GPSFileDepot Forums

General Category => Map Making Support => Topic started by: RCinSTP on November 24, 2015, 01:29:12 PM

Title: map file formats for most common hand-held GPS devices
Post by: RCinSTP on November 24, 2015, 01:29:12 PM
I created a topographic map of a wilderness area for use with hand-held GPS devices.  I know how to format the map for use with Garmin GPS.  I'm looking for instructions to format the map for use with other common hand-held GPS units.
Title: Re: map file formats for most common hand-held GPS devices
Post by: Boyd on November 24, 2015, 05:00:44 PM
Magellan has both vector and raster formats. I don't think there is a publicly available program to create vector based maps. You can use a program called TritonRMP to make raster maps. However, I am not sure whether this will be compatible with the newer Magellan devices. When Mitac bought Magellan, they made some changes to the map format. But TritonRMP works on the older Triton devices, I have used it a few times for my Triton 1500.

I don't think there is any way to make maps for Magellan's automotive units.

I also don't think there is any way to make vector based maps for TomTom's units. There was a way to use raster imagery on older TomTom devices like the Go series. I played with this on my Go 920 a number of years ago. Don't think there was any software for this, you had to manually edit a georeference file to accompany each image.

Here's a thread about making maps for Lowrance: http://forums.gpsfiledepot.com/index.php?topic=3323.0

Beyond that, there are a number of formats used by Android and iOS mapping apps. See this thread: http://forums.gpsfiledepot.com/index.php?topic=3898.0
Title: Re: map file formats for most common hand-held GPS devices
Post by: RCinSTP on November 25, 2015, 07:38:35 AM
Thanks for the info.  Good stuff about Lowrance.  I think I need to do a poll to see which brands /models of GPS are actually using.