Need help getting topo maps loaded into Dakota with Mac

[karunaveg]

Just got a new Dakota 20, and have loaded a 16 GB micro SD card, and have downloaded 2 topo maps, CA and AZ, and have them filed as .gmapi files in my applications folder under Garmin, and when I run Map Installer as instructed here: http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/tutorials/how-to-load-maps-on-my-garmin-gps-unit/#mac
I find that the Map Installer apparently recognizes my Dakota and the card, but it doesn't recognize in the upper left hand corner where you can choose which Maps you want to install, the CA or AZ topo maps, just the USA maps I have which are for my other Garmin product that I've had for a couple years, a Nuvi.
I would sure appreciate some ideas to help this work!
Thanks.

[Indrid Cold]

Well, you need to install the .gmapi (GarminMAPInstaller) files with the MapManager.app and then they will be available for MapInstall to use. Try double clicking the downloads and see what happens.

[karunaveg]

Thanks! I did as you said, and successfully opened and converted the 2 topo maps with Map Manager, and then, yes, they appeared in Map Installer, and then I ran the MapInstall program, thinking that would successfully install them both on the Dakota's micro SD card, but all that ended up being installed is a folder that says Garmin and in that a relatively small 143 mb file called gmapsupp.ing - neither the CA or the AZ topo maps were installed by MapInstall, even though it seemed to install them both just fine and said Done at the end. Any idea what I should do next??

[maps4gps]

Did you select the entire State(s) - 143mb is a good size for part of a State (or 'all' of AZ).

Did you select one State, then select from the second, THEN upload the file to the GPSr?
If you sent one State and then a second, the second one will overwright the gmapsupp.img file of the first. 
You need to either combine them before sending to the GPSr, or send one then rename the gmapsupp.img file to another name with a .img extension, i.e. catopo.img or aztopo.img.

[karunaveg]

Thanks so much - this helped, I selected the entire state in both cases and stored them on the 16GB SD card labeled catopo.img and aztopo.img. The CA topo img file on the SD card is the apparent right size (1.08 GB on my hard drive, and 1.25 GB on the mini SD card) but the AZ map is way too big (167 MB on my hard drive and 1.44 GB on the SD drive). The bottom line, though, is that now whenever I power up the Dakota, I get a new thing happening right at the beginning -- there's a loading bar at the bottom saying something, I think, about loading maps (it's so small it's hard to tell), and then there is a prompt "Can't Unlock Maps" and then in Setup/Maps/Select Map there is no map listed other than the stock basemap. Any suggestions?
Thanks again!

[Indrid Cold]

It sounds like the CA map is the right size, but the AZ map size looks like the AZ &CA combined. Not sure about the unlock??? What version of which softwares including your GPS are you using???

[karunaveg]

I've worked some more on it, but I still have the same problem, unfortunately. I decided to register the new Dakota 20 online with Garmin, and that caused me to get a software / firmware update, which I downloaded and loaded successfully. I don't know how to determine the version of the Dakota's software, but it must be up to date now. I am using version 2.1.3 of MapInstall and of Map Manager.
I tried installing just the AZ topo, and still got the huge file of 1.44 GB. I just selected it in the upper lefthand corner of MapInstall, then clicked and dragged to select the entire state, and then clicked install. When I then turned on the Garmin after the installation was complete, I got the same prompt I've been getting ("Can't unlock maps"), and under Setup/Maps/Select Map, there is only the basemap.
I then deleted the AZ topo from the micro card, and tried installing the CA topo. Did the same click & drag to select the whole state, and this time it created a 1.44 GB file (strangely same as the AZ map, which makes it seem like it's somehow put the two together) and placed it in the Garmin folder on my 16 GB micro card.
Same prompt when starting up the Garmin, after the brief "initializing maps" bar at the bottom - "Can't unlock maps". I can only click OK on that, and then the main screen opens up, but there are no topo maps available, still.
Any help would be enormously appreciated!

[-Oz-]

What maps do you have installed on your computer and what maps are on the microsd card?

[Boyd]

Something very strange is happening here. I use Macs quite a bit... for everything but mapping and gps applications.   I don't suppose you that you also have Windows on your Mac, do you? If so, then I'd try installing the PC version with Mapsource.

If not, then I can only think of a couple wild guesses, which are probably wrong, but it's worth a try.

Did you format the SD card on your Mac? If so, what kind of filesystem did you use? If you formatted it for MacOSX, I suspect you'd have problems. The card should be formatted as Windows FAT32. I believe you will have a problem with any other filesystems, and the default for a 16GB card on the Mac may not be FAT32.

There was a bug in the Garmin software awhile ago (on the eTrex line, I think) where invisible MacOSX files were causing the GPS to crash. These are files beginning with a period or dot. On my Mac, I would use the Terminal application to view these (being an old unix geek ), but there is probably some other program to show you hidden files.

The only other wild guess is that the Dakota can only handle a maximum of 4000 map segments. That is probably plenty for what you're doing, but you might check just in case (assuming that the Mac installer tells you how many segments you've chosen).

[karunaveg]

Sorry for the delay, and thanks for your ideas and questions. I am on the CA / AZ border without a very good internet connection, and will be here another week or so. The only 2 maps I've had are the CA & AZ topo maps I've been trying unsuccessfully to get onto the Dakota. I was just able to download another map from this site - it's of Crater Lake, OR, and is a .kmz map, which is a whole other animal; I could just drag it to a folder I made on the micro SD card called CustomMaps, and it recognizes it and enables it just fine (I can't see it, though, since I'm not there). So the micro SD card seems to work OK. I checked by doing "get info" and it's formatted FAT32; I've never formatted a card for a Mac.
I still though don't know what to do to get the CA & AZ maps to successfully load on the Dakota.
When I get to a place with better internet access, I will try downloading other maps and see how that goes. Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[maps4gps]

Crater Lake, OR, and is a .kmz map, ... (I can't see it, though, since I'm not there).

Zoom out some, pan over to the location of Crater Lake, then zoom in.
The display range of .kmz files is dependent on the pixel size used in the image.

[Boyd]

Yes, that's one of my maps.  I don't know if your Dakota basemap shows enough detail, but you may be able to find Crater Lake using the Where To? menu. Otherwise, as Maps4gps says, you will need to drag the map to the general vicinity and zoom in. I don't recall what happens with that map, but generally the .kmz maps I've made will not appear until you zoom in to the 1.2 mile setting - or you might even have to zoom in to .8 miles.

Sorry, I'm fresh out of ideas as to why the other maps don't work for you. You may want to just cut your losses and purchase Garmin's maps...

[aaronhoffman]

Karunaveg, did you ever have any luck installing the CA and AZ maps on your Dakota? I am having the same problem with mine (and am using a Mac as well).