problem loading maps to a new 62

[+ar_kayaker]

I have several topo maps I got free from GPSFileDepot that I have been using just fine in my 60Cx, but when I add them to the mapset for my new 62 it won't display them.

 

With the 60Cx all the maps were one big file (or you could manually re-name the gmapsupp.img file via usb to swap maps) but the 62 allows you to load and re-name segments or states and then select between the ones displayed on the fly...except non-garmin maps. I even tried getting rid of all maps on the unit and then loading just the topo without renaming it and it still wouldn't show up.

 

All these maps load to and through Mapsource and work just fine on the 60Cx so I don't know what's going on with it.

 

I've considered tryin to load them as custom maps, but haven't figured out that process yet.

 

Any help out there?

 

AK

[+myotis]

You cannot load them as custom maps.

 

The img files have to be in the \garmin\ directory of your GPS or card or they will not work.

 

Do you have the maps enabled on the GPS?

 

Do you kayake on the Buffalo? Its been a while since I floated it-but I plan to this spring.

[+ar_kayaker]

You cannot load them as custom maps.

 

The img files have to be in the \garmin\ directory of your GPS or card or they will not work.

 

Do you have the maps enabled on the GPS?

 

Do you kayake on the Buffalo? Its been a while since I floated it-but I plan to this spring.

 

They load to the \Garmin directory, they show up initially as gmapsupp.img, but when I go to the map select/enable screen nothing is there except the basemap. If I load something from my old metroguide maps in the same img file the file will show up on the select/enable menu, but only the tile from metroguide will display.

 

AK

[MtnHermit]

Have you turned Metroguide off? Street maps will show on top of topos.

[+ar_kayaker]

Have you turned Metroguide off? Street maps will show on top of topos.

 

Actually the "newest" maps will be on top, at least if it works like the 60Cx, but I thought of that and loaded only a single tile of metroguide, but loaded the whole state topo maps. Only the sigle tile from metroguide shows up. On the 60Cx, even if the metroguide was the newer map it would only conceal the area directly behind the one tile.

 

I'm starting to believe 62 has some means of deciding that a map file isn't "official" and ignoring it, even when it's loaded via Mapsource.

 

Haven't tried Basecamp yet.

 

AK

[+myotis]

That does not make sense. Sounds like you are doing it correctly. Which maps are you loading? Try loading just one mapset on the GPS at a time. Maybe there is an issue with one of the maps.

 

I think I might have read something that the 62 deals with maps differently. You may have to load each mapset seperately and then rename it. But I could be wrong about this.

[MtnHermit]

Actually the "newest" maps will be on top, at least if it works like the 60Cx, but I thought of that and loaded only a single tile of metroguide, but loaded the whole state topo maps. Only the sigle tile from metroguide shows up. On the 60Cx, even if the metroguide was the newer map it would only conceal the area directly behind the one tile.

 

I'm starting to believe 62 has some means of deciding that a map file isn't "official" and ignoring it, even when it's loaded via Mapsource.

I think this is a Metroguide issue. It does not need to be loaded into gmapsupp.img. That file format was created for topos. I believe it will work as gmap.img and work alongside a gmapsupp.img file. Do a test in Mapsource, send a Metroguide only file to your 62, what is it named?

 

As to official, I distinctly remember Red90 stating that Garmin does NOT want to kill 3rd party maps. While they certainly will sell fewer topos, their overall ecosystem is much stronger verses any other GPS maker. I for one will only consider a Garmin because they run the Above the Timber topos which for where I live are the maps of choice.

[+Bullygoat29]

I think I might have read something that the 62 deals with maps differently. You may have to load each mapset seperately and then rename it. But I could be wrong about this.

 

You may be on to something here. When Garmin allowed multiple maps with any name, I started loading all of my maps individually. That way I know what each map is and can remove it from memory if i want. I have had no problems with your map sets doing it this way.

[+myotis]

Actually the "newest" maps will be on top, at least if it works like the 60Cx, but I thought of that and loaded only a single tile of metroguide, but loaded the whole state topo maps. Only the sigle tile from metroguide shows up. On the 60Cx, even if the metroguide was the newer map it would only conceal the area directly behind the one tile.

 

I'm starting to believe 62 has some means of deciding that a map file isn't "official" and ignoring it, even when it's loaded via Mapsource.

I think this is a Metroguide issue. It does not need to be loaded into gmapsupp.img. That file format was created for topos. I believe it will work as gmap.img and work alongside a gmapsupp.img file. Do a test in Mapsource, send a Metroguide only file to your 62, what is it named?

 

As to official, I distinctly remember Red90 stating that Garmin does NOT want to kill 3rd party maps. While they certainly will sell fewer topos, their overall ecosystem is much stronger verses any other GPS maker. I for one will only consider a Garmin because they run the Above the Timber topos which for where I live are the maps of choice.

 

If there was a problem with the gpsfiledepot maps and the 62, you would not have been the first person to post on the gpsfiledepot forum about the problem. You need to trouble shoot as I suggest above to narrow this down.

 

All Garmin maps (made by Garmin or us map authors on gpsfiledepot.com, above the timber, etc) have a draw order between 1 and 31. That is what determines which map is drawn first and what covers what. The lower draw numbers draw first - that means a map with a higher draw number (with the exception of a transparent overlay) covers them up. City Navigator has a draw order of 30 which means it covers up any topo map you have loaded. In order to see any topo map, you have to go into map setup and disable CN. I do not know what the draw order for MetroGuide is, but I suspect 30. Transparent overlay maps like My Trails have a draw order of 31. That means they draw on top of any map but since they are transparent, they don't cover up the other maps.

 

gmapsupp.img is the file created on your GPS for whatever maps you send to it (street, topo, or whatever). On the 62 and other new garmins like the OR, you can rename the file to something else. On the OR, what shows up in enable and disable the maps is based on the mapset name. For the 62 I think the name in enable and disable is based on the .img file name.

 

Try loading just one mapset at a time, rename gmapsupp.img to the mapset name.img and see if it works.

Edited February 25, 2011 by myotis

[+ar_kayaker]

Actually the "newest" maps will be on top, at least if it works like the 60Cx, but I thought of that and loaded only a single tile of metroguide, but loaded the whole state topo maps. Only the sigle tile from metroguide shows up. On the 60Cx, even if the metroguide was the newer map it would only conceal the area directly behind the one tile.

 

I'm starting to believe 62 has some means of deciding that a map file isn't "official" and ignoring it, even when it's loaded via Mapsource.

I think this is a Metroguide issue. It does not need to be loaded into gmapsupp.img. That file format was created for topos. I believe it will work as gmap.img and work alongside a gmapsupp.img file. Do a test in Mapsource, send a Metroguide only file to your 62, what is it named?

 

As to official, I distinctly remember Red90 stating that Garmin does NOT want to kill 3rd party maps. While they certainly will sell fewer topos, their overall ecosystem is much stronger verses any other GPS maker. I for one will only consider a Garmin because they run the Above the Timber topos which for where I live are the maps of choice.

 

If there was a problem with the gpsfiledepot maps and the 62, you would not have been the first person to post on the gpsfiledepot forum about the problem. You need to trouble shoot as I suggest above to narrow this down.

 

All Garmin maps (made by Garmin or us map authors on gpsfiledepot.com, above the timber, etc) have a draw order between 1 and 31. That is what determines which map is drawn first and what covers what. The lower draw numbers draw first - that means a map with a higher draw number (with the exception of a transparent overlay) covers them up. City Navigator has a draw order of 30 which means it covers up any topo map you have loaded. In order to see any topo map, you have to go into map setup and disable CN. I do not know what the draw order for MetroGuide is, but I suspect 30. Transparent overlay maps like My Trails have a draw order of 31. That means they draw on top of any map but since they are transparent, they don't cover up the other maps.

 

gmapsupp.img is the file created on your GPS for whatever maps you send to it (street, topo, or whatever). On the 62 and other new garmins like the OR, you can rename the file to something else. On the OR, what shows up in enable and disable the maps is based on the mapset name. For the 62 I think the name in enable and disable is based on the .img file name.

 

Try loading just one mapset at a time, rename gmapsupp.img to the mapset name.img and see if it works.

 

Actually I've done all of that. The first time I loaded one big set, metroguide (15 year old Garmin road maps), and the topos I wanted in one huge set just like I would on my 60Cx. It showed in the select/enable list but I couldn't see the topo and the 62 has no means of deselecting individual tiles or layers from a mapset the way the 60 series does.

 

Next I changed that file to metroguide.img and reloaded the topos with Mapsource. It named it gmapsupp.img, I renamed it artopo.img for convienience, but when I went to the select/enable screen....no topo, just the metroguide still there.

 

Back in USB mode I verified the artopo was still there. The 62 was just ignoring it. I deleted it and the metroguide file and reloaded just the topo without renaming it....no maps. I selected a single metroguide tile from North Dakota along with the arkansas topos and loaded that. This time it appeared in the menu and I was able to see the streets of Minot, but when I scrolled down the Arkansas....blank space! 190k file with only Minot, ND.

 

I copied this file over to the 60Cx and poof, one tile of Minot plus arkansas topos. The 62 is ignoring the third party maps, or at least mine is. If it is just mine malfunctioning, it's the weirdest malfunction I've ever heard of.

 

AK

[+Bullygoat29]

Where did you get the AR maps from? I can try loading them on my 62s and see what happens. Are you loading them on internal memory or uSD card?

[snowfleurys]

Did you download/install/update the 62s software/firmware from the Garmin website? What was on my new OR300 was two versions out of date.

 

Probably the AR topo from gpsfiledepot, as he mentiones that website in his first post.

 

If I might ask - what does a 15 year old mapset offer that is not in one or more of the free mapsets currently available from gpsfiledepot and/or other websites?

Edited February 26, 2011 by snowfleurys

[+Bullygoat29]

I downloaded AR topo from GPSfiledepot and installed on my gps. I found that if city navigator was visible, even though no data for Arkansas is included, it blocked the topo map. Disabled CN and the maps showed up. I'm currently running firmware 2.92 on my 62s.

[+myotis]

Try downloading My Trails http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/53 , install it, send to GPS, rename it My Trails.img and look here and see if you see trails: N35 09.949 W93 38.322

 

One more thing, have you tried changing profiles? Maybe your profile is messed up.

Edited February 26, 2011 by myotis

[+Bullygoat29]

Don't know if you meant me but it works with and without CN.

[+myotis]

No I meant ARkayaker. The more I think about this, I bet it is a corupt profile. If simply changing to another profile does not show the map, hopefully you backed up your GPS before you messed with it. If you have the orginal profiles backed up, replace the ones on your GPS with the orginals. If that does not work, try resetting the GPS. Since MetroGuide is so old, maybe it messed something up. If you get it working, try loading the other maps and see if it works before loading MetroGuide.

[+ar_kayaker]

Okay, I was away for a couple of days so I'll have to play catch-up on the questions and answers....

 

1. The 3rd party topos are from GPSfileDepot, as someone else already guessed.

 

2. I've stuck with the 2.50 firmware so far because the Garmin website is still calling the 2.92 a beta version with a bunch of disclaimers about messing up your GPS. (I'll probably go ahead with the update over the weekend as 2.92 has been out a while without destroying any GPSr's that I've heard about. Unless I end up sending it back to Amazon (see below))

 

3. The 15 year old maps I have (metroguide and the old 1:100k garmin topos) have one redeeming feature: Totally unlocked. They predate the BS with being able to only load maps onto one GPS unit. I use the metroguide in all my handhelds only as a generic reference for streets and some POIs that have been left out of City Navigator NT like old cemeteries and other historical buildings. (My Nuvi has an up-to-date version of City Navigator NT for driving and finding current restuarants.) The garmin topos I really don't use as 1:100k is a little lame when there are free maps out there that are more current, include some trail data, and are 1:24k, which you can't even get from Garmin unless you are in a National Park ($300 for the whole USA) or West of the Rockies at about $50 a state. If I can't find a fix for the problem with the 3rd party maps I'll resort to the 1:100k for a while.

 

4. I wouldn't have thought that a map section in ND would block the view of AR, but I guess it's possible. One problem with that though is that the file to enable/disable the topo maps doesn't even show up in the menu when they are alone in an .img file. That trick with tiles from different "products" was just one experiment I tried with map tile combinations to make the file appear.

 

5. Haven't tried the profile thing yet because I didn't want to mess with the settings, but I recently discovered that my GPSr wasn't a new product even though Amazon sold it as one! I went to download my weekend hiking tracks and found some tracks from Decemeber last year in New Hampshire, 3 months before I bought it and 1000 miles away from me. It's entirely possible that the profile was corupted before I got it either by the prior owner or by Amazon wiping the data they knew was incriminating (that they found) in an attempt to pawn it off as new. Will be discussing that with Amazon in the near future.

 

I did back up all the data on the unit before making any changes, but now I don't know if that data was good to start with. Does anybody know where to find original data for a 62?

 

AK

[snowfleurys]

The free maps are also unlocked and use much more current data.

Garmin has 24k topo maps available on DVD; 6 cover the 48 States. These are also unlocked.

[+myotis]

I don't think you understand profiles. They are not settings. You use profiles to quickly change your settings to optimize your GPS for a particular use. Map settings are part of the profile. So if the profile you are using is corupt, simply changing the GPS to another profile can fix the problem. I don't know how the 62 works, but go to profiles and change the profile to another profile and see if the maps work. There is a good chance this will work and it does not mess with settings.

 

FYI: My POIs has over 4000 cemeteries in AR. There are also hundreds of buildings. The source is the USGS data on 24K maps. My Trails has thousands of trails in AR.

[+ar_kayaker]

The free maps are also unlocked and use much more current data.

Garmin has 24k topo maps available on DVD; 6 cover the 48 States. These are also unlocked.

 

I wasn't aware that Garmin had finally gotten around to the rest of the states. Last I looked (about a 16 months ago) they were still releasing states in sets of two and only had the west coast and the rocky mountain states available. At the rate they were being released I expected to see my state around 2015. I see now that they picked up the pace and repackaged them in larger geographical areas.

 

Unlocked? If I shell out the $700+ dollars for them I can actually load them on all my GPSr's? That's sure new! I think I'll stick with the free ones anyway, unless I hear some really impressive things about them.

 

I don't think you understand profiles. They are not settings. You use profiles to quickly change your settings to optimize your GPS for a particular use. Map settings are part of the profile. So if the profile you are using is corupt, simply changing the GPS to another profile can fix the problem. I don't know how the 62 works, but go to profiles and change the profile to another profile and see if the maps work. There is a good chance this will work and it does not mess with settings.

 

FYI: My POIs has over 4000 cemeteries in AR. There are also hundreds of buildings. The source is the USGS data on 24K maps. My Trails has thousands of trails in AR.

 

Maybe we are talking different software here.

 

Before I got my Nuvi I had done a one time update for my 60Cx with CN:NT because trying to drive with the metroguide maps was just too much. I think it was the 2008.40 build. Later I was out paddling in a swap where I knew there was an old mission and cemetary on an island that I'd been to before, one that was listed in metroguide. When I tried to pull in up on NT it showed the nearest cemetery 20 miles away, a modern cemetery that is still in use. No sign of the 10 or so that I know are out in the wilderness area and that metroguide listed.

 

Maybe the 4000 cemeteries you have are all modern ones and the historical buildings you see are ones that are still standing and on the historical register rather than just some half-colapsed walls on an island. Or maybe they got complaints and added them back in for later builds, I just don't know.

 

I tried all the profiles that were laoded on the unit. None would display any of the non-garmin mapsets I have loaded.

 

AK

[+myotis]

With the change profiles not fixing the problem, I would say exchange it. But to be safe when you get your new GPS, back it up first thing. Try it without MetroGuide before loading other maps.

 

Yes I think we are talking different software. My POIs and My Trails are mapsets on gpsfiledepot that I make. They ar transparent overlay maps (they show on top of other maps). I used data from the AR GIS site that had USGS data for the cemeteries in My POIs. You are right City Navigator tends to have just the active cemeteries. The data I have has much more than CN but not everything. People can send me waypoints of missing places and I can add it. I looked closer at the buildings and they tend to be stuff like courthouses. But I just took another look at AR's GIS website and they have a file that has 2,581 places in the National Reg of Historic Places. I am going to the data to the next version of My POIs (probably in about a week). They won't have half collapsed walls on an island, but if you send me waypoints, I can add them to the map.

[+ar_kayaker]

With the change profiles not fixing the problem, I would say exchange it. But to be safe when you get your new GPS, back it up first thing. Try it without MetroGuide before loading other maps.

 

Yes I think we are talking different software. My POIs and My Trails are mapsets on gpsfiledepot that I make. They ar transparent overlay maps (they show on top of other maps). I used data from the AR GIS site that had USGS data for the cemeteries in My POIs. You are right City Navigator tends to have just the active cemeteries. The data I have has much more than CN but not everything. People can send me waypoints of missing places and I can add it. I looked closer at the buildings and they tend to be stuff like courthouses. But I just took another look at AR's GIS website and they have a file that has 2,581 places in the National Reg of Historic Places. I am going to the data to the next version of My POIs (probably in about a week). They won't have half collapsed walls on an island, but if you send me waypoints, I can add them to the map.

 

I sent it back to Amazon today for a refund. They say they'll even refund the original shipping costs. If they follow thru I might buy another one from them, otherwise it's off to the REI store.

 

But after all the hassle of loading maps via the USB port I remember the other thing I liked about the 60Cx....being able to load to the SD card directly, it's 10 times faster. So when I get another one it'll probably be a 62s, that way at least some good will come from all the hassle.