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All maps on SD card not being recognized by 64s

Started by turkey_picker, February 05, 2016, 08:07:14 PM

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turkey_picker

I have loaded 3 of the Garmin 24K TOPO map sets and all of the remaining states (not covered on the Garmin maps) TOPO maps from GPSFIleDepot onto a 32GB SD card. The problem is my 64s is not recognizing all of the maps at once, it's either the Garmin maps or the GPSFileDepot maps, but not all. If I load the Garmin maps first on the card, they will show plus a couple of the GPSFileDepot maps. When I load the GPSFileDepot maps first to the card they will show and none of the Garmin maps will show. Seems to be a limit as to how many maps the unit will recognize, is this what is happening? All maps were loaded to the unit through BaseCamp.

Boyd

#1
I'm sure you have exceeded the segment limit for your GPS. This has nothing to do with the size of the files, it is related to the smaller "tiles" in the maps. Your 64s will only recognize about 3000 segments - see this FAQ:

https://support.garmin.com/support/searchSupport/case.faces?caseId=%7B0b02f820-03db-11e0-e050-000000000000%7D

Based on my experience, the Garmin 24k topos each contain something like 1500 segments, so you would likely exceed the limit of the GPS with the three Garmin maps you installed. This is based on the total number of segments in all maps installed on the GPS (both the card and internal memory), it doesn't matter if you have enabled the maps.

If you exceed the segment limit, some maps will not be available (only 3000 segments will be accessible). Exactly what happens depends on the specific maps you have installed. So there is just no way that you can install 24k maps of the entire US at the same time, regardless if they are Garmin or GPSFileDepot maps. Garmin has full coverage of the US in the 100k topo product (they cram everything into about 500 segments) but of course it is not as detailed as the 24k topos.

A 32gb card is basically a waste on a Garmin GPS, unless you use it to store Birdseye imagery (it does not have this kind of limit). You will typically hit the segment limit before you fill an 8gb card with maps.  There are no standards for segment size, it's up to the mapmaker.

This is one of those "dirty little secrets" about Garmin that people don't learn until after they have spent a bunch of money on Garmin maps unfortunately.  :(

turkey_picker

Thanks Boyd for the quick reply. After looking at the link you posted, that's my problem. I just made another micro SD card with all of the GPSFileDepot maps on it. Would have been nice to have all of the maps on one card, but having them on two card isn't too bad.

Boyd

Cool. But I would do some further checking. If you have loaded 3 complete Garmin 24k topo maps, I suspect that also exceeds the segment limit and there will be some areas without coverage. Again, it is specific to which maps you load and what GPS you use as to what happens when the limit is exceeded.

IIRC, my garmin 24k Northeast topo has about 1500 segments. Theres a thread here with some discussion of this and one of the other 24k maps was mentioned with 1800 segments.

neothe

I had a similar problem with the 64s. I could load maps on the micro sd card through BaseCamp, but the GPS unit wouldn't recognize maps on the micro sd. I reformated the micro sd to a FAT32 format instead of NFTS and that solved the problem.