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Garmin Express is a new app to install map and gps updates. It will also allow you to install your GPS' updated street map onto your computer for use in Basecamp. The map won't show up in MapInstall. After installing Express, Basecamp displays an error because it can't find msvcr90.dll. Reinstalling Basecamp resolves the error.


http://software.garmin.com/en-US/express.html

Something else I just remembered...

Your roads must have the following fields defined:
CountryName=
RegionName=
CityName=

I'm not sure why but the fields are disabled in my version of GPSMapEdit(address tab). I don't want to set the value manually on all of my objects so I add the lines via script before compiling the map.

Changing the TYP only affects your map. I've re-purposed almost all of the polyline types for a trail map that I created. Other maps appear normally in BaseCamp and on the gps receivers.

0x17 isn't a predefined polyline type. I've always re-purposed predefined types. My observation has been that the behavior of the line depends on how Garmin intended it to be used. There are some lines that won't appear at higher levels regardless of the EndLevel. I suggest hijacking a line type that isn't being used otherwise.

I did this last night and...It worked!

I wrote a small script to convert the basics of my TYP file into a CartoCSS file that uses conditional logic to control line color and width based on the hex id of the Garmin object.

Added conditional logic to the CartoCSS to make lines disappear based on the EndLevel of the Garmin object. Lots more to fine tune but it works great.

The downside. It's a raster map. My map that is normally a 10MB Garmin Img is several 100MB in MBTiles. I cut down the coverage area to do testing and it took 2 hours to export(compile). This would normally take a few minutes for cGpsmapper to compile.

I've figured out an approach.

Export ESRI shapefiles out of GPSMapEdit 2.0.
Import shapefile into TileMill.
Use CartoCSS to apply styles based on conditional logic that uses the data in the shapefile.
Export MBTiles out of TileMill.
Use Galileo Offline Maps to view the map(raster).

I just stumbled on this thread searching Google for info on using the LCMBuilder DLL directly.

As you stated earlier, Lowrance is used a lot for off-roading. There aren't any GPS receivers made for off-roading so they've always used Lowrance. Lowrance markets their receivers like "Baja Elite" to the market but there is nothing special about them. Most have a depth finder connection that works because they were made for fishing. The emulators work well for testing maps. They've been right on so far. I just use the biggest one I can get.

I use GPSMapEdit to create a map for Lowrance. It starts out as a detailed map made for Garmin then I convert the MP source file to a not so detailed Lowrance map using a script I wrote in C#.net. It reads the source MP line by line and writes a new MP file for Lowrance. Some lines aren't needed for Lowrance so they're excluded. MP_TYPE conversion values are looked up in a different resource file for POIs, Lines and Polygons. Changing the conversion is updating the table values.

Did you have any questions? I made a map that is a legend of object types that you might be interested in. It has been helpful for observing functionality.

I created a map of trails for hiking, biking, horseback riding and off-roading in San Diego County.

http://www.sandiegotrailmap.com

My appreciation goes out to GPSFileDepot and the forum users for their help.

Lee

I created the attached palette file that has the standard 256 Garmin colors. It can be used with programs like IconXP to create custom xpm graphics.

The same colors as in the link below. The colors are a lot easier to select when the palette is only 8 squares wide because it does a better job of showing the progression. When displayed 16 wide like on the web page you need to zig zag your eye back and forth to see the next darker or lighter color.

http://www.deltadelta.de/garmin_colours/

I've got a large map with a lot of topo detail. The only way I could get it to compile was to set TRE to 500 and RGN to 250 then split the map to files. The benefit I saw in splitting the map was a big decrease in compile time. Cgpsmapper keeps using more memory the longer it runs and starts slowing down. Splitting the files releases memory every time it finishes a file and starts the next.

I didn't notice an improvement in GPS render time after splitting the files. Perhaps not a small enough split? I just kept decreasing the split size until it didn't improve compile time. If you split it there doesn't seem to be a need to slice. Correct?

It must exist! I don't expect the app to render Garmin IMG format. The MP file is plain text with a simple structure that I can convert it to any format. I just need to find a vector map that supports the features I want. OSM appears to have all of the attributes and ability to customize the visual appearance. That's why I'm thinking convert MP to OSM XML then to a format that is portable and scalable to run on a phone. OSM seems to be a standard that has a lot of platform options and converters available. MP to OSM XML would be simple conversion.

Magellan custom map info is here:
http://www.msh-tools.com/gps.html
http://www.msh-tools.com/magellanmapseng.html

I stopped reading when I got to "Raima Database format". In my early years I supported a product that used Raima and it was fragile at best. I'm scarred for life from spending hundreds of hours recovering customer data and rebuilding corrupt databases. The Magellan implementation might be fine but my initial instinct was to run away. Raima was a bad word.

I really want to retain the vector format as Boyd suggested. The map has a lot of detail and I need to control when elements are displayed. I've already set the EndLevels and I'd like to use it when I convert. I think kml or kmz would be an unrecognizable glob of lines and POIs until zoomed in close. Can you control display based on zoom level? Everything I've seen has been very detailed. I don't just have a few roads and POIs. It's a highly detailed map that covers 13,000 sq miles and I've got a lot of custom graphics. Ideally the user would be able to touch screen and get more information as they can on the GPS or in BaseCamp. My preference is to increase functionality and gain more control over the UI. I'd rather write a custom converter than go backwards.

Don't you lose the ability to search when converting to raster? Search is critical. It works great with the large coverage area.

I think the easiest solution is to convert to OSM XML then use an existing converter to go to sqlite which can be used in several apps that support offline custom maps.

I have a large map and would like to re-purpose it to other devices like iPhone or Android smartphones.

OruxMaps supports Garmin IMG files on Android but the labels don't display well. All labels display regardless of TYP file settings and there isn't a progressive display to limit the number of labels that display so it turns to soup. Labels overwhelm the map. Road labels are displayed horizontally instead of with the road and they add to the confusion. Orux has settings to control the label for object type - poi, line, polygon but it's all or nothing for the class and still displays too many labels.

I've found a few apps on iPhone and Android that support derivatives of OSM format as a custom offline map. My plan is to write a converter from MP to one of the formats. OSM would be easy and then it could be converted to other formats with converters that already exist. sqlite db seems to be the best final format so I might write a converter directly from MP to sqlite.

Are there any converters that already exist? Has anybody converted their MP map to a smartphone?

The apps I'm looking at are:
Locus Maps -Android
OsmAnd -Android
Galileo Offline Maps -iPhone

I've tried MapInstall and MapSource. MapInstall installs maps differently on newer GPSrs so I usually don't use MapSource for loading maps any more. Just for testing.

For more complex logic I import all shapefile objects then run a utility on the MP file and use the comment values to update the Type= value. It reads the MP file line by line and writes a new MP file line by line only updating the Type value based on whatever logic I need at the time. The comments are listed before the object so it makes it easy.