Map draw order?

[+khumbu_calypso]

Can someone explain how map draw order works and is there a way to change this parameter for various maps I have installed on my 62s or am I stuck with whatever setting the map maker chose?

 

I have Ibycus Topo, Garmin Topo Canada, and Southern Alberta Trails (among others) installed. When I have Ibycus and Southern Alberta Trails active, I can see the topo contour lines. If I have Garmin Topo Canada and Southern Alberta Trails active at the same time, the topo contour lines are not visible. If I activate all three, I can once again see the contour lines, which I would assume are those of the Ibycus maps. If I have just Garmin Topo Canada active I can see the contour lines no problem, but as soon as I turn on Southern Alberta Trails the contour lines are gone. I thought that Southern Alberta Trails maps were just a transparent overlay, but seems that they are causing the problem here. Maybe draw order has nothing to do with this and I have some other issue here.

[+myotis]

What you are saying does not make sense-I need more details.

 

Draw order ranges from 0 to 31. The defaust for transparent is 31. That means they will be the last thing to draw. A transparent map should not be stopping anything from drawing, they will just draw on top of it. So your statement that the trail map is stopping contours from drawing does not make sense. Are you saying the rest of the map shows? You say you have other maps installed-are you sure you are not seeing one of them? Make sure you disable them.

[+khumbu_calypso]

What I have done is disable all maps. I get a pretty much blank map screen at that point. (I don't even see the basemap for some reason which surprises me, or does Garmin's Topo Canada overwrite that?)

 

Then I enable just Garmin Topo Canada. Map looks great. Contour lines, POIs, mountain peaks, etc. All there.

 

Then I enable Southern Alberta Trail Maps, which is supposed to be a transparent layer. When I go back to the map the contour lines are gone. Relief shading is still there. POIs are all still there. Just the contour lines are gone.

 

If I do all of the above steps again, but instead of enabling Garmin Topo Canada, I use Ibycus Topo, I get all of the contour lines even after turning on Southern Alberta Trail Maps.

[+myotis]

That does not sound right. You could be misunderstanding what you are seeing. First, the shaded releif works for whatever map is displayed. So it does not shed any light on what is going on..

 

You say you are seeing POIs. Are those POIs from the trail map???? Do you see roads, water, etc from the garmin map or is it just the POIs?

 

If the issue is you are only seeing the one map there could be a conflict with img names. Look in the directory where the imgs for both mapsets are installed. See if both mapsets have an img file with the same name. If that happens, only one map set will be seen when you load them.

 

I just cannot think of any reason why only the contour lines would not show. It only makes sense if the entire map is not showing.

[snowfleurys]

Are you veiwing the mapset in the 'recreational' profile?

I recall someone having this problem a few months ago and the profile they were using to view the mapset was 'programed' not to show contour lines. If changing the profile to 'recreational' or not using a profile does not help, I would suggest contacting the map author.

[+khumbu_calypso]

@myotis. I don't know why I mentioned relief shading as you are right, I'm sure that is not relevant. By POI's I mean rivers, lakes, streams, campgrounds, picnic areas, roads. All features of the Garmin Topo Canada map. When I enable the Southern Alberta Trails map these all remain visble. The only thing I lose is the contour lines. So when I enable the trails, I am clearly still seeing the Garmin Topo Canada map, just without the contour lines.

 

@snowfleurys. I am working in the recreational profile. If it was a setting somewhere that I inadvertently changed, I would think it would affect contour lines on both the Garmin and the Ibycus Topo maps. Why it only affects the Garmin Topo Canada maps is the strange thing.

 

I think I am going to contact the Southern Alberta Trails Map people to see if they know of this issue.

[snowfleurys]

I was thinking of this thread from April, 2011:

Detail not showing on Garmin 24K Topo

[+myotis]

Let me know what thre trail map people say-this simply does not make any sense. I just don't get how ANYTHING could stop just the contour lines from drawing. But if I had to guess, I would bet its the draw order is set to something other than the default 31. When it is set to something other than 31, it can react in unusual ways with other maps sets. There are also tricks you can use to have the map not actually be transparent but work transparently.

 

One last thing, under map set up, set map detail to most. I would be shocked if this worked though.

 

As a map maker, I am really curious what is causing this!

[sparksd]

A side question - other than testing it on a unit, can you determine the draw order for any given set of Garmin-compatible maps (including Garmin-produced and 3rd party)?

 

Thanks,

Dave

[+myotis]

Not that I am aware of. It is in a couple of binary files in the directory with the img files. (.mdx and .tdb) When you use mapsettoolkit to install the imgs in MapSource, you can select the draw order or leave it at default. You can use mapsettoolkit to change the draw order of an installed mapset, but while as a map author I would not care if someone did this for non commerical use, I am not sure how the map author of that mapset would feel about it or if it would violate copyright or use agreement. So the best bet is to ask the map author.

[+myotis]

I installed the trail map and I think I might know what the problem is. Exactly how did you get the map on your GPS?

 

It looks like there are two maps, the transparent trail map and then there is a non transparent map (preview map) that has roads water, etc that is only meant for a background in MapSource. If you have that preview map and the transparent map loaded on your GPS, that would explain things. The Ibysccs topo could have a higher draw order than the preview map which would cover it up. So you would not see it with Ibsyc. And the preview map could cover the Garmin map in which case you would see the preview map (it does not have any contours) and the trail map. So the question is if you are seeing the preview map or if you are seeing the Garmin map without no contour lines. My bet is you are seeing the preview map which should NOT be loaded on your GPS.

 

To tell if this is the problem, download gpsmapedit at http://www.geopainting.com/en/

 

Run it and drag and drop the img file you have on your GPS into it. It will then give you a list of the img files included. If it lists Southern Alberta Trail Maps 1.17 Preview Map, that is the problem.

[+khumbu_calypso]

I used MapSource to install the map. Followed the same procedure as other maps. Selected the area I wanted (there's only one option with this map - all or nothing) and installed it. Then I renamed it SouthernAlbertaTrails.img and went on my merry way.

 

I will try the solution you have suggested in the next couple of days and let you know what I find out.

[+khumbu_calypso]

@myotis. The Southern Alberta Trails Map guy said the same thing you did. He figured I had installed the preview map. I don't think I did. It was some time ago that I installed the map, and at the time I was using Ibycus so I had no issue. It wasn't until I installed Garmin Topo Canada a few weeks ago that I started noticing a problem. I remember when I installed it using Mapsource, that there was just the one "Southern Alberta Trails" map listed on the mapsource sidebar. I don't remember any "Mapsource only" or "preview" map listed.

 

At any rate, I deleted the .img file from my 62s and downloaded the latest version of the trail maps and installed them and the problem seems to be solved. Go figure. Thanks for the suggestions.

[+myotis]

You cannot install the preview map via mapsource. The website had a different way to install the map using a program. I figured you used that program instead of mapsource and accidently installed the preview and actual map. You could install both by mistake using the method described on the website. If you did that, everything makes sense.

[+Red90]

You cannot install the preview map via mapsource. The website had a different way to install the map using a program. I figured you used that program instead of mapsource and accidently installed the preview and actual map. You could install both by mistake using the method described on the website. If you did that, everything makes sense.

 

To be clear, it IS possible with my maps... Starting in Mapsource 6.16.1, it does not use proper draw order when you use "detailed" preview maps and this was preventing the detailed maps from displaying on top of the preview map. I've mentioned this to the Mapsource developers.... In any case, as they do not seem in a rush to fix the bug, I'm including what used to be the preview map as a detailed map in the package....as a workaround. It does leave open the possibility of accidentally sending the preview map to the GPS.

 

http://www.calgarycachers.net/trailmaps/maphandling.htm