Free? maps for Garmin

[jako_66]

My son and I are just getting into geocaching. He got the Garmin eTrex Venture HC for Christmas and we were a little shocked to see the cost of the topo maps from the Garmin site (eg ~$200 Can. for a map of all of Canada). Since we'll only be using it for certain parts of Ontario I started looking for cheaper alternatives. So I found such sites as gpsmapsearch and ibycus.com and downloaded a couple of smaller maps onto our computer. That's when I got cold feet. Not being very tech savvy I don't know if these maps can cause any damage to the Garmin device, if the Garmin will recognize them, and if I need to know anything else before I try this. I'd greatly appreciate any help, thanks.

[+IBcrashen]

Your lucky, you can get Ibycus topo maps for your area. These are great maps. You have no need to have cold feet and no worries about using these maps.

One thing though. When you send some maps to your gps you will get a warning saying you are about to delete the maps on the unit. No fear here, you would be deleting maps that you had previous sent to the gps, not the base map which came on the gps.

[+briansnat]

Moving to the appropriate forum

[jako_66]

Your lucky, you can get Ibycus topo maps for your area. These are great maps. You have no need to have cold feet and no worries about using these maps.

One thing though. When you send some maps to your gps you will get a warning saying you are about to delete the maps on the unit. No fear here, you would be deleting maps that you had previous sent to the gps, not the base map which came on the gps.

 

Thanks for the info. I've downloaded one of the Ibycus maps, but its in an .img file and I guess it needs to be converted to something Mapsource will recognize. Any tips? When I said I wasn't tech savvy I was probably overstating my qualifications

[+coggins]

Your lucky, you can get Ibycus topo maps for your area. These are great maps. You have no need to have cold feet and no worries about using these maps.

One thing though. When you send some maps to your gps you will get a warning saying you are about to delete the maps on the unit. No fear here, you would be deleting maps that you had previous sent to the gps, not the base map which came on the gps.

 

Thanks for the info. I've downloaded one of the Ibycus maps, but its in an .img file and I guess it needs to be converted to something Mapsource will recognize. Any tips? When I said I wasn't tech savvy I was probably overstating my qualifications

You need this: http://www.ibycus.com/ibycustopo/IbycusTopo21.zip

Unzip this file, install the software and use MapSource to send to your GPS.

[+IBcrashen]

You have to install the exe file you downloaded, it will install itself to mapsource. Then in mapsource in the upper right corner choose Ibycus Canada option ( just guessing on this option, I live in the US). Then pick which map segments you want to send to your gps.

[-Oz-]

This tutorial will help you out; it is a bit more detailed of what IBCrashen is saying: http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/tutorials/how-...armin-gps-unit/

[+SD Marc]

This tutorial will help you out; it is a bit more detailed of what IBCrashen is saying: http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/tutorials/how-...armin-gps-unit/

 

I'm a noob too, I downloaded maps for the California, Arizona and New Mexico from this site http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/, for Mac, and they worked great with Road Trip and on my 60CSx. What a great service. I'm going to have to donate. They seem to have a good selection for Mac and PC.

 

These are much nicer than the Garmin map I bought.

[+The Yinnies]

Do they have topo maps for wisconsin? And what is the link?

Thanks

[+Yamar]

You should look into the open street map project (http://www.openstreetmap/) which lets you edit maps for the entire world. Their maps can be compiled into garmin image files. And cloudmade even builds them for you ( http://downloads.cloudmade.com/) once a week (because the process isn't trivial). I've actually used OSM to modify roads in a country I was going to travel to and needed maps for (but shelling out $100 for a single trip wasn't worth it).

 

The only downside is that they're not routable maps (yet). Your GPS can't direct you through turns. On the plus side, however, cities with active OSM editors often have walking and biking paths in the maps, which is something you'll never see in the commercial map sets.

[jako_66]

You have to install the exe file you downloaded, it will install itself to mapsource. Then in mapsource in the upper right corner choose Ibycus Canada option ( just guessing on this option, I live in the US). Then pick which map segments you want to send to your gps.

 

Thanks to everyone for your help, we've had good success with just a few blips to work through. We now have a topo map for all of Canada, thanks to Ibycus. One last question though, when we downloaded the topo map (after 3-4hours) we got 100's of img files all more or less sequential numbers for the file names (eg. 10011100, 10011200 etc). I chose the first 10 or so, converted them and got the topo map for most of Newfoundland. Is there any way to tell what part of the country the images are from so I can convert just the maps for the parts of the country we're interested in? Thanks again for your assistance!

[jako_66]

You have to install the exe file you downloaded, it will install itself to mapsource. Then in mapsource in the upper right corner choose Ibycus Canada option ( just guessing on this option, I live in the US). Then pick which map segments you want to send to your gps.

 

Thanks to everyone for your help, we've had good success with just a few blips to work through. We now have a topo map for all of Canada, thanks to Ibycus. One last question though, when we downloaded the topo map (after 3-4hours) we got 100's of img files all more or less sequential numbers for the file names (eg. 10011100, 10011200 etc). I chose the first 10 or so, converted them and got the topo map for most of Newfoundland. Is there any way to tell what part of the country the images are from so I can convert just the maps for the parts of the country we're interested in? Thanks again for your assistance!

[+IBcrashen]

 

One last question though, when we downloaded the topo map (after 3-4hours) we got 100's of img files all more or less sequential numbers for the file names (eg. 10011100, 10011200 etc). I chose the first 10 or so, converted them and got the topo map for most of Newfoundland. Is there any way to tell what part of the country the images are from so I can convert just the maps for the parts of the country we're interested in? Thanks again for your assistance!

 

You should select them via mapsource program and the map tool.

[+Seeking Some Cache]

I followed this thread with some interest as I had the same question for my Garmin Etrex Summit HC. I tried many ways of adding maps with no luck. After following the advice in this thread I am now able to download topo maps for whatever area of Canada I desire. Thanks for the great advice.

[+wrkn2mch]

I am fairly new at this and have a question..... I downloaded Ibycususa to my computer...... now How do you change the img. files to a format that mapsource will accept so that i can look at them in mapsource. I have been scouring the posts for the last two days and just can't seem to figure it out.

Thanx for any help,

Joe

[+wkmccall]

I am fairly new at this and have a question..... I downloaded Ibycususa to my computer...... now How do you change the img. files to a format that mapsource will accept so that i can look at them in mapsource. I have been scouring the posts for the last two days and just can't seem to figure it out.

Thanx for any help,

Joe

 

Just a few posts above is this:

 

You need this: http://www.ibycus.com/ibycustopo/IbycusTopo21.zip

Unzip this file, install the software and use MapSource to send to your GPS.

[+wrkn2mch]

I am fairly new at this and have a question..... I downloaded Ibycususa to my computer...... now How do you change the img. files to a format that mapsource will accept so that i can look at them in mapsource. I have been scouring the posts for the last two days and just can't seem to figure it out.

Thanx for any help,

Joe

 

Just a few posts above is this:

 

You need this: http://www.ibycus.com/ibycustopo/IbycusTopo21.zip

Unzip this file, install the software and use MapSource to send to your GPS.

 

thanks wknccall.... I seen that and downloaded it to see if it would help but the file was corrupted so i will later give it another try to see what happens...... that does look to be the answer.

thanx,

Joe

[-Oz-]

Joe:

 

MapSource will accept the default format; it is "installed" into mapsource, see this link for how to load it: http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/tutorials/how-...armin-gps-unit/

 

For an easy to install patch (like the zip file linked to above) get this: http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/files/iby...2.01_update.exe

[+coggins]

I am fairly new at this and have a question..... I downloaded Ibycususa to my computer...... now How do you change the img. files to a format that mapsource will accept so that i can look at them in mapsource. I have been scouring the posts for the last two days and just can't seem to figure it out.

Thanx for any help,

Joe

 

Just a few posts above is this:

 

You need this: http://www.ibycus.com/ibycustopo/IbycusTopo21.zip

Unzip this file, install the software and use MapSource to send to your GPS.

 

thanks wknccall.... I seen that and downloaded it to see if it would help but the file was corrupted so i will later give it another try to see what happens...... that does look to be the answer.

thanx,

Joe

Well, that link was to the Canadian Ibycus TOPO mapset. Is that what you are looking to use? I thought I read that you had downloaded the Ibycus USA mapset...

 

For Ibycus USA: http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/19/

 

Download the .exe and run it to install the software and use MapSource to send to your GPS. There is also an update patch on the page (-Oz- has posted a link to it).

Edited February 21, 2009 by coggins

[+wrkn2mch]

thanks for all the latest info...... i will give them all a try today

Joe

[+wrkn2mch]

Thanks a whole lot OZ and Coggins........both of your tips worked for me between the zip file and updating to the latest Mapsource...... It works perfectly now.

Next I will try the Arizona topo as i go there alot to the north valley of phoenix....

Again really appreciate the help.

Joe

[+coggins]

If you liked those, you'll love the AZ map. Enjoy.

[+wrkn2mch]

If you liked those, you'll love the AZ map. Enjoy.

I lived in Arizona and made the mistake of moving back east (don't get me wrong it's beautiful woodsy country here) but i am really partial to the desert fauna and i just got back from there a few days ago visiting relatives and i snuck in about 6 caches with an old miridian gold while there....someday will be moving back

thanks again,

Joe

 

Update: I just loaded the Arizona Topo and your right......... It's really good and as a bonus it has the streets and other dirt roads to get me to my destination and plenty of points of interest.....alot better than my old meridian topo map

Edited February 21, 2009 by wrkn2mch

[japa-fi]

The only downside is that they're not routable maps (yet). Your GPS can't direct you through turns.

 

Have a look at http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/Mkgmap or http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Mkgmap/routing .

There are some "pre-compiled" routable maps available, but with mkgmap, on can createmap themselves. Biggest stumbling block for me was to find the source data (1) and have it split in small enough area (2) that the created map can fit in my garmin.

 

1) http://hypercube.telascience.org/planet/ contains excerps of total OSM planet information. download from there

2) http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Osmosis tool to split downloaded file even smaller.

 

This is my script to build routable map of the southern Finland (everything between coordinates 63N-59.5N 19.3-31.6E)

wget http://hypercube.telascience.org/planet/planet-scand-latest.osm.gz
java -jar osmosis.jar --rx file="planet-scand-latest.osm.gz" --bb top=63 --bb bottom=59.5 --bb left=19.3 --bb right=31.6 --wx file="finland-split.osm" 
java -Xmx384m -enableassertions -jar mkgmap.jar --country-abbr=FIN --country-name=FINLAND --route --gmapsupp --latin1 --road-name-pois finland-split.osm

Result is gmapsupp.img which supports roiting and destnation searching by road names. country parameters are not essential

[+wrkn2mch]

Japa-fi

I have been away from the computer for a few days and missed your message.....it looks interesting and will have to look into it.

thanks for the time to post all that.

Joe

[nelsonrn]

Japa-fi

I have been away from the computer for a few days and missed your message.....it looks interesting and will have to look into it.

thanks for the time to post all that.

Joe

 

The best part about OpenStreetMap (OSM) is that it's like a wiki for maps. If you find some place where you get misrouted (e.g. wrong way down a one-way street), you can just pop up an OSM editor, and fix it. As soon as you hit 'save', your changes are in the map and shared with everyone.

 

The reverse side of that coin is: if OSM makes you happy, plan to re-create your mapset once a month, because the map is growing that quickly.

 

If anybody is curious about editing OpenStreetMap, drop me an email: russ@cloudmade.com