Help Needed With Some Magellan Software

[+ash_eng]

Hey Guys

 

Can anyone help with some software I need. I've just stretched my budget and bought a Magellan Sprotrak Pro and now i've discovered it doesn't come with a UK base map so need a UK map and also as I'm heading of for a hiking trip tothe us in the summer I'll need a USA Topo map too.

 

Many Thanks

Ashley England

[+DomHeknows]

hmm - I'm about to do the opposite - go from a uk basemap to the us one.

Can't help on the topomap but would be interested in any leads you get on this one - pm me about the basemap though (as I can't access my data on how to do it here)

[+Turkey Trotter]

I have both the European & American basemaps for a MeriGold but I'm not sure if these are compatible with the SporTrak Pro but as a thought gouls you both not backup your basemaps and maybe e-mail them to one another??

Edited April 1, 2005 by Turkey Trotter

[+ash_eng]

I don't know how to backup my basemap or extract it from the unit.

Any help?

[Lactodorum]

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Magellan_Meridian/

 

There is a host of information in this group and I found the instructions for backing up/changing the basemaps on my Meriplat there.

[+DomHeknows]

the sportrak group on yahoo ( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/magellan_sportrak) has details on backing up the basemaps (which is what I intend to try.) The US basemap is/was available on the groups

 

Instructions on backing up are as follows.....

INTRODUCTION

============

 

This document describes the procedures to download the european basemap

eu_m102.dat from the SprtTrack. Some working knowledge about the windows

enviroment and the SprtTrack is assumed.

 

These procedures must be used at your own risk. I assume no responsibility of

any kind. Please take your time to carefully read through all instructions and

make sure you understand them before using them.

 

 

BASEMAP DOWNLOAD (SprtTrack => PC)

===============================

 

Setup of the SprtTrack

-------------------

 

1. Connect the SprtTrack to the PC.

 

2. Switch the SprtTrack on, make sure that the battery life indicator is over

50%, and turn off the NMEA output (Menu > Setup > NMEA > Off).

 

3. Set the baudrate to the desired value (any value will do, but remember

that the PC should be set at the same baudrate, see below).

If too many errors occur, the baudrate can be reduced, but then it takes

much more time to download (with 115200 bps it takes about 15 minutes).

 

this instruction is modified from what what placed on the SprtTrack site

 

Setup of the PC

---------------

 

1. Create a text file containing the following lines

(Copying & Pasting this text into Notepad will do):

 

$PMGNCMD,FIL,FIRST,*6B

$PMGNCMD,FIL,NEXT*1A

$PMGNCMD,FIL,NEXT*1A

$PMGNCMD,FIL,NEXT*1A

$PMGNCMD,FIL,DOWNLOAD,eu_m102.dat*6B

 

Don't forget the carriage returns at the end of each command. The file

contains the commands to let the merdidian show the available files in the unit

and transmit the file BASEMAP.IMG (which is the basemap). The command

structure is taken from the Data Transmission Protocol for Magellan Products

Version 2.5. If you add some extra $PMGNCMD,FIL,NEXT*1A lines, you get to see

all the files (for example the detailed maps). If you only want to get a file

listing, without downloading, then just leave out the last line with the

DOWNLOAD command.

 

2. Start Hyperterminal: Start > Programs > Accessories > Communications >

Hyperterminal.

 

3. Make a new connection (or open the saved connection from a previous session

and go to step 8).

 

4. Connect Using: Direct to Com1 (or Com2, whatever Com port your SprtTrack is

connected to). Click OK.

 

5. Port settings: Bits per second: equal to SprtTrack setting

Data bits: 8

Parity: None

Stop bits: 1

Flow control: None

 

6. On the advanced button you can adjust the receive and transmit buffer

(putting both buffers on Low should be fine). Click OK.

 

7. Now click the Disconnect icon to stop the communication between

Hyperterminal and the meridian at this point, as we first need to check

some other communication settings. Some of these settings may not be

relevant at all, others are very relevant. Anyway, the settings below have

proven to work and so are listed here. In Hyperterminal, click the Properties

icon and choose the Setting Tab.

Keys act as: Windows-keys

backspace key sends: CTRL+H

Emulation: Autodetect

Telnet terminal: ANSII

Backscroll buffer lines: 500

Next, Click ASCII:

Check 'Send line ends with line feeds'

(this one is very relevant!)

Check 'Echo typed characters locally'

Set both delays to 0 milliseconds

Check 'Append line feeds to incoming line ends'

Uncheck 'Force incoming data to 7-bit ASCII'

Check 'Wrap lines that exceed terminal width'

Click OK twice to close the two windows

 

8. Now connect to the SprtTrack (click on the Call icon) and go to Transfer >

Send Text File, selecting the text file that was created in step 1.

 

9. The unit should now respond with a directory listing of the internal

file system and you should also see the file BASEMAP.IMG. The last

sentence of the response of the unit should be $PMGNCMD,END*3D.

 

10.Go to Transfer > Receive File, and select the 1K Xmodem protocol.

After that, name the basemap file that you will be receiving

(I recommend using the same suffix as Magellan uses:.img)

 

11.The file transfer should start now, and progress can be monitored (with

a baudrate of 115200, it takes about 15 minutes), but I have found in noisy environments that a boudrate of 4800 may be required to get through without errors.

 

That's it! When the download is finished you will have a basemap file

that can be uploaded to the unit, using magup.exe.

[+Turkey Trotter]

@DomHeKnows: I think you will be very lucky to find any basemaps on these groups now as I think they were forced to remove them by Thales/Magellan. That is why I suggested you & ash_eng backed up your own maps and exchanged them.

[+DomHeknows]

you can download the uk version from the group (which doesn't help *me* much) and i've tried following the instructions to back up my english basemap but it fails to do the download.

[+Turkey Trotter]

you can download the uk version from the group (which doesn't help *me* much) and i've tried following the instructions to back up my english basemap but it fails to do the download.

@DomHeKnows: How big is the european basemap? I'm just curious as if it's the same size as mine then maybe my US basemap might work for your sportrak. Also when you tried the backup yourself, was the basemap actually called eu_m102.dat on your directory listing? If not then that is your problem. Also the 2 characters at the end of the line are actually a checksum and if the filename is different then checksum will be as well. There is a small programme Here to calculate the correct checksum.

 

HTH

 

ps

I also found it easier to enter the commands 1 at a time and actually save the results to a file for future reference, (makes it so much easier to switch between the 2 basemaps if you need to if you have the correct filenames already stored on your PC)

[+DomHeknows]

my filename is different, i only have version 1 of the eu base map so i'll have to change the checksum. interestingly, the docs say that anything after the filename is irrelevant.....

My problem was that the xmodem protocol didn't seem to chat - the unit would go into xmodem mode (as nothing seemed to happen when you typed anymore) but no characters would be transferred.

I've only got the 2mb ish file as thats all the sportrak map holds.

[+Belplasca]

The European basemap is about 15MB and the USA one is about 14MB.

 

There have been a few updates, but the detail in them isn't enough to worry me into looking for latest versions - they won't be much different from the early ones...

 

I got my copies before Magellan insisted that they be removed from web sites (though I think you might be able to find them if you search hard enough. I've an idea that they might be available from a certain e-donkey (or something like that) but it would now be illegal to download them, so I can't check, can I? ...

 

Interestingly, the same basemaps work on all but the most basic of the Meridians (they are the same ones in the colour version) as well as the Sportrack Pro, and possibly the Sportrack Map, but the basic Sportrack and Meridians only had a small 2MB basemap.

 

However, if you have a Sportrack Pro and the detailed mapping software, yoou can use the 2MB basemap to get more room for detailed maps...

 

Bob Aldridge

[+Turkey Trotter]

my filename is different, i only have version 1 of the eu base map so i'll have to change the checksum. interestingly, the docs say that anything after the filename is irrelevant.....

My problem was that the xmodem protocol didn't seem to chat - the unit would go into xmodem mode (as nothing seemed to happen when you typed anymore) but no characters would be transferred.

I've only got the 2mb ish file as thats all the sportrak map holds.

Ok, the first thing I can suggest is that you setup a new connection step-by-step as detailed in this FAQ. This is for the Meridian GPSr but I'm sure it will be the same for the SporTrak. This is the document I used and it worked first time. There is a section on backing up your basemap in there. Once you have a connection then you can use the checksum program to calculate the correct string to type in and Bob should be your uncle.

 

HTH