Mapsource map zoom

[shafer44]

I have windows 7 on my laptop and I just took a Garmin *.img file and from MapTool I created files for Mapsource.  Then, as the instructions said, I ran install.bat in the directory where the files were located.  This installed the map in Mapsource for me, but the problem is that if I set the map scale any higher than 50 miles, then I get nothing on my screen.  50 miles all the way down to 80ft work fine.  My map that came with the unit shows up all the way to the 1500 mile scale.  Am I doing something wrong, or is this just a limitation of MapTool?  Comments would be appreciated.

[Boyd]

As I understand, you need to create some sort of "preview file" to prevent that from happening. Have never done that myself. Maybe someone else can provide a full explanation because it's something I don't quite understand either.

[jbensman]

Can you be a bit more specific on what you are talking about and asking?  Is this an img file you created or someone else's?  If it is your's what kind of map is it?  If it is an img file you are creating, there are some settings you can change before you compile the img that affect how far out you can see map.  While all the maps on this site (I think) have installers, I know there are some sites that provide free img files without installers - some of them also provide the source code and some of the use agreement allows it to be modified for personal use.  Other than that, you will have to live with the zoom levels.

[Boyd]

This is what I was thinking of, from page 86 of the cgpsmapper manual. I assumed this meant that the "preview map" was a simple map containing only major features to be viewed at high zoom levels. But after reading some more, I'm not so sure now. I have never taken the time to really understand the data structure that mapsource uses.

MSTK has an option to make a blank preview map and I always just select that. I again assumed this is why you see a blank screen at higher zoom levels on my maps.
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9.2 MapSource Data structure
MapSource arranges its map sets as 'products'. Each product - such as 'Metroguide Europe'
or 'U.S. Topo' has a top-level 'preview' map, and several/many 'detail' maps. The detail
maps can be graphically selected with the program, for upload to the GPS.

Internally, these map sets are configured using data in the Windows registry. Each product
requires three registry entries. One entry points at the preview map, one at a 'tdb' file, and
one at the location of the detail maps. If you wish to install a custom map set into
MapSource, you will need to (a) create the preview map and the tdb file, and (b) create the
registry entries to tell MapSource where your files are located.