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Thanks! Lots of new things are coming to boydsmaps, but such a big re-write that it will take until 2027 to finish. I'm trying to completely re-imagine what a map website should be.

The new version will actually be a unix-like operating system (written "from scratch") that runs right on the webpage, a completely private virtual machine with it's own private filesystem and graphical user interface. On a computer, it has multiple map and data windows that "talk" to each other. Still playing with completely new ideas for the mobile interface.

But it has multiple "tiers", starting with a dead-simple one for people who just want to click on links and look at maps. The most advanced tier has multiple unix-like terminal windows, with standard unix commands plus a suite of new commands for working with maps. Virtually everything is customizable. Lots of fun - tons more work to do - but it's already running on my development machine.

Regarding Garmin, I've spent literally thousands on their devices, starting with a StreetPilot 2620 in 2004 (IIRC) - here are the ones I still have. Gave many other to friends over the years.



You can look way back at my posts on this forum and see how excited I used to be about Garmin. But I just got frustrated, Garmin doesn't want you to make your own maps. For Garmin, a map is nothing but a "profit center". And they simply can't handle the data-rich maps I make (which are no problem on a phone).

But keep making those free maps! It's great there are still people doing that. Lots of people still have old Garmin devices, even if they can't afford new ones ($450 for an eTrex???). I tried firing up my Montana 600 the other day. After it warmed up I got "phantom clicks", opening random menus non-stop like it was posessed, LOL. I believe this is the classic sign of a failing resistive touch screen.

Thanks, and I'm sure he will appreciate it. Just "don't hold your breath" because that might take years. It's sad, having been around for so many years and remembering the great discussions we had about making Garmin maps. But those days are gone. And I mean *long* gone. What you see in the forums is very different from my view, where there are endless spam posts (some of which are very offensive) practically every day that I delete. Then they're back again the next morning, and having moderated at a number of sites, including one of the biggest forums on the net, I can say that this forum software is - hands down - the absolute worst when it comes to moderator tools.

But "it is what it is".... right? I try not to think about it, just ban the bad guys and move on. It's nice to see an actual post about maps though. It's no exaggeration to say I could count those annually on my fingers without even taking off my shoes.

I am in my "post Garmin" phase and loving it, with my web app at boydsmaps, featuring 3tb of free maps, no ads and no registration. I went in that direction because Garmin just doesn't come close to supporting the kind of maps I want to make and I don't want to limit myself to the kind of person who is willing to jump through all the hoops to install maps on a Garmin device. My own maps are only a click away!

Garmin is the past. I am interested in today... and tomorrow. That future does not belong to Garmin and their expensive proprietary devices or closed map format.

But - don't get me wrong - good on you for making maps and posting them here! I was deep into that at one time and it's an experience that I will never regret!

(JMHO, of course and certainly not "site policy"  )

Good idea, but I wouldn't expect much to happen unfortunately. I have no access to that section of the website, I'm only a moderator for the forums. Dan (the site owner) would have to do that himself, and he doesn't stop by much anymore. Sorry, I haven't even been able to contact him myself for awhile....

I no longer use Garmin devices, but am pretty sure Basecamp will recognize any valid maps in the Garmin folder. Give it a try and see...

Bear in mind, .img files are actually "containers" - a file with an .img extension could be two completely different things. One type (like yours) is a compiled group of tiles and additional data to make it recognizable on the GPS. Basecamp will not directly recognize these (neither will Mapsource).

However, if you take a flash drive (or SD card in a slot or reader) and create a Garmin folder on it, you can then copy the .img file there. Basecamp should recognize that and will cache it, which might take a minute or so. Then you can view the map in Basecamp.

But the trick is that this only works with "removable storage" devices and not with files on your computer disk.This feature came along when Garmin started making their devices mount like external disks; it allowed people to use the City Navigator maps in Basecamp without downloading or installing anything, just connecting their GPS.

Haha, sorry, it's been so long since I've heard of 256mb cards that I missed that! You should be fine there then.

I still don't know what ucx and gma files are and think you're on the wrong track messing with those. Basecamp didn't exist when the 60csx was introduced and it was designed for use with Mapsource. It will just eliminate a lot of possible issues if you use that. Garmin stopped developing Basecamp back in 2018, although they did one final update afterwards to fix some serious bugs.

Anyway, good luck. I'm all for nostalgia and have a milk crate full of old Garmin devices that I (literally) spent thousands on. But they no longer interest me, I have very little patience with old technology these days (or Garmin, for that matter) 

Only have minute right now, but I still have my 60csx and can't understand why you are having problems, it should still be fine as long as you use the correct software and storage media.

For starters, I don't think a 256gb card will be fully compatible, pretty sure 4gb is the max, as this FAQ says

https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=qGfL8GafT70kjKfDzCwGl8

What are .ucx and .gma files? Whatever they are, they will not be compatible, AFAIK. And then there's the larger problem that I think you will always have issues with Basecamp. IIRC, I couldn't get it to work last time I tried with my own 60csx.

You should be using Mapsource (see the tutorials here for how to download/install that). If you're using a Mac, you will need to use a Windows VM. Also not sure whether it works on new versions of Windows.

Another possible issue is the very restrictive "tile limit" on the old 60csx. IIRC, it only allows a total of about 1000 map tiles. This is the total of ALL tiles in ALL maps on the device. If you exceed this number, unpredictable things will happen, depending on the specific mix of maps.

Have a look at Javawa's tools, they can help diagnose and fix problems like this. They may not be compatible with newer operating systems though, not sure because I no longer use Garmin devices, but it's worth checking out as they are very useful

https://www.javawa.nl/jdm_en.html

You would want a routable map for that. Go to the "Custom Maps" link above and check the "Routable" box where it says "Search by map features". The selection is pretty limited and I don't have any experience with any of them myself.

Garmin should be able to sell you several routable maps, including the city navigator series (mostly for on-road navigation) or their topo maps, most of which have routable roads (I think, but it's been awhile since I looked at their selection). Of course, those will be expensive and copy protected such that that only work on the first GPS they are installed on (in most cases).

Which map are you talking about? This one?

https://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/861/

If so, why were you using mapsettoolkit? There is nothing in the instructions saying to use that. Mapsetoolkit is very old software that was used by map creators to build maps. Unless you are using some *really* old files from this site, you don't need it. And any map that old is probably not worth using anyway.

The instructions for using that map are very clear and simple, just follow them:

"To view in Basecamp on Windows use the "Mac" version, after extracting and opening to mapaname.gmap, mapset can be placed in the Windows C:/ProgramData/Garmin/Maps folder"

The author is also pretty active on the forums and he will probably respond here soon. But first, let us know if that is the map you are talking about.

Another making your own contour option is in .mp format.  This can be done with Global Mapper (paid) or dem2topo

Of course, if you have Globalmapper, the whole thing is pretty simple. You can create a polygon outlining the area you want on a map, then go do File > Download Imagery > Terrain Data and choose either NASA SRTM or ASTER GDEM to download the DEM data within that polygon. Then it's as simple as a mouse click to generate contours. They could be exported as an .mp file or any other format you like.

But Globalmapper is pretty expensive commercial software. Well worth the cost for me however, have used it very heavily since around 2007. They update it every year but I have only upgraded a few times, currently using a pretty old version.

They do have a free trial version, but it has some limits as to how much data you can export. You could give it a try though, maybe the free trial version would work long enough to do this one project for you?

Thanks for trying. I can see the imgur fine, but the three screenshots in the previous post just say "you cannot view this attachment". As a mod, I can edit your post and see the bbcode for the attachment, but if I try to view it, same problem.

This is something that Dan would have to fix, so I think "it is what it is". 

BTW I am able to see your screenshot.

That is interesting, even with mod privileges for me it just says

"You cannot view this attachment."

If I use a different browser that I've never used on this site and don't login, it still says the same thing. Very odd....

Sorry, I can't help. But FYI, your screenshot is not showing in the forums. That is something I don't really have any control over as a moderator, but believe it's no longer possible to upload images on the forum, you need to host them elsewhere and just link to them in your post. See this:

"As of December 2022, due to an increase in spam and decrease in usage GPSFileDepot will no longer provide free image hosting."

https://www.gpsfiledepot.com/hosting/

Perhaps an issue with Unicode text?

https://community.openstreetmap.org/t/cant-authenticate-maps-contact-seller-for-help/87406/2

I stopped making Garmin maps some time ago myself, and no longer even use Garmin devices, although I used them heavily at one time. It's pretty clear that Garmin doesn't want people to use third party (free) maps, they are desperately hanging on to a dying business model. But it would be surprising if they actively started blocking all third party maps.

I have read that (some) newer Garmin devices are blocking routable openstreetmap maps, presumably over liability concerns that the routing may be defective and cause problems. No idea if that is true, but if so then it might only affect routable maps.

Will admit, I'm a little out of touch with the current version of Birdseye. I have had several subscriptions, the most recent was for a DriveTrack automotive unit. But Garmin has killed all of these older devices and no longer supports Birdseye on them. I think that happened about 4 years after I purchased. The newer Birdseye is directly downloaded on the device somehow (I guess) and it might be different.

However, there actually was a way to disable some of the Birdseye in the old version, but don't think it will help you. There were separate Birdseye products, like satellite imagery and topo maps. Those were separate subscriptions and showed up separately on the maps menu, so they could be turned on and off.

But you couldn't enable/disable individual .jnx files within each subscription.