Using Transparent Maps?

[omegaman]

School me again on using transparent maps. I'm trying to see if they will work on my Garmin 530Hcx, and how do you use them in Basecamp? I haven't quite gotten the knack of getting both normal and transparent to display at the same time yet.
Thanks!

[Seldom]

You can only see transparent maps overlayed on a non-transparent map on your GPSr.  BaseCamp only shows a single map, so transparent maps will show without other background.  Don't know a 530Hcx, or whether it supports transparent maps.  Send transparent maps to your GPSr, just like you'd send any other map.

[Boyd]

I think any Garmin GPS that supports maps will also support transparent maps. There is really nothing special about a transparent map from a technical standpoint, it just has a high draw priority and no background.

FWIW, the Basecamp developers have stated they will "eventually" support transparent map display (ie: multiple map display) but have not made any promise as to when this feature will be available.

There is currently a limited way in which you could use them in Basecamp. If you have a BirdsEye subscription (satellite imagery or USGS topo) you can display the transparent map on top of this. You could also display a transparent map on top of a "custom map" (.kmz file) in Basecamp.

Like Seldom says, try sending a transparent map to your GPS, then enable it along with another map in the menus. I think it will work, but this is the only way to be sure.

[Seldom]

FWIW, the Basecamp developers have stated they will "eventually" support transparent map display (ie: multiple map display) but have not made any promise as to when this feature will be available.

Not holding my breath for that.  I'm still waiting for a middle mouse button pan from those guys.  It's been a year or so since they said they'd do that. 

[Red90]

The correct work should be "overlay" and not "transparent" and that will help understand what the maps are doing better.

[omegaman]

When renaming the transparent/overlay map, is there any special naming convention that must be used so that it will be recognized by the Garmin unit?

[eaparks]

Yes, it must be in the format.... "yourmapname.img" and of course leave off the quotation marks.  It is ok to have spaces in your map name, "Your Map Name.img"

You can have multiple transparent / overlay maps display at the same time.  I ocassionally will have a custom vector topo map and a custom vector trail map overlayed at the same time with City Navigator.  It is in a very rural area with few roads being displayed in CN, this would not be a good practice in a populated area since the map would be so cluttered it would be hard to tell much about it.

edit 6-7-13:  It appears as though the Garmin 530 HCx does not allow you to rename the map files transferred to it.  See the post 2 below by Indrid Cold for clairification.

[Seldom]

When renaming the transparent/overlay map, is there any special naming convention that must be used so that it will be recognized by the Garmin unit?

eaparks spelled it out correctly, but if you are using BaseCamp/MapInstall they can send multiple maps to Colorado and later GPSrs as separate mapsets.  They will name them the same map name given in BaseCamp.

[Indrid Cold]

I'm trying to see if they will work on my Garmin 530Hcx

The RINO 530HCx is basically a GPSMAP 60CSx with an integrated comm radio, so the map file MUST be named gmapsupp.img no BirdsEye, no Garmin Custom Maps, no renaming .img files...

You will need to send all maps from any set you want loaded simultaneously to the GPSr.