Mac Installer

[BobT]

I am not near as good a map maker as most of you on hear and I have a question.  I make simple maps for ATV trails and would like to add a Mac Version in my post.  I have made one of Moab and another person made the Mac Version for me.  I have just updated my WV ATV Trail map and would like to add the Mac Version.  I used the Garmin converter and get the .gmap file folder with all of the files.  When I try to upload it I get no where.   When I browse to the folder in the upload window and click on the folder it just keeps drilling down.  I think it is looking for a file with a .tgz or something extension.  What am I doing wrong.

Below is the name of the folder that the Garmin converter made.  It has several folders and files inside it.

WV ATV Trails 2_5-12345156.gmapi

[maps4gps]

Did you check the box to compress the file in the map converter program?

[Boyd]

Yes, we've discussed this before. The uploader won't let you choose the file, as you indicate. The problem is that the tutorial here is based on a very old version of Garmin's Map Converter program and the current version no longer creates .tgz files. For some reason, Oz did not want to allow the upload of the gmapi files that the new converter program creates - I asked about this long ago. Can't remember what his reasoning was.

Every time I need to upload a Mac file, I have to scratch my head and figure out a way around this again. Honestly, I can't remember what I did at the moment, but I think I used the unix command line in the Mac Terminal program to make a .tgz file (which is a compressed version of a unix TAR file).

But I think there may be an easier work-around. Doesn't the uploader let you send a .zip file? If so, then just zip the gmapi file and upload it. On a Mac, the user would only have to double-click it to unzip.

[Boyd]

Did you check the box to compress the file in the map converter program?

See, that's the problem. The new version(s) of Map Converter no longer have that option (unless I am missing something).  

[Seldom]

I just got a legacy version of MapConverter at
http://www.gawisp.com/perry/mapsource/

[jbensman]

I hate the MAC converter since you have to go through and unselect all the maps you don't want to convert.  

However, I don't understand the issue.  I just select the option for it to compress and I end up with a single compressed file.  I have no problem uploading it and my MAC versions have been downloaded thousands of times and no one ever told me it did not work.

[BobT]

Thanks Seldom!  I downloaded the 2003Beta version and it saved it as a .tgz file.  I just uploaded it and it worked great.

[Seldom]

I hate the MAC converter since you have to go through and unselect all the maps you don't want to convert.  

However, I don't understand the issue.  I just select the option for it to compress and I end up with a single compressed file.  I have no problem uploading it and my MAC versions have been downloaded thousands of times and no one ever told me it did not work.

What version of Mac converter are you using?  Later versions don't support compression options.  To get a TGZ file you'd have to tarball it, Gzip that, and then rename it.

[Indrid Cold]

Every time I need to upload a Mac file, I have to scratch my head and figure out a way around this again. Honestly, I can't remember what I did at the moment, but I think I used the unix command line in the Mac Terminal program to make a .tgz file (which is a compressed version of a unix TAR file).

But I think there may be an easier work-around. Doesn't the uploader let you send a .zip file? If so, then just zip the gmapi file and upload it. On a Mac, the user would only have to double-click it to unzip.

Seeing you have a Mac, you can just make a Macintosh Disk Image and place the .gmapi file in your .dmg and then upload your .dmg, no need to compress to a .tgz first:)

[Boyd]

Cool - that's another good option. I didn't realize the uploader would let you choose a .dmg file. But I still don't understand why we can't just directly upload the .gmapi file.

[Seldom]

Doesn't the uploader let you send a .zip file? If so, then just zip the gmapi file and upload it.

The uploader would only accept TGZ extensions when I tried it.

[jbensman]

I hate the MAC converter since you have to go through and unselect all the maps you don't want to convert.  

However, I don't understand the issue.  I just select the option for it to compress and I end up with a single compressed file.  I have no problem uploading it and my MAC versions have been downloaded thousands of times and no one ever told me it did not work.

What version of Mac converter are you using?  Later versions don't support compression options.  To get a TGZ file you'd have to tarball it, Gzip that, and then rename it.

How do I tell?  I am assuming I have the latest version.  Everytime it runs it asks if I want to check for a latter version and it checks and says I have the latest version.  But I cannot find a version number on it

[Seldom]

How do I tell?  I am assuming I have the latest version.  Everytime it runs it asks if I want to check for a latter version and it checks and says I have the latest version.  But I cannot find a version number on it

I can't find a version number on mine, but the installer name is MapConverterWindows2010.exe.  

Mine also checks for a later version and finds none.  But if you download Mac Converter from Garmin's site it's 2.1.1.  That just creates an uncompressed directory.  Looks like they eliminated compression in the last version.

Change History
Changes made from version 2.0.1 to 2.1.1:

    Detect Mac-compatible products and inform user that a conversion is not necessary.
    Fixed an issue where MapConverter would crash if the 'My Documents' folder could not be accessed.
    Fixed an issue with the conversion of US Topo 24K Central v3.
    Removed compression feature which caused problems for some users.
    Added enhanced map security features.

[Boyd]

This sounds like a good reason not to use .tgz files...

Removed compression feature which caused problems for some users.

Not sure what those problems were or how widespread they are. The thing of listing all your installed maps is just the way it works unfortunately. I guess you could use a separate machine that doesn't have any other maps installed if you want to avoid un-checking the stuff you don't want. Or maybe somebody will write their own software to convert formats. The java utility we recently discussed in another thread stops just short of doing that.

[Indrid Cold]

Cool - that's another good option. I didn't realize the uploader would let you choose a .dmg file.

It will for Macintosh uploads, .dmg files are preferred. Just use the same Mac you test your Mac converted map files on.