MapSource

Newbie questions: with my new Garmin I got MapSource software - version 6.11.6.

  1. This has a crude and very inaccurate basemap. Is there any way to load OSM maps into the thing instead?

  2. I’ve seen references to problems with the latest version 6.14.1. Would it be advisable not to upgrade for the moment?

Upgrading to another MapSource version will not change much to the basemap, so you will have to install other maps anyway. So yes, OpenStreetMap is perfect for this. There are a few members of this project who supply installers for OSM MapSource maps, but not all of them do so there isn’t an installer for every country unfortunately.

I would advise not to upgrade at this moment. You’re not missing anything by not upgrading in my opinion.

I had some communication with Garmin on Mapsource 6.14.1. They are working on a number of improvements. Don’t know when the next version will be released. Until then, Lambertus’s advice is the sensible thing to do. What I understand the main reason for the latest version was Vista compatibility.

Could be ofcourse but I don’t experience any problems with an older version of MapSource under Vista…

Thanks folks. Installer from http://emexes.powweb.com/osm/download.html worked fine.

I’d wondered what these “MapSource Installers” were.

Presumably the installer has done some magic in the registry etc to persuade MapSource to recognise OSM maps. Is this witchcraft written down anywhere?

If, in due course, I want to put in a more up to date map, do I have to uninstall this one first, or would a newer one overwrite this one if I just run a later installer?

I’ve been running my 6.11.6 on Vista without any obvious problems too.

Yes, it’s a registry ‘trick’ where a few registry keys are added to the appropriate place. This info can be found with a simple Google search. It’s no witchcraft…

Can’t say about emexes, but my installer just overwrites the old maptiles with new ones. No need to uninstall.

I see there are some updates to Mapsource 6.15.3, does it improve the problems with the 6.14.1 version?

I didn’t notice a difference but I also didn’t have problems with the previous version. The only bad thing about the newer versions is the fixed aspect ratio of the map.:mad: This was solved much better in the old ones.

Reading other forums, I get the impression that Garmin roll’s out buggy and unfinished software one after another. MapSource 6.14.1 was very, very slow (although some liked the new rendering) and reading the aspect ratio problems with the latest version make me stick to 6.13.7 still.

I have the new version speed wise its ok, not super quick but very acceptable,
but I had to un-install some of my OEM maps eg OSM and NZ maps for mapsource to work.

Which is a result of MapSource being more strict in what the map definition file and registry have stored on the installed maps. This problem is solved in my maps and for other 3rd party maps you will need the fix as suggested in the sticky topic in this forum.

I have a question about the mapsource find utility.
I have a osm routable map with the provided installer from http://garmin.na1400.info/routable.php which is a great initiative. When I install that map the map is displayed and almost all features seem to work except that the find places remains gray so I can not look for city’s and streetnames. I use mapsource version 6.13.7. Any idea how to get that function enabled. I have a old osm routable map from Austria and there it seems to work.

The tool I use to make those maps (Mkgmap) does not yet fully understand the address search bit of the Garmin image format yet. Perhaps you Austrian map has been made with a different tool like cgpsmapper?

Hi Lambertus

Good point you are probably right. I need to see if that is true but it could be that I downloaded a map from Radomir and he used cgpsmapper. I can not verify it since the firewall prevents me to go to that site were these maps are stored (I downloaded it in july last year).
Atleast I know that I am not doing something stupid…

Thanks so far

The site from Radomir appears to be down, for some time already. Don’t know if he plans to continue his map making business or that my initiative killed his (which I’m not proud of if that’s the case).

Thanks for this great resource,
I’ve downloaded several mapsource format maps for different parts of Europe, and each one installs a map called “OSM World Routable” that erases the prior map. Is there a way to install/save these under different names, so that I can combine tiles on my own PC to compile the maps I want? it would save taxing your server with multiple downloads!
I can combine maps for OSM World Routable and North America NT, which I bought last year, as they both appear in the drop down menu on the top right.

the Mapsource “save” command just seems to save a subset of a given map, it does not rename the master map.

sorry if this is a newbie’s ignorance,

david

The erasing of old maps by new ones is a result from the build process. If you look in the directory where the maps are stored you will find all the tiles (maps) you requested in the various downloads from my server. The fact that MapSource just shows the latest download is that the overview map is copied over the existing ones every time.

This is not something I an fix quickly. I’m working on an enhanced version where you can specify certain map build parameters beforehand (among other things) so that you can install multiple maps. But this doesn’t work yet.

What you can do is build a new overview map from all the tiles that you downloaded using Mkgmap (but this requires some technical skills and RTM). Alternatively, you can download a precompiled map for all of Europe from one of the other map providers for as long my new version of the site isn’t online.