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OK, I have read the tutorial on creating a Mac installer and am obviously missing something!   I used Garmin's mapconverter to create a Mac version of my map, then installed on my Mac where it properly opened in RoadTrip. So far so good.

Now I have a .gmapi file, which appears to be some sort of container for a .gmap file when I view the package contents. But the Mac tutorial on the site here only references a .tgz file without explaining where that comes from. I know that's a gzip file. Am I supposed to create this from the .gmapi file? Why?

I was hoping to avoid getting fancy with an installer like the tutorial shows. But am not able to upload the .gmapi file, the uploader complains that it's a directory. I also tried to compress it to a zip file by right-clicking and using the compress option, but the uploader won't take this either.

So what is the simplest way to create a Mac version without all the bells and whistles? Why can't I just upload the .gmapi file? Wouldn't that work on any Mac?

[edit]
Looking at this some more, I'm guessing that the .tgz file is something that an old version of Mapconverter created perhaps? It seems that all I really need to do is create a .dmg file from the .gmapi file and upload. True?

Just now when I clicked on my GPSFileDepot forum homepage, a popup window opened from a place called Opinion Central asking if I would take a survey. Being suspicious by nature, I just closed it.

Is this something related to GPSFileDepot or was it triggered by something else?

I just "discovered" that Globalmapper can now directly open downloaded CSV GNIS .txt files. Is that a new feature in version 11, or did I just never notice it before? Either way, it sure makes things easier! You just go to the open file menu in Globalmapper and choose GNIS as the file type. 

Cypherman has released a new beta version 1.75 Beta (2010/01/27). Haven't tried it yet myself but the changes are supposed to be:

- NEW: Backup and import a mapset
- NEW: Add lock and routing information in installed mapset list.
- FIX: Create FamiliesNT mapset.
- FIX: Errors in install mapset

Download here: http://cypherman1.googlepages.com/

First leaked here: http://www.gpsreview.net/garmin-birdseye-satellite-imagery/

I found this page on Garmin's site, but it just gives an error some of the time. Evidently this isn't going to be announced formally until next week: https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=255&pID=70144

Here's the info copied from that page, in case the link doesn't work. Heh, now we know for sure why Garmin doesn't let us make bigger custom maps from our own raster imagery. 

BirdsEye™ Satellite Imagery

Part Number: 010-D0699-00
Suggested Retail Price: $ 29.99 USD

Transfer high-resolution satellite imagery to your Garmin handheld device to get a true representation of your surroundings with a subscription to BirdsEye Satellite Imagery.

Use your BirdsEye Satellite Imagery subscription with BaseCamp™ software to transfer an unlimited amount of satellite images to your Garmin device and seamlessly integrate those images into your handheld's maps whenever you need them.

Transfer an unlimited number of satellite and aerial images to your device with this subscription and free software BaseCamp™.


FEATURES
High-resolution sub-meter color satellite imagery captures the world in brilliant clarity and detail.

Allows you to layer the Garmin vector maps on your handheld (such as TOPO 100K, TOPO 24K or City Navigator®) with BirdsEye Satellite

Imagery for a real-life view of roads, buildings and terrain.

Makes it easy for hunters to perform preseason scouting, determine placement of stands and locate game pinchpoints.

Helps hikers and campers find trails/trailheads and clearings for camping areas.

Lets geocachers determine the terrain type around a cache and identify parking areas close to the caches.

Allows travelers to view tourist hot spots and landmarks from an aerial view to make excursions memorable without getting lost.

REQUIREMENTS

File Information
The file size of this download varies based on amount of area selected. Downloads may be stored to internal memory or SD™ card.

Use with 1 Device Only
This subscription may only be used with 1 compatible, registered device. The device must be registered in myGarmin to activate the subscription on that device. Please purchase additional subscriptions for additional devices.

Download Times
Not for use with dial-up Internet access or satellite Internet providers. Download times may vary based on area selected.

Product Compatibility
Check the Products tab to see whether this map is compatible with your Garmin device. Map subscriptions are non-refundable and non-transferrable.

Expiration Date
The subscription lasts 1 year from the activation date. You will need to renew subscription after 1 year.

Minimum Requirements
You must have Garmin's free software BaseCamp™ (version 3.0.0 or later) installed on your computer before you can use this subscription. You also need a myGarmin account. If you do not have one, we will require you to create one during the purchase process.

PC
Windows® XP SP2 or newer
1 GB RAM
at least 1024 x 768 display
USB port
Internet access
Mac
Any Intel-based or PowerPC G4 or later Mac OS®
OS X 10.4.11 or later
1 GB RAM
at least 1024 x 768 display
USB port
Internet access

First time trying to create my own installer. 

Using Mapset Toolkit, I can install my map and custom types file and everything works fine. I removed this, and created an installer with NSIS using the tutorial here. The maps are installed, but the custom type is not. So the map works in Mapsource, but it looks completely wrong because it is displaying in the default style.

I don't understand what is needed in the .nsi script here:

!define MAP_TYPE            11224          ; only if using custom types

I assume that this number should be replaced with my custom type file? In mapset toolkit, I used a custom type file named 123109.typ, so I changed this line to read

!define MAP_TYPE            123109

I assume this is wrong? How do I make the custom type file install correctly?

I tried to find a solution for this a year ago and struck out. Just now finishing up a new project and I see that the same problem still exists. Any thoughts on this?

I am using TIGER road data in my map and everything looks great on my Oregon and 3 different models of Nuvi. However, on the 60csx, mixed case street names are not properly displayed. POI's and other map items are displayed correctly, but not street names. For example, let's say that a street is named "Jones Rd". This is how the name will appear on the Nuvi and Oregon. But on the 60csx, the first (capital) letter of each word is displayed, and dashes are then displayed in place of the lowercase characters. So, using this example, the 60csx would label this street as "J---- R-".

This is very strange... Garmin's own maps display mixed case names correctly and the same map compiled with Mapwel displays correctly with mixed case on the 60csx. So I have to conclude this is a cgpsmapper bug. I am running the current shareware version (97c).

I don't think I'm doing anything strange, just using the TIGER names without modification. My source file is built with Globalmapper and exported as .mp for compilation in cgpsmapper. In the past, I made a separate version of the map and converted all the names to UPPER CASE, which works correctly in cgpsmapper. But honestly, I'm not willing to go to all that trouble anymore and don't want to maintain two separate copies of the same map.

Unless there's some simple work-around, I guess I just won't support these older units anymore. It seems ridiculous that something this basic doesn't work. I mean, I'm old enough to remember writing FORTRAN programs on an ASR-33 teletype with UPPERCASE, but most software has progressed beyond that during the last 40 years! 

For the past few days, whenever I try to access anything at globalmapper.com I just get a page saying "Sorry, this site is currently unavailable". That page is actually an image hosted at images-pw.secureserver.net.

Anyone know what is happening there? It's annoying because the help menu in the program sends you to their site, and that message is all the "help" that you receive. But I also get the same error if I try any url at globalmapper.com in my browser.  

I sure hope they haven't gone out of business!

The Mapwel author has finally posted the workflow needed to do this. I have not tried it yet myself (Mapset toolkit is sort of a mystery to me  ). But it looks like we now have a fairly straightforward way to get Mapwel maps into Mapsource.

Upon request of several users I have checked compatibility of Mapwel IMG files
and Mapset toolkit.
To make map in IMG format exported from Mapwel compatible with Mapset Toolkit,
you have to do the following:

- Use main menu >File >Properties > Map ID tab to set user defined ID to map.
Check 'User Defined' option and insert some 8 digits map ID number. This number
must be unique among all maps in GPS. Check the 'Use as a file name' option.

- On the same tab check the 'User Defined' map set data option. Select some Map
Family ID and Product ID.

- Uncheck 'User Defined Styles' in the map parameters tab in the same window to
avoid merging of user styles file to the main map file. If you want to use user
defined styles with your map, export styles into TYP.txt file with use of main
menu > Objects > User Defined Styles > File.

- Make sure that map has 'Background Area' object which defines the shape of the
map. If there is no such object, draw it manually. It can have irregular shape
or it can be just rectangle.

- Export map into IMG file format.

- Load IMG file to Mapset Toolkit. Load TYP.txt file into respective box.
Previous steps were made to ensure compatibility with Mapset Toolkit, which
should be achieved at this point.

For the past couple hours I have not been able to access the homepage at gpsfiledepot.com. The forums are working fine. Are others also having this problem?

This was just posted on the Mapwel list. Will be very interesting to see how well it works:

I would like to inform you that routable version of Mapwel with
turn-by-turn navigation support is almost finished. I do already drive through
my town with Mapwel-created routable map. There will be a beta version released
very soon (hopefully 2-3 weeks). Everything is finished now, except turn
restriction support. Routable version will allow to create complex routable maps
from OSM and MP files with a few clicks of mouse. It will also work with other
vector data sources like shapefiles, GPX and KML files, and manually drawn or
vectorized roads.

Best Regards

Dusan Balara
Mapwel team

I have been using Mapwel for awhile for its support of custom types (which they call "user defined styles"). It does have some restrictions in that it doesn't support Mapsource, but it's a very impressive piece of software nonetheless. It's an all-in-one solution with its own very fast compiler - cgpsmapper is not needed. For more info: http://www.mapwel.eu/

I mentioned my project in another thread (http://forums.gpsfiledepot.com/index.php/topic,123.15.html) but thought it would be better to start a new one instead of hijacking it any further 

To recap, I am going for a look which is more like a satellite photo although it is completely based on vector shapefiles which classify land cover/land usage. The challenge is creating custom polygon textures to accomplish this, and after struggling with "ASCII art" and a couple of icon editors, I was led to the Mapwel program (http://www.mapwel.biz/).

I just can't say enough good things about this piece of software - have had no problems whatsoever (yet!). It has a very slick UI and it's own built in compiler (cgpsmapper not needed). I am working with a relatively small test map so far, and it takes about 5 minutes to compile with cgpsmapper. Mapwel rips through it in 10 seconds! Wow. Does anybody have some background on this software or the author? I really don't know a thing, but from the look and feel I almost get the impression that he had some inside track at Garmin... former employee maybe? Just a wild guess.

All my source files are combined in a large Global Mapper project, and I will continue using that for assembling the map and exporting into Polish .mp format, which Mapwel can read. I then create an MP_TYPE attribute for all of the polygons and lines which I want to customize on the map. The custom types editor in Mapwel is the big attraction - it works great and give you access to over 70 user defined polygons IN ADDITION TO all the standard Garmin types.

You can also display the map on your screen in Mapwel with the actual polygon fills - something which I don't think any other software can do. This saves a lot of time since you don't have to compile and export to the GPS to see what it will look like.

So that's how I'm proceeding with the project, which is a map of Southern New Jersey - the Pine Barrens. After I get this farther along I will have a toolbox which I think can be used to create similar maps of other states/regions. But for now, I'm happy to be a "piney" because that's where I live and what I love. I have a strong background in art and design as well as computers. So this is a fun project for me.

My earlier version of the map can be downloaded here, and you can use the forums to discuss if you like too: http://forums.njpinebarrens.com/showthread.php?t=5929. But my new work is departing from the style of this older map.

Here are some screenshots of my preliminary work on the new map. First, this is what it looks like in Mapwel (showing the area where I live... in the middle o' nowhere )




And here's the same map as seen on an Oregon, Nuvi 205 and GPSMap 60csx:



As you can see, each unit treats things like text, contour lines and roads a little differently, but the textures are really close to what Mapwel shows in the workspace. I was also really pleasantly surprised that it works so well on the 60csx which (IMO) is starting to show its age. The colors are not quite right, but that's as good as an 8-bit screen can do. But zooming and scrolling the map are very snappy. With my older map (at the link above), I have to do a separate version for the 60csx because performance was not acceptable and the display didn't look good in 256 colors. Also, for some reason, cgpsmapper files have lowercase road names and they don't properly display on the 60csx. Mapwell produces lowercase names on the Oregon and Nuvi, but uppercase on the 60csx (with the same file), just like Garmin's own maps.

So I'm learning - to my delight - that Garmin's hardware is really capable of much more that I thought possible based on their own (IMO) ugly looking topo's. Like I said, this is just the beginning of a long project but I'm happy with the direction it's going. If you haven't tried Mapwel yourself, it's definitely worth a look. If nothing else, you can use the free demo to generate a custom type file and export it out as text to compile in cgpsmapper.

A beta tester of my new map reports that after installing a gmapsupp.img file on his Nuvi 350, it was not recognized. After noticing that the City Navigator maps didn't have a .img extension, he renamed the new map gmapsupp (no extension) and says it now works fine.

I think the Nuvi 350 is one of the first Nuvi's... is it possible this is different from the newer models? Or could it be related to Windows' option of hiding file extensions (mapmaking is one of the only things I do on Windows, so you'll have to help me out here  )

Hi - new user here - great site! 

Having some problems converting GNIS data for my state (NJ). I have downloaded the "pipe delimited" text file, but when I try using your converter here: http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/tools/gnistogpx.php, it hangs for a long time, and then I get the following:

___________________________
Internal Server Error

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

Please contact the server administrator, [email protected] and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.

More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
______________________________

I have also installed the gnis_process program, and it appears run properly, claiming to create files, but nothing appears in the selected output folder. Seems like the web version would do what I want, since I already have the file though.