I have been looking for a better solution to Topo maps for my Garmin. I just bought the 2008 Topo and was really let down. It makes for good driving info but it is not too helpful in the biking and hiking dept. I am looking forward to using your Utah and Arizona maps. Thanks for all the work.
Any ideas on the timeframe for the California Topo?
Again, awsome site. Thanks!
Try here for Cali Topo:
http://www.vr6.com/gps/map-dl.htm
Thanks for the help :)
BUT I have an older GPSmap 60CS so it does not have a removable SDcard. I need to find a way to have the topo map available in mapsource so I can download only the needed maps. That is why the AZ topo here and the other states available over at Miscjunk have been so well recieved. Somewhere out there, somebody is working on the CA topo that is using the same format. I hope to see it. I am a guppy in a big ocean of info right now. I am learning new tricks as I go along but I don't think I am anywhere ready to create my own 24k topo yet.
If anybody has any ideas, I am willing to learn.
If you download MapsetToolKit it will alow you to load the map into MapSource.
http://cypherman1.googlepages.com/
I have used it to load many IMG maps into the MapSource program. If it will then alow you to cut the Cali map into smaller pices to fit on the CS I'm not sure.
I'm currently using the tutorial here to download and process the topo data for Missouri. My hope is that I can figure out how to turn it into a transparent map to overlay over the (very good) Ibycus USA maps. This would give me a verily good topo map.
http://www.ibycus.com/ibycususa/
Found this site on groundspeak forum also saw where OZ was working on MS topo when do you think it will be ready to download. The Garmin does not have enough detail for me. Great site !!
If you want to create a "quick" topo overlay of a smaller chunk of MS while you are waiting give this a shot. In a few hours or less you could have a few hundred square KM of topo.
http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=189762&st=450&p=3563764&#entry3563764
I have the major parts done. I just need federal lands. I'm actually working on it right now so I'll have a better ETA in a few hours.
Oz,
Garmin needs to worry about you. You are able to create in days and months what has taken them years to get around to and still not finish. Furthermore, they have made their maps only work in the current model GPS, making mine obsolete. Thank you for your hard work and to all the others who are helping you out. You guys rock!
Let me know when you get California up.
Mississippi will be up by this weekend. It'll compile each night this week and probably take 2-3 nights to compile.
It is sad that it takes Garmin so long but I still can't do routing.
Is California in the works? Do you have a time frame for the state?
So I am assuming there is not any effort to create a CA topo right now?
Any help would be appreciated. I cannot use the 1 MB CA topo map because I have only a GPSMAP 60CS and not X. Limitied space on the gps limits my maps since I cannot use a SD card.
I am looking into how to do it.
I don't currently have fast enough internet where I am based for the next couple weeks to download all the data. If I can open all the source files of the above cali map I should be able to split them
The other guy, David (IndyJpr) was working on a new map but I'm not sure how far he got; he's been pretty busy lately.
I will be able to let you know how the splitting goes during the weekend.
Just following up to see if you had any luck with the CA Topo split.
If you have suggestions on how to do it, I am open. I have downloaded the large California file but I still have no way to use it.
Thanks!
Great site!
I am looking for topo maps for ME, NH, and MA? If none are around I will start on MA and then ME.
None of those states are around. (ME, NH, and MA)
The large California file can't be opened as is. Its "encoded". I was given access to the data files. I actually had broken my laptop (and since I'm away from home its what I have now) but the part came and I fixed it (dell's quality has definitely dropped recently) so I'll try to open the parts now.
COOL! 8)
Let me know how it turns out. I will be hitting the trails starting August 10th so if you have them ready, I would love to try them out.
Thanks for your effort.
i am uploading california now. It'll take the next 13 hours for the mac and pc versions... slow internet :)
It is beautiful! Very nice to have such high resolution.
One question. When I upload the maps to the gpsmap 60cs, the roads appear as does the water features but the topo lines do not. The other topo maps from miscjunk and here work in this respect.
Am I doing something wrong?
NEVERMIND. My dorkness is showing through. For each region, there are actually two maps that are used.
yes bankboy, the original maker of the map mad them as two seperate files. I was trying to combine them and it was a nightmare so you just have to make sure both maps are used for each region. Just a limitation, glad you posted it though now others will know.
Quote from: -Oz- on July 30, 2008, 07:46:49 PM
None of those states are around. (ME, NH, and MA)
The large California file can't be opened as is. Its "encoded". I was given access to the data files. I actually had broken my laptop (and since I'm away from home its what I have now) but the part came and I fixed it (dell's quality has definitely dropped recently) so I'll try to open the parts now.
I just did MA. Looks really good but I must have messed up the water. The waterbodies are not showing in blue. It looks like I am just showing the contour lines. I will re-do the water part this week.
I have also few other small things to fix. I should have a first version of the map sometimes during the week.
That is very exciting... I'm so glad someone started doing the northeast.
New here too.
This site is awesome. I've been researching maps and POI's for the Garmins for a couple of weeks and only now found your site, linked from a post in ADVrider.com:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=379574 (http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=379574)
I was wondering how much work goes into making one of these maps, and if a doofus like me could do it. I've got a decently wide DSL, an old HP server with dual 866mhz processors (XP pro) and 3.5gig of RAM memory, so processing/compiling shouldn't take too much time, plus it's not my main machine so I can use it whenever my GF isn't doing any programming side gigs which is most of the time. This server usually sits there in the corner turned off It's not doing any webserver stuff here.
I'd be interested in working on the upper Midwest States like Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Ill-Noise. I've only been reading the info here for an hour or so but it looks like the directions are pretty straight-forward and most of the software is free (except for that one EXPENsive one, Global Mapper). I'm basically an unemployed bum with a lot of free time but very little cash, but if this can be done with the alternative program then I'm up for giving it a shot.
I was wondering how many hours it takes to do a state, and how much Hard Drive space is necessary to cache all this data while working on it.
Let's see.
I wrote a tutorial on how to do it: http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/tutorials/how-to-create-garmin-topo-maps/
It actually would take quite awhile with only 866mhz (cgpsmapper can't do dual core).
Hard drive space... let's see around 20gb, maybe 30gb during the actual processing. And yes global mapper is definitely the most expensive program in the list.
Hours, hmm; I'm not sure how long it would take because I wrote a few programs to do a lot of the steps for me. For Idaho (which is compiling now) it took me about a week to get all the data and process the roads, water, contours, etc. The part that has taken almost a week is the actual converting from .mp files to the .img files. And that is with my laptop going (its not super fast, 2gb ram with 2ghz processor, another computer with dual core 2.8ghz, and a slow laptop with 1.2ghz processor). Some of these files are 600mb .mp files which take 18-24hrs to process.
Any other questions let me know. Your advantage would definitely be that you can just let your computer sit there and go (which is what I will do as soon as I get all moved in to my new place).