Premium Gmapsupp.img – directly for Garmin GPS units

87 comments to Premium Gmapsupp.img – directly for Garmin GPS units

• giofram

  12 July 2019 at 18:54 Accedi per rispondere

  Hi 👍

  I downloaded some maps from the site and I copied to the folder “Garmin”( of an external card – formatted MS-DOS FAT32 – of a Garmin eTrek35) the various gmapsupp.img files of the maps renaming them as gmapsupp_italy.img, gmapsupp_france.img, etc; I also copied the various contours_italy.img, contours_france.img, etc files of the contours: but the Garmin eTrek35 does not detect those maps.
  Do I need to configure some parameters (XML files, etc.) and/or run some scripts and/or do some particular actions/corrections (for example, create – on the external card the folder “Garmin\CustomMaps” – and move the *.img files in it) to be able to detect the maps from Garmin eTrek35?

  Thank you!

  • extremecarver

    12 July 2019 at 20:12 Accedi per rispondere

    Is is possible your mSD card is over 32GB? You only need to put the .img into the /garmin directory (not into custom maps!!!). Did you go into the map setup menu of your etrex 35 and enable the maps? Do they show up in the map setup menu?
    I somehow doubt your mSD is really FAT32 formatted (or maybe it’s broken?) or your placed the .img files into the wrong directory.

    • giofram

      12 July 2019 at 22:13 Accedi per rispondere

      Thanks for you aid! 👍

      a. the mSD card is 16GB and is formatted as “MS-DOS (FAT32)”: I ran “Mac Os First Aid” and no problems are reported(see image)

      b. the .img files are in “/Garmin” directory (see image)

      c. only Garmin’s maps are available in eTrex35 map setup menu

      Thank you again and I remain available to provide any further information and receive any suggestions.

      

      • extremecarver

        12 July 2019 at 22:26 Accedi per rispondere

        c) where are the garmin maps saved? Try moving one map to internal memory if it appears on the map setup menu in the etrex 35. Everything looks fine – and the etrex 35 is definitely compatible.

        • giofram

          13 July 2019 at 09:43 Accedi per rispondere

          I moved one map in internal memory and it appears in eTrex35! 👍👍👍

          1. so, is the problem in the mSD card? eTrex35 and BaseCamp recognize the mSD card:
          1.1 may I “initialize” the mSD card from BaseCamp (or another Garmin software) in a “recognizable mode” for eTrex35?

          2. could I import the .img files from eTrex35 (or Mac directory) to BaseCamp?

          Thanks! 👍👍👍

          • extremecarver

            14 July 2019 at 08:29 Accedi per rispondere

            Okay – so there is some problem with your mSD card. You could try formatting it on another (e.g. windows) computer – or try another mSD. Clearly your etrex 35 does not recognize it. No neither the etrex nor Basecamp has a format function. Standard FAT32 is the default. Did you send the maps while the mSD was in a card reader or inside the device? If in card reader maybe there is a contact problem? Try if it’s recognized if inside device connected via USB (that will not mean the device actually can access it – the etrex then just works like a card reader)

            2. I don’t know what you mean? You mean read in the maps in Basecamp from mSD instead of installing. Yes it’s possible but very cumbersome/slow – I’ve disabled it by default. You can use the change layout script to enable that option.

            • giofram

              14 July 2019 at 10:54 Accedi per rispondere

              Thanks! 👍👍👍

              1. as soon as possible (probably already tomorrow) I will format the mSD card in a Windows PC and try to copy the .img files to check if the maps are readable with the eTrex35 (if the maps will not be readable, I will try with other mSD cards)

              2. my need is to use BaseCamp on computers other than my own because – moving in the mountains between shelters and friends’ houses – I can not carry my computer with me and in Italy, unfortunately, the mountain areas are badly covered by the mobile network for internet access (even in the rare areas covered by the mobile network, the connection speed is very low, preventing in fact the ability to download maps);
              being able to use computers made available to me by friends, I can use BaseCamp (of course with the .exe and .dmg installation stored on an mSD card);
              I would then need to store – on the eTrex35 or on an mSD card – the .img files so I can use the maps with BaseCamp so I can view, correct, split, share the tracks (alternatively, I can “upload” the .img files in the app on iOS? and/or there is some app for iOS/Android that can manage the .img files and tracks so as to replace some function of BaseCamp?).

              Thanks again (and also congratulations for the initiative and availability!) 👍👍👍

              • extremecarver

                14 July 2019 at 21:42 Accedi per rispondere

                then run the change layout script against all the .img files you use before sending them – at the end of it you can chose to display them in Basecamp – and no I don’t know of a good alternative that works offline. Online there are a few solutions (I cannot tell you which is best).

                • giofram

                  17 July 2019 at 22:00

                  1. downsizing mSD (from 16GB to 8GB), Garmin eTrex recognizes maps

                  2. the result of the operations on the .img files is as follows:
                  2.1 I ran (macOS: High SIerra) scripts against some .img files (scripts use absolute paths and so I unpacedk the 7z archives in my user root directory) then I copied all .img files to eTrex 35;
                  2.2 but only the .img files on which I did not run the scripts are visible on the eTrex 35;
                  2.3 BaseCamp doesn’t recognize any .img files on the eTrex 35 (do I have to import .img files differently in BaseCamp?).

                • extremecarver

                  17 July 2019 at 22:17

                  1. there is something wrong with your 16GB card. In general up to 32GB is fine.
                  2.1 what scripts do you mean? The Change layout scripts? They really cannot break the map – but note – you cannot put multiple times the same map with different layout.
                  2.3 – as sais you need to change it with the change_layout_mtbmap.sh script. How to do it is explained on the gmapsupp donwload page at the bottom.

                • giofram

                  19 July 2019 at 18:04

                  [I reply here because 17_July_2019_at_22:17 message has not “Reply” link]

                  2.3 I couldn’t find information around “How to do it is explained on the gmapsupp donwload page at the bottom”: could you list in detail the steps/links/pagine/scripts to follow in order to import the .img files (contours_xxxxx and related gmapsupp_xxxxx) into BaseCamp in a Mac environment?

                  Thanks! 👍

                • extremecarver

                  20 July 2019 at 17:04

                  you cannot import them – you just run the
                  change_layout_mtbmap.sh
                  against the .img files. it is explained at the bottom of the instructions page in detail. Then when you connect the mSD next time – they will be loaded in Basecamp.

                • giofram

                  21 July 2019 at 09:11

                  [I reply here because 20_July_2019_at_17:04 message has not “Reply” link]

                  Thanks 👍

                  I tried but I’m afraid I didn’t get the expected results and I can’t figure out what my mistakes are: could you help me to detect them? (I report very detailed information so this could be useful in the future for people who encounter problems similar to those I am facing).

                  I followed these instructions https://openmtbmap.org/it/download/gmapsupp/comment-page-2/#comment-22881 (“Instructions” tab):
                  «Unpack with 7-zip (lzma2) or your preferred unarchiver .
                  Windows: http://www.7-zip.org
                  Mac OS x: keka or the Unarchiver
                  Linux/Unix: p7zip-full
                  The default layout is “wide” – the layout optimised for most modern garmin GPS units with comparably high DPI.

                  Move the gmapsupp.img file to the /garmin folder on your mSD of your Garmin GPS unit. Note the contourlines (altitude height lines) are always a separate second download – so updates are smaller as the contourlines rarely change. The second reason why contourlines are a separate download is that this way you can change contourlines layout independently from the map layout.

                  If you want to move several countries to your device – you will need to rename the gmapsupp.img file. E.g. just call it mtbmap_Austria.img. Make sure not to use Umlauts or custom symbols (“_” is okay, better not use ” “space. Latin alphabet only)

                  Make sure that the mSD of your Garmin GPS unit is FAT32 formatted. Else it cannot be read by your device. Second – do not forget that most new Garmin GPS devices cannot read Unicode maps – so in that case for maps that have (Unicode) after the name, resort to the non Unicode maps instead.

                  Adapting The Map Layout

                  It’s very easy to chose a Map layout:

                  a) open terminal and run:

                  bash change_layout_mtbmap.sh

                  The contourlines layout can be changed just the same way using the change_layout_contourlines_gmapsupp.sh script.».

                  I followed these steps:

                  // a. used versions
                  0. macOS: High Sierra 10.13.6; BaseCamp: 4.8.4; MapManage: 3.1.2; MapInstall: 4.3.2;

                  // b. changing contours
                  1. I unarchived contours_italy_gmapsupp.7z in my Mac home directory /Volumes/myDisk/Users/me/;
                  2. I ran /Volumes/myDisk/Users/me/change_layout_contourlines_gmapsupp.sh script (“bash /Volumes/myDisk/Users/me/change_layout_contourlines_gmapsupp.sh /Volumes/myDisk/Users/me/contours_italy.img”) using “4” choice (“4: Default – Your GPS device decides how to display the contourlines.”);
                  3. /Volumes/myDisk/Users/me/change_layout_contourlines_gmapsupp.sh script noticed me “Success – Replaced .TYP file in:
                  /Volumes/myDisk/Users/me/contours_italy.img”;
                  4. I copied /Volumes/myDisk/Users/me/contours_italy.img to eTrex35 internal card /Garmin directory;

                  // c. changing map
                  5. I unarchived mtbitaly_gmapsupp.7z in my Mac home directory /Volumes/myDisk/Users/me/;
                  6. I ran /Volumes/myDisk/Users/me/change_layout_mtbmap.sh script (“bash /Volumes/myDisk/Users/me/change_layout_mtbmap.sh”) using “1” first choice (“1: Wide – standard design for most GPS units with high contrast and wide lines (for medium to high DPI GPS Units)”) and “1” second choice (“Press 1 to make map readable by Basecamp”);
                  7. /Volumes/myDisk/Users/me/change_layout_mtbmap.sh script noticed me “gmapsupp.img will be visible in Basecamp”;
                  8. I renamed /Volumes/myDisk/Users/me/gmapsupp.img in gmapsupp_italy.img;
                  9. I copied /Volumes/myDisk/Users/me/gmapsupp_italy.img to eTrex35 internal card /Garmin directory (to be sure, I copied /Volumes/myDisk/Users/me/basemap_italy.img to eTrex35 internal card too);

                  // d. verifying map: eTrex 35
                  10. map was detected (I saw mtb_it_27.03.2019, italy_11.07.2019_omtb and mtb_it_11.07.2019 in System|Map|Configure_Maps menu as active maps);

                  // e. verifying map: BaseCamp
                  11. map wasn’t detected;

                  // f. checking
                  12. to exclude mSD card problems, I re-installed Garmin default map (a) in mSD card: BaseCamp detected map;
                  13. I moved contours_italy.img and gmapsupp_italy.img to mSD card: BaseCamp didn’t detect map.

                • extremecarver

                  21 July 2019 at 10:12

                  That’s very strange – you did everything correctly. The problem is – to verify if the flag is written correctly – you would need to use windows, as gmaptool has no graphical version for OSx. I tested that the script runs well under Linux – but maybe there is a problem in OSx – as the gmaptool version for OSx is marked experimental.

                  Oh and yes – the contourlines download script does not have the option to display in Basecamp.
                  Basically the script calls:

                  $gmt -wc 1.00,0 $imgfile
                  where $gmt stands for /resources/gmt_osx
                  and $imgfile is the gmapsupp.img

                  you could open the script in an editor and change line 346 from
                  $gmt -wc 1.00,0 $imgfile >/dev/null
                  to $gmt -wc 1.00,0 $imgfile

                  to see the output. if no output is shown add a line before with
                  set -x

                  As basecamp cannot show two maps at the same time – you would need to first join the contourlines into the map gmapsupp.img using Combine_all_img_files_into_a_single_gmapsupp_img.sh script – then run the change layout for the map. But the problem that it is not showing up is not solved by that.

                • extremecarver

                  21 July 2019 at 10:14

                  oh sorry – forgot if you run the combine script – you can already set the basecamp visibility….

• davide.pellegrini@gmail.com

  8 July 2019 at 08:31 Accedi per rispondere

  Hi 🙂

  If Europe map is too big, Can you make a mtb map for Pyrinees as for Alps?

  • extremecarver

    8 July 2019 at 14:21 Accedi per rispondere

    Hi Davide,
    I can only create maps for the same areas as covered by the geofabrik OSM extracts – there is none for the pyrenees.
    You can use MapInstall (on windows also Mapsource) – to send extracts from the Europe map to your device.

• ivx

  26 June 2019 at 18:48 Accedi per rispondere

  Hello, can you please explain how to load the map on a new garmin edge explore? I tried to put into the device (garmin folder) both the unicode or non unicode gmapsupp.img file but this is apparently not recognised