I recently purchased a copy of Garmin Mobile PC for a carputer project that I am prototyping. I'm a home hobbyist so cost conscious.

I'm working with a development box and have GMPC running in a virtual machine while I prototype the rest of the system around it before moving the software to real hardware. As such, I'm running the trial version in the VM so that I don't have to buy another copy when I get it running on the real hardware (which hasn't been purchased yet).

Anyway, to my question...

Is the ability to disable maps in the map sets pane (Tools -> Map Sets) not there in the trial version? I installed/transferred the Ibycus topos to Garmin Mobile PC and it appears as the "Detailed maps" listing but there is no check box to turn off any of the other maps so I never see it. I don't see the "Mapsource" button referenced here. Is it supposed to be beside the "Back" button or in the grey part of the screen? See my attachment to see what I don't see.

I guess it makes sense from a business point of view to have it set up this way but it sure is annoying for me at the moment.

I thought I read somewhere that a dormant license can be re-installed on a new hardware set after six months. Is this correct?

Btw, this forum rocks! Lots of great info in here. Thanks!

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Must be a Trial version problem. Yes the button should be right next to the Back button.

Also, I can confirm one extra activation of previously activated software is available after 6 months.

Terry

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MapSets.jpg (72.5 KB)

Thanks for the confirmation!

Can anyone post an image of what the Ibycus topo maps look like when in use in the GMPC interface? Maybe there is a youtube video that shows it in action?

I want to get a feel for whether this will work for my purposes without spending another $80. This system is going into a Jeep that will be used for exploring off-road.

Thanks!

Have you considered nRoute? I think it is recommended over GMPC for off roading.

Terry

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Ibycus.jpg (76.2 KB)

If you've ever looked at paper topo maps, that's pretty much what you'll see in Mobile PC when you are viewing the Ibycus topos. It's a little crisper and cleaner than Topo Canada v2 and it's way more up to date.

You might want to take Terry's suggestion and look at nRoute. It has an older style display, but that sometimes makes it a lot easier to see the finer details in a topo map. Mobile PC has a habit of drawing everything too big and thick for my taste when trying to use a topo.

For what it's worth, maps in Mobile PC will look a lot like they look in the new versions of MapSource (6.14.x and newer). Maps in nRoute will look exactly like they look in Mapsource 6.13.7 and older.

When you click on the "DETAIL MAPS" section on the Maps page in Mobile PC, does it tell you that it's the Ibycus maps?

When you click on the "BUILTIN MAPS" segment of the Maps page, what does it tell you about the maps? Does it tell you they are still locked?

...ken...

Thanks for the help everyone!

I didn't bother investigating nRoute because it was discontinued software. Took a look at it this evening. I'm not a fan of the "look-n-feel" of it for what I am building. I need applications that are very touch screen friendly as this carputer is going into the dash of the Jeep. It needs to be easy to use at a glance. I like what I see of the topo posted above.

I am certain the maps are installed correctly. I am seeing the correct strings in the Map Sets screens. Also the Ibycus stuff appears automagically in nRoute as a drop box item.

I think Ken is suggesting that you click on the 'built-in maps' in the Map Sets screen. If it shows locked, GMPC may decide it only has one map to work with (Ibycus) and not give you a MapSource button. The purpose of the MapSource button is to allow you to select which map to display.

terry

I don't see any references to the maps being locked (see attached).

I have a bunch of eTopo DVDs. How do I go about loading them into GMPC/Mapsource? Each map tile JPG has a JPR and MAP file associated with it. Do I need to preprocess with some other program? MapSource and nRoute don't seem to know what to do with them. The MAP files are plain text OziExplorer files it seems.

TIA

Edit: BTW, I'm using the software only version of this software. I have an existing Garmin GPS35 (serial) bolted to the roof of the Jeep that will be sending NMEA signals.

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Yes, that map looks fine. The problem must be elsewhere.

For a small screen (say 800x480), GMPC wastes a lot of real estate with the top and bottom banners. With nRoute, you can turn off the bottom banner. The only advantage I see in GMPC over nRoute is the + and - sceen pads. In nRoute you would have to use the little magnifying indicators in the top bar. You would not be able to use any of the routing or find features in GMPC (or nRoute) as they don't work with Ibycus maps.

Terry

Yeah, the display is 1280x768 with 1024x768 allocated to dedicated application space (i.e. for GMPC and other apps depending on which screen has focus).

My big draw to GMPC is that it does both routing and topos while looking decent and OEMish. The need to switch maps between routing and topo is not a big deal from what I've seen at this point.

The other software I'm really interested in is Overland Navigator but until there is Canadian datasets available it is pointless for me. IIRC it doesn't do routing either.

As Terry said, your builtin maps look right so it must be something about the trial version that's stopping the Mapsource button from appearing. I guess you'll have to take our word for it at the moment that it's really dead simple to switch mapsets in Mobile PC.

You can easily force the Ibycus topos into view by simply moving the builtin maps somewhere else temporarily. Just move or rename GMAPPROM.IMG so Mobile PC can only see the GMAPSUPP.IMG file. That should work to let you play with Ibycus topos. Then just move or rename the GMAPPROM.IMG file back when you want to see the builtin maps.

You will need to do some sort of processing on those other maps to get them into a format that Mapsource will work with. I have never done that sort of thing so I can't help. Check out the Ibycus topos before you go to a lot of work figuring that out.

I understand your preference for Mobile PC. It's really beautiful and it's really designed for touchscreens. And it has many routing features that nRoute doesn't have.

...ken...

I decided to put this into a seperate message. Don't be surprised if Mobile PC decides not to work with that Garmin receiver. Mobile PC software-only version will work with any non-Garmin receiver but it does not like some Garmin receivers. If that ends up being the case you may have to run a program like GPSGate Express or Xport in order to hide the fact it's a Garmin receiver.

I know that sounds rather stupid that Garmin would block some of its own receivers but ..... well, it's just stupid. What more can I say.

...ken...

Tried this... doesn't seem to work. Major routes are in place and that's all the data available. I'm not going to get too excited about it though - I'm guessing it is a limitation of the trial version. At least that's what it "smells" like.

Yeah, did some reading up on this and played with some of the shareware stuff out there. Ended up purchasing GPSMapEdit but the export to Garmin options are still greyed out even after registering/activating. I must not be doing something required in the interface.

I compared the Ibycus data to the eTopo data (using MapSource and Memory-Map Navigator) and there appears to be a lot of stuff missing in the Ibycus data set. It may be the difference between the vector and raster images though. I'm going to keep plugging with the preprocessing to see what exactly has to be done to convert the eTopos.

Thanks for the heads up on the receiver. I'll try it and see what happens. Maybe converting serial to USB will hide that it is a Garmin. I'd rather not install yet another peice of software to consume CPU cycles for trivialities.

Just in case, can anyone recommend an external, weather proof receiver? Something low profile, USB and innocuous preferred.

The Globalsat BU353 meets that description, has a nice strong magnet in the base and works well with the software-only version of Mobile PC.

...ken...

If you only see main roads, that's the basemap. Did you try disabling gmapbmap as well? I know GMPC will work with only the gmapsupp image.

Terry

Disabled both maps - nothing drawn to the screen at all then.

Got to be a license thing.

One more try. How about renaming gmapsupp.img to gmapprom.img after renaming your existing gmapprom file. Maybe the problem is the supplementary name in a non-activated version.

Terry

I have a copy of GMPC that is not activated and I cannot duplicate your problem. It was a version that came with a 20x but I don't think that makes a difference. I removed everything but a small Ibycus file as sup2 and the base map. I don't get the MapSource button but the Ibycus map shows up when I use the View Map function.

Could it be you are looking at a location that you don't have a map for? Did you copy the entire Ibycus map to GMPC? Are you located somewhere the map doesn't cover? Or is it that - because you have never had a GPS connected - GMPC is still in Olathe, Kansas?

You can tell that from the basemap. If that is the case, use the Browse Map feature in the bottom left of the Map to move the view to somewhere you do have an Ibycus map for.

Terry

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Terry, I think you've got it right with the last part about being in the wrong place to see the Canadian maps.

As for reproducing the other problem, the copy of Mobile PC I'm using on this desktop computer is not activated. It's another copy of my s/w-only version. It's not activated and it's not in trial mode, either. As long as I don't connect a GPS to it it's happy to let me mess around with everything else.

I have three mapsets, GMAPPROM.IMG, GMAPSUPP.IMG and GMAPSUP2.IMG as well as the basemap. When I go to the Manage... > Map Sets screen, I get the MapSource button and can switch any combination on and off.

The first thing I did after I ran this copy the first time and it failed activation (naturally!) was to switch to the GPS Info screen and set a New Location to my current location. As long as a GPS is not connected it will stay there.

I discovered something else interesting while I was trying to replicate the problem. One of my supplemental mapsets is Metroguide Canada. The other has an older version of City Navigator, some Topo Canada, some Ibycus topos, and two transparent overlay trail maps from the Calgary area and the Crowsnest Pass area.

When I click on the Mapsource button I can mix and match any combination of everything. That is, I can switch on, say, Metroguide Canada which is in one supplemental map file and one or both of the transparent overlays which are in the other supplemental map file and they work together on the map screen. It seems like once Mobile PC loads it doesn't really care which physical files the maps are in. You can select any combination.

Neat!!

Do you suppose the Mapsource button problem is also related to his current location? The builtin maps are North America and the basemap is the world, so he'll see them both as long as Mobile PC thinks he's anywhere in North America. But he won't see Canadian maps unless Mobile PC thinks the current location is somewhere in Canada. So there would be no point in showing the Mapsource button .. and every reason not to .. if Mobile PC thinks he's somewhere he won't be able to see any maps if he chooses a set that does not include his current location. Perhaps it's just trying to protect him from himself??

...ken...

That is interesting about setting a new location. I never thought of that as the copy I have was once set up with the 20x to the right location. A great solution!

As to the MapSource button issue, I only had to have any 2 maps (including a case where 2 diffent maps were in one file) for the button to be active. I think, in reece146 case, it is due to the CNNANT2009 file being locked but I can't test that. I might suggest setting supp and sup2 as different areas of Ibycus but GMPC might see through that. Maybe I'll try it!

Terry

BTW, my wife was looking for a new street in Ladysmith yesterday and only Ibycus Topo 2.1 had it. CNNANT2010 on the Nuvi and MGCANv5 didn't. Of course, I had to search for it visually but Ladysmith isn't that large.

Terry

I did a clean install of Mobile PC on a computer from which I had previously removed all traces of GMPC. I can confirm that the MapSource button will not appear with only one other map besides the internal one. However, If there are 2 or more supplementary maps, the MapSource button will appear. On my copy there was an asterisk in front of the built-in maps as they are not unlocked. Details were not available until I loaded supplementary maps.I tested both 5.00.00 and 5.00.50.

This was the first time in a while I have actually had the program start with version 5.00.00. Usually it won't start until I get to 5.00.30. I assume it had something to do with the preclean.

Terry