How to create a large hi-res map of Cataluna (Spain) for Garmins

[MikeF]

Hi

I'm new to all this so please be gentle. I plan to ride my motorbike on the dirt trails round northern Spain in a few weeks. I have successfully imported OSM maps for the region, all good.

I want to import a highly detailed map of Catalonia but am struggling. I have read various articles and forum threads and ideally want to hear from someone who has successfully done something similar.

There are some beautifully detailed Catalonia maps available from icgc.cat. You can define your region to download, and they limit you to about 15,000 x 15,000 pixels per download. So more than what I think might be a Garmin imposed limit of 10,000 x 10,000?

I put this thru Google Earth, lined it up and created a kmz. I can put that in Basecamp and see it on BaseCamp map - but when I load it on the Garmin (Monterra) I cant see it. It goes on SD card in the folder called User Data.

So I thought I would convert .kmz to .img. Looked at various threads and options but trial versions of the converters wont handle files so large, and if they did there seems to be a Garmin 100 x (1000 x 1000) tile limits.

G Raster looks like it might be an option, cGPSmapper was recommended but I'm buggered if I can use it and Mapwel is in the mix too.

But I thought I'd ask first. Surely this is a common thing for advanced Garmin users?

All tips appreciated ;-) Mike

[Boyd]

First, you don't want to turn this into an .img file, that involves converting raster data to vector data and will not give you good results.

I think your Monterra supports 500 raster map tiles (in .kmz files) but am not positive since I haven't used one myself. I know my Montana supports 500 tiles though and have read the Monterra is the same.

But the custom map (.kmz) format just won't allow enough coverage for a map as large as you want. I only offer local maps on my own website, however the Mobile Atlas Creator software I use should be able to do what you want, if you can find your desired map on a server somewhere and create a custom mapsource to access it. Mobile Atlas Creator (MOBAC) is a free open source program that runs on all platforms and can make maps for just about any device and app, including your Monterra.

Custom mapsources are more complicated than I can explain right now, but the MOBAC docs have examples of custom mapsources and you will find more examples with some Google searches.

See my MOBAC page here, it includes a detailed tutorial: https://boydsmaps.com/mobile-atlas-creator/

Section 6 goes into detail about making Garmin maps. See the advanced section about getting around Garmin's tile limits by creating .jnx files. The catch is that you need to have an active Birdseye subscription for that to work however.

You could also use the okmap software described there to create custom maps and .jnx files from other sources, if you don't want to use MOBAC. But Okmap is not free.

[jolly47roger]

The Spanish Geographic Institute offers free downloads at 1:50,000 or 1:25,000 : http://www.ign.es/web/ign/portal/cbg-area-cartografia

MAPC2MAPC (also not free) will convert to KMZ and allows you to select tiles for just the areas you want - the map created does not need to be a whole rectangle.

If you already have GPX  files of your planned routes then it will create a Route map optimised to cover just the GPXs

And it will make JNXs too.

[Sorry, Moderator - I declare a personal interest]

[Boyd]

BTW, since your Monterra is an Android device, I assume you could install alternate software. There are a lot of Android apps that don't have Garmin's ridiculous limits on raster imagery. The link I posted above shows Android apps that are compatible with Mobile Atlas Creator: https://boydsmaps.com/mobile-atlas-creator/

[edit] Was looking at your OP again and you mentioned the availability of imagery that is 15,000x15,000 pixels. Those should actually be compatible with your Monterra (assuming the tile limit is 500). Those could be processed as 225 tiles at 1024x1024, so you could use two of those downloads at a time.

[MojaveMan]

[edit] Was looking at your OP again and you mentioned the availability of imagery that is 15,000x15,000 pixels. Those should actually be compatible with your Monterra (assuming the tile limit is 500). Those could be processed as 225 tiles at 1024x1024, so you could use two of those downloads at a time.

This is mostly true, but I wanted to mention the possibility that you could optimize the number of tiles by resizing the image.  Its possible (and highly likely) that the 15,000x15000 pixel image could be resized to be smaller (therefore taking less 1024x1024 tiles) and still look great - I make many custom maps and each one has to be considered individually through some trial and error to see if a resize looks reasonable on the device.

[Boyd]

Assuming that Garmin allows you to install apps, have a look at OruxMaps. It's free and very powerful, with virtually no limits on map size. https://www.oruxmaps.com/cs/en

[jolly47roger]

MAPC2MAPC will cut the large TIF images from CNIG (c14000x9000 pixels) into tiles for Orux (and others).
If you use MBTILES format then you can join several maps together seamlessly.