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Problem loading Big Desert map onto Garmin etrex 30 with MapInstall

Started by sniffer, February 04, 2014, 05:27:31 PM

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sniffer

I just got a Garmin etrex 30 and I am new to working with GPS systems, so no answer is too obvious.

I downloaded several of the free maps off of this great website and had no problems viewing them in BaseCamp and transferring them to the device with MapInstall.

I downloaded the Big Desert Southwest map and can see it in BaseCamp.  I transferred it to the device with no errors, and I can see the 1.46 GB .img file on the SD card in the device.  The problem is, I cant see it on the device itself (it doesn't show up in the Map Selection/Enable/Disable menu).  Any ideas why it is not working? 

All of the maps are installed on an 8GB SD card, there is about 750MB free.

Thanks for the help!


Seldom


Boyd

Have you installed a lot of maps? I assume that you did if you only have 750mb free. Most likely, you have exceeded the segment limit of your device. This limit is completely separate from the amount of storage used for maps.

Garmin maps are broken into smaller "tiles" that are called segments. Garmin's newer devices can only access a total of about 4,000 segments. This is a total of all segments in all maps that you install on the device, either on a card or internal memory. If you exceed that number, strange things will happen and some maps either won't be available or will not correctly display.

I believe mapinstall will show you the total number of segments, although I don't use it myself. To troubleshoot, remove all maps except the desert SW. If that works, start adding maps back and see what happens. You will reach a point where you exceed the limit and start having problems again.

The real cure is to simply not load so many maps at the same time. Your gps will also startup more quickly with less maps.

omegaman

It's for that same reason that I keep my different maps on different cards. I simply change the card in the device to the card that has the map I need on it.

Quick and easy too! ;)

Boyd

4000 segments is actually a lot of map coverage in most cases. However there is no standard size for the coverage area of a segment, it is completely up to the mapmaker. Older maps typically used smaller segments because memory size was limited on older devices and this allowed the user to choose their area of interest more precisely.

But in many cases, you will reach the segment limit long before you fill a big memory card. As an extreme example, Garmin's own 100k US topo contains over 6,000 segments but is only about 3gb. So with that map, you would reach the segment limit after only loading about 2/3 of the US but the map file would only be about 2gb.