit (probably about 20 or so).

 

So far I'm up to 15GB of source files, in 416 tiles, which puts me right on track for about a 1GB installer when its compiled.

[-Oz-]

Wow man, you put me to shame...

 

Yea, I ended up with 3 segments for mississippi that went over.

[+ibycus]

Wow man, you put me to shame...

 

Yea, I ended up with 3 segments for mississippi that went over.

 

Still have to compile the darned things. Not sure I have enough RAM to run my 4 threads I normally like to.

 

So far I'm up to 146 compiled files, but I keep getting virtual memory errors, and my system is grinding to a halt. I think I'm going to try running a single thread and see how it goes.

 

Dale

[+dscroggie]

Thanks. Was able to load via using the old mapsource (for legacy os). No maps for baldwin or mobile counties in Alabama. using the latest mapsource got the map error, reload Tiger software.

[+Lord Cadogan]

Thanks. Was able to load via using the old mapsource (for legacy os). No maps for baldwin or mobile counties in Alabama. using the latest mapsource got the map error, reload Tiger software.

 

I also just purchase a Vista HCX. All was good until I installed v1.4 of the maps. This is the first install of them. The error message is: There is a problem with the Product Tigerdata installation. Please re-install Product TigerData and Start MapSource Again"

 

I am running v6.14.1.0 of MapSource. Please advise what I should do, as I have a trip out to NJ and wanted to do some caching.

[+coggins]

Thanks. Was able to load via using the old mapsource (for legacy os). No maps for baldwin or mobile counties in Alabama. using the latest mapsource got the map error, reload Tiger software.

 

I also just purchase a Vista HCX. All was good until I installed v1.4 of the maps. This is the first install of them. The error message is: There is a problem with the Product Tigerdata installation. Please re-install Product TigerData and Start MapSource Again"

 

I am running v6.14.1.0 of MapSource. Please advise what I should do, as I have a trip out to NJ and wanted to do some caching.

You currently need v6.13.7, you can get it here:

http://www.gpsinformation.org/perry/msourc...Source_6137.exe

Edited July 26, 2008 by coggins

[+chief_illini217]

should have never tried to update mapsource....going back to previous version asi get a pop up saying reinstall tiger data or something ot that effect..

[+Lord Cadogan]

Thanks. Was able to load via using the old mapsource (for legacy os). No maps for baldwin or mobile counties in Alabama. using the latest mapsource got the map error, reload Tiger software.

 

I also just purchase a Vista HCX. All was good until I installed v1.4 of the maps. This is the first install of them. The error message is: There is a problem with the Product Tigerdata installation. Please re-install Product TigerData and Start MapSource Again"

 

I am running v6.14.1.0 of MapSource. Please advise what I should do, as I have a trip out to NJ and wanted to do some caching.

You currently need v6.13.7, you can get it here:

http://www.gpsinformation.org/perry/msourc...Source_6137.exe

 

That seems to have taken care of it. What, if anything, am I giving up by downgrading?

[+coggins]

That seems to have taken care of it. What, if anything, am I giving up by downgrading?

Nothing really, the newer version has some problems and is a lot slower. Ibycus is recompiling his maps to work with this version. Enjoy your trip to NJ.

[+zoobum]

ibycus, thanks for all the hard work!!!

[+Lord Cadogan]

I first want to say THANKS for all the hard work that you have put into these maps!!

 

I seem to recall (somewhere in these 11 pages) that you are looking for feedback on the maps. I have noticed two things.

 

I was working on loading a few counties in Michigan for a trip and found a county missing. I do not know the name, but Charlevoix is located in it. It is along lake Michigan, north of Traverse City. I went to select it and it would not highlight.

 

The other item is the accuracy of the roads/streets. What would you say is the "acceptable" tolerance that one should expect? I live in south central Wisconsin (Green county) and noticed that it places me off the road a bit. Not a big deal for me, as I am using the Garmin for GC'ng and use my Tom-Tom for navigation.

 

Please let me know how I can help on the latter.

 

Thanks,

Wayne

[+ibycus]

Good news bad news kind of post...

Good news: I have a fix to get the existing maps to work again in the latest mapsource.

http://www.ibycus.com/ibycususa/IbycusUSAFix.zip

 

Bad news, it may not be the easiest thing in the world to install

 

Good News: I can walk you through the rough patches.

 

Bad News: Those looking for a fix to the 'county selection problem' are going to have to wait a little longer . The compiles I've been running for the last several days aren't right and I'll have to redo them.

 

So to use the above fix. First download MapsetToolkit from

http://cypherman1.googlepages.com/

 

Open up mapset toolkit

In the "Mapset Installed" box, click on the mapset labeled "TigerData"

Click uninstall.

 

Next Unzip the IbycusUSAFix file to the IbycusUSA directory (normally \Program Files\IbycusUSA ) replacing any existing files.

 

You'll see on files labeled TigerData.reg, right click on this file and hit edit.

 

You'll possibly need to make a few changes here if your maps are anywhere other than \Program Files\IbycusUSA

 

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Garmin\MapSource\Families\TigerData]
"ID"=hex:c0,00

"IDX"="C:\\Program Files\\IbycusUSA\\TigerData.mdx"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Garmin\MapSource\Families\TigerData\1]
"LOC"="C:\\Program Files\\IbycusUSA\\imgs\\"
"BMAP"="C:\\Program Files\\IbycusUSA\\TigerData.img"
"TDB"="C:\\Program Files\\IbycusUSA\\TigerData.tdb"

 

Notice the path names above: Modify them to be correct for your system. (so if your maps are in d:\maps\ibycus\, you'd modify to D:\\Program Files\\Ibycus\\imgs\\ etc. )

 

Close and save.

 

Double click on the file to add it to the registry.

 

If you have trouble after this, rerun mapset took kit, and uninstall the maps and try again (you've likely goofed one of your paths).

 

Let me know if you have any trouble.

 

Dale

[andylphoto]

 

The other item is the accuracy of the roads/streets. What would you say is the "acceptable" tolerance that one should expect? I live in south central Wisconsin (Green county) and noticed that it places me off the road a bit.

 

 

I think the answer to this one is in the data used to create the maps. I found a similar problem in one Upper Michigan county--Ontonagon.

 

The answer was posted back on page 9 or 10--about a third of the counties haven't had their data updated, and yours is among them. Here's the link:

 

http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/tgrshp...hp07nomtaip.txt

[PastorJon]

Awesome, awesome, awesome!

 

Really... that's just great! It's especially great because it allows us to decide if we care about routability, or if we're happy with just street maps. And you can't beat the price! I'm even hoping to drop you a small donation for all your work.

 

One question... somehow, the words "Brunswick Naval Air Sta" appear all over the map--especially when I'm trying to pan it (either in MapSource or on the 76CSx). Is that something on the map, or something foolish I did while trying to learn how to use it? Any help would be appreciated!

[+ibycus]

Awesome, awesome, awesome!

 

Really... that's just great! It's especially great because it allows us to decide if we care about routability, or if we're happy with just street maps. And you can't beat the price! I'm even hoping to drop you a small donation for all your work.

 

One question... somehow, the words "Brunswick Naval Air Sta" appear all over the map--especially when I'm trying to pan it (either in MapSource or on the 76CSx). Is that something on the map, or something foolish I did while trying to learn how to use it? Any help would be appreciated!

 

Can you give me some Lat/Lons? Are you using the new mapsource (6.14) or the old one. I've noticed some rendering problems with the new one.

 

Dale

[PastorJon]

Awesome, awesome, awesome!

 

Really... that's just great! It's especially great because it allows us to decide if we care about routability, or if we're happy with just street maps. And you can't beat the price! I'm even hoping to drop you a small donation for all your work.

 

One question... somehow, the words "Brunswick Naval Air Sta" appear all over the map--especially when I'm trying to pan it (either in MapSource or on the 76CSx). Is that something on the map, or something foolish I did while trying to learn how to use it? Any help would be appreciated!

 

Can you give me some Lat/Lons? Are you using the new mapsource (6.14) or the old one. I've noticed some rendering problems with the new one.

 

Dale

 

I went back to the old mapsource....

 

I think that this probably has nothing to do with your maps, and something foolish that I (or my father) did.

 

I've attached (if I can figure out how) a screenshot that is centered on N43 39.381 W70 21.953. You can see the words "Brunswick Naval Air Sta" in the middle. Those words will stay centered in the map if I pan, recenter, or zoom, either on my computer or on the GPSr. (If I zoom out, they will disappear).

 

Thanks for any help!

 

Edited July 28, 2008 by PastorJon

[PastorJon]

Let me just clarify...we're at least 30 miles away from the Brunswick Naval Air Station!

[+ibycus]

At a first look, I suspect its linked to the 'unselectable county' problem (note if you try to select this county and send to the GPS, it won't show up). I'm currently working on a fix, and hopefully I'll have it up within a week. If you still see the problem then, let me know.

[andylphoto]

At a first look, I suspect its linked to the 'unselectable county' problem (note if you try to select this county and send to the GPS, it won't show up). I'm currently working on a fix, and hopefully I'll have it up within a week. If you still see the problem then, let me know.

 

Is this a global fix, or something you need to fix on a county by county basis? If the latter, could you also take a look at Keweenaw, MI? I sent it to the GPS, and it says it's there, but doesn't give me any map information on the unit.

[+ibycus]

At a first look, I suspect its linked to the 'unselectable county' problem (note if you try to select this county and send to the GPS, it won't show up). I'm currently working on a fix, and hopefully I'll have it up within a week. If you still see the problem then, let me know.

 

Is this a global fix, or something you need to fix on a county by county basis? If the latter, could you also take a look at Keweenaw, MI? I sent it to the GPS, and it says it's there, but doesn't give me any map information on the unit.

 

Its a global fix. There are instructions elsewhere in this thread to fix on a county by county basis. No time to dig them up (or reproduce them) right now. I've got more RAM for my computer, so hopefully my compiling goes better today.

 

Dale

[+Lord Cadogan]

 

The other item is the accuracy of the roads/streets. What would you say is the "acceptable" tolerance that one should expect? I live in south central Wisconsin (Green county) and noticed that it places me off the road a bit.

 

 

I think the answer to this one is in the data used to create the maps. I found a similar problem in one Upper Michigan county--Ontonagon.

 

The answer was posted back on page 9 or 10--about a third of the counties haven't had their data updated, and yours is among them. Here's the link:

 

http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/tgrshp...hp07nomtaip.txt

That is good to know. So the Gov is behind us getting lost!!

[andylphoto]

 

Its a global fix. There are instructions elsewhere in this thread to fix on a county by county basis. No time to dig them up (or reproduce them) right now. I've got more RAM for my computer, so hopefully my compiling goes better today.

 

Dale

 

Dale,

 

Thank you VERY much for all your hard work on this project! It is MUCH appreciated!

[scrappy911]

I am having trouble viewing maps for Kauai (and other Hawaiian Islands) as well as Los Angeles County on my GPS. My Venture HC indicates that the Ibycus Kauai map is loaded, but no map detail is displayed other than the USA basemap which was preinstalled on my unit.

 

I've had no trouble loading maps for Michigan, which load quite nicely. I am also experiencing a similar situation with Los Angeles County, where I get an indication that the maps are loaded on the unit, but no maps are ever displayed.

 

I'm using less than 50% of the available memory on my unit (24megs). All of the maps show outstanding detail when I view them in Mapsource, which is why I am very surprised that these maps are not showing up on my gps unit.

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[+ibycus]

I am having trouble viewing maps for Kauai (and other Hawaiian Islands) as well as Los Angeles County on my GPS. My Venture HC indicates that the Ibycus Kauai map is loaded, but no map detail is displayed other than the USA basemap which was preinstalled on my unit.

 

I've had no trouble loading maps for Michigan, which load quite nicely. I am also experiencing a similar situation with Los Angeles County, where I get an indication that the maps are loaded on the unit, but no maps are ever displayed.

 

I'm using less than 50% of the available memory on my unit (24megs). All of the maps show outstanding detail when I view them in Mapsource, which is why I am very surprised that these maps are not showing up on my gps unit.

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

This is the county selection problem rearing its ugly head again. Will hopefully have a new version up in a day or two.

 

Dale

[SinisterPig]

I d/l the mac version of the the maps and have tried to install them on my legend hcx (i have a 2 gig card). when i select the entire us to transfer to my card it says i still have over 300 megs free, but gives me an error saying that it contains 1112 items too many. Is there any fix for this? I really don't need the whole us on my gps, but i figure if a flight goes wrong it might help

 

also, is there away to edit the maps as my area is missing a few roads here and there?

 

thanks!

jason

[SinisterPig]

I d/l the mac version of the the maps and have tried to install them on my legend hcx (i have a 2 gig card). when i select the entire us to transfer to my card it says i still have over 300 megs free, but gives me an error saying that it contains 1112 items too many. Is there any fix for this? I really don't need the whole us on my gps, but i figure if a flight goes wrong it might help

 

also, is there away to edit the maps as my area is missing a few roads here and there?

 

thanks!

jason

[SinisterPig]

I d/l the mac version of the the maps and have tried to install them on my legend hcx (i have a 2 gig card). when i select the entire us to transfer to my card it says i still have over 300 megs free, but gives me an error saying that it contains 1112 items too many. Is there any fix for this? I really don't need the whole us on my gps, but i figure if a flight goes wrong it might help

 

also, is there away to edit the maps as my area is missing a few roads here and there?

 

thanks!

jason

[+ibycus]

I d/l the mac version of the the maps and have tried to install them on my legend hcx (i have a 2 gig card). when i select the entire us to transfer to my card it says i still have over 300 megs free, but gives me an error saying that it contains 1112 items too many. Is there any fix for this? I really don't need the whole us on my gps, but i figure if a flight goes wrong it might help

 

also, is there away to edit the maps as my area is missing a few roads here and there?

 

thanks!

jason

 

On a PC you'd use GPSMapEdit and cgpsmapper (both free) to edit it.

 

The other problem you're running in to is the segment limitation of your GPS. You can load up to 2025 mapsheets on most units. There is a workaround though. Send half, rename the file to gmapbmap.img or gmapprom.img and then load the other half.

 

Dale

[SiliconFiend]

I d/l the mac version of the the maps and have tried to install them on my legend hcx (i have a 2 gig card). when i select the entire us to transfer to my card it says i still have over 300 megs free, but gives me an error saying that it contains 1112 items too many. Is there any fix for this? I really don't need the whole us on my gps, but i figure if a flight goes wrong it might help

 

also, is there away to edit the maps as my area is missing a few roads here and there?

 

thanks!

jason

 

On a PC you'd use GPSMapEdit and cgpsmapper (both free) to edit it.

 

The other problem you're running in to is the segment limitation of your GPS. You can load up to 2025 mapsheets on most units. There is a workaround though. Send half, rename the file to gmapbmap.img or gmapprom.img and then load the other half.

 

Dale

As far as I know, I don't think that will work on an eTrex, only on a Colorado, Oregon or Nuvi. Maybe the techniques used in this post could work for combining your map segments. I think all you'd have to do is come up with new GDB files and then run the script.

[Abandonhope16]

I have a question. I downloaded the version from the first post and when I try to select my county (Fairfax, Virginia), it doesnt probably outline the county; instead it selects a square and says that its Fairfax. I havent tried to move it to my GPS, just b/c it doesnt look right. Is this the same as the bug that was noted earlier? Thanks for the help and the map.

[-Oz-]

I have a question. I downloaded the version from the first post and when I try to select my county (Fairfax, Virginia), it doesnt probably outline the county; instead it selects a square and says that its Fairfax. I havent tried to move it to my GPS, just b/c it doesnt look right. Is this the same as the bug that was noted earlier? Thanks for the help and the map.

I can't say for sure but most likely its the same error that ibycus is working on.

[+ibycus]

I have a question. I downloaded the version from the first post and when I try to select my county (Fairfax, Virginia), it doesnt probably outline the county; instead it selects a square and says that its Fairfax. I havent tried to move it to my GPS, just b/c it doesnt look right. Is this the same as the bug that was noted earlier? Thanks for the help and the map.

I can't say for sure but most likely its the same error that ibycus is working on.

 

Yep. Pretty sure this is the "unselectable county problem". I can walk you through fixing it yourself if you're so inclined (drop me an e-mail, or search this thread for the instructions) or you can wait until I have the global fix available. (suffered yet another set back...grrr)

[Abandonhope16]

Thanks. I also noticed when I select a neighboring county that outlines correctly, it will turn pink; whereas my county doesnt change colors.

So, the idea is to wait on a fix, correct? I would try to fix it myself, but I'm technologically deficient.

Edited August 2, 2008 by Abandonhope16

[Abandonhope16]

I'm not trying to bug, but just wondering if there is an ETA for a global fix. Take your time and I'm sure you have a life outside this; as well as you have already done an awesome thing here. I'm just curious as to when I should check back. Oh, and this thread should really be Stickied; not sure why it isnt.

Thanks again!!!

 

-A

[+ibycus]

I'm not trying to bug, but just wondering if there is an ETA for a global fix. Take your time and I'm sure you have a life outside this; as well as you have already done an awesome thing here. I'm just curious as to when I should check back. Oh, and this thread should really be Stickied; not sure why it isnt.

Thanks again!!!

 

-A

 

The ETA was about a week ago, but that's come and gone, with no fix (). I finished the compile, and then found I was missing a huge chunk of the country (I think I ran out of hard drive space, which caused some of my unzips to fail... the source data for this is nearly 100GB), so I basically have to start again. I'm going to leave it running today, and hopefully have my files by tomorrow. Then the files need compiling to IMG files, which will hopefully only take another day or two.

 

Dale

[+zgrav]

I also live in Fairfax VA, and there is a lot of inconsistency in the map details within the county and compared to the adjacent Arlington County and Washington DC.

 

In Mapsource it looks like there are some gaps in the coverage for Fairfax County.

 

What software are people using to change the "unknown" labels in the county data sets before recompiling the image files?

 

I am interested in trying to tinker with the Fairfax data set while patiently waiting for Dale's update with the global fix in it for this issue.

 

Also -- I thought that routing would not work on the Garmin units for this map set, but it seems to work at least in the areas where the data is accurate.

[+ibycus]

I also live in Fairfax VA, and there is a lot of inconsistency in the map details within the county and compared to the adjacent Arlington County and Washington DC.

 

In Mapsource it looks like there are some gaps in the coverage for Fairfax County.

 

What software are people using to change the "unknown" labels in the county data sets before recompiling the image files?

 

I am interested in trying to tinker with the Fairfax data set while patiently waiting for Dale's update with the global fix in it for this issue.

 

Also -- I thought that routing would not work on the Garmin units for this map set, but it seems to work at least in the areas where the data is accurate.

 

You can use GPSMapEdit to open and tinker with the files. Save them as "Polish Map Format" and then recompile with cgpsmapper.

[Abandonhope16]

Any update on a fix?

Much appreciated. Thank you.

 

-A

[+ibycus]

Any update on a fix?

Much appreciated. Thank you.

 

-A

 

I have some files compiled. Have to build an index map and have a look to see if they are any good or not.

 

If they are good, I'll upload them tonight.

 

Dale

[-Oz-]

Any update on a fix?

Much appreciated. Thank you.

 

-A

 

I have some files compiled. Have to build an index map and have a look to see if they are any good or not.

 

If they are good, I'll upload them tonight.

 

Dale

Does this fix the mapsource issue as well as the counties that wouldn't load?

[+ibycus]

Any update on a fix?

Much appreciated. Thank you.

 

-A

 

I have some files compiled. Have to build an index map and have a look to see if they are any good or not.

 

If they are good, I'll upload them tonight.

 

Dale

Does this fix the mapsource issue as well as the counties that wouldn't load?

 

Yep. I'd have fixed the mapsource issue in the default download, but my upload bandwidth is *so* slow.

 

Currently uploading version 2.0. No major problems. I'm a little concerned that cgpsmapper said it was skipping some elements due to 'bad data'. I've never seen it say that before. Hopefully nothing important is missing.

 

In case it is, I'm setting this version to install to a seperate directory from the old version, and the two can live concurrently on the same computer/GPS.

 

If all goes well, the upload should be done in about 4 hours, at which time I'll post the URL (easy to guess if you're so inclined, but I'll wait for the upload to finish so people don't try to download it before its there).

 

Dale

[-Oz-]

Dale,

 

Having slow internet sucks. I've been working on a map of New Mexico and the speed is soooooo slow here takes me like 4 hours to download each DEM quad.

 

Thankfully all I have left is waiting for the NHD to email me the water data links.

 

Can't wait for the new version... and P.S. if you need a mirror let me know.

[+ibycus]

Dale,

 

Having slow internet sucks. I've been working on a map of New Mexico and the speed is soooooo slow here takes me like 4 hours to download each DEM quad.

 

Thankfully all I have left is waiting for the NHD to email me the water data links.

 

Can't wait for the new version... and P.S. if you need a mirror let me know.

 

On the plus side, I'll be back at university soon, and have all the upload/download bandwidth I can handle.

 

On the downside I'll be taking 9 courses next term, so I doubt I'll have much time to breath, let alone work on maps.

 

Dale

[+ibycus]

Upload is done.

http://www.ibycus.com/ibycususa/IbycusUSA20.exe

[-Oz-]

Cool, now you just need to update the http://www.ibycus.com/ibycususa/ page. I'm downloading now.

[+zgrav]

Thanks! Download is in progress.....

[+ibycus]

Cool, now you just need to update the http://www.ibycus.com/ibycususa/ page. I'm downloading now.

 

Going to leave it as is for now, just in case there is something wrong with the download. Don't want too many people downloading it all at once.

 

Dale

[Abandonhope16]

Strange, but I clicked the link, then run, it was downloading for about 35 minutes or so, appeared to finish as the dialogue box closed, and then nothing happened after that. Do I need to un-install the old version first?

[ryleyinstl]

^^^

I'm setting this version to install to a seperate directory from the old version, and the two can live concurrently on the same computer/GPS.