Transferring Detail Maps from Mapsource to Mobile PC

Ken,
I think I already tried sup3 and it didn't work. I didn't try modifying the xml for that one though!!

Terry

I haven't had any luck with that, Ken, but you may have better results.

Wonderful, wonderful tool. Sorry I forgot to mention about downloading cgpsmapper... kinda slipped my mind. Glad you figured it out, though!

For ease of use, I put a copy of GMAPTOOL (or a shortcut to it) on the Windows Desktop, and when I want to diddle with a *.img file, I just drag-and-drop it on top of the GMAPTOOL icon. GMAPTOOL immediately opens up, listing your *.img file inside; at that point, hit the DETAILS button and wait a few seconds. The 25-character code buried inside the *.img file shows up near the bottom with a U: at the head of the line. It is separated into 5-character clusters with hyphens between them. That's your unlock code. If there's more than one, it's because you've got a *.img file which is made up of more than one mapset. Each mapset within a *.img file requires its own unlock code, unless its a free mapset, of course.

If you've decompiled the original file, as mentioned earlier, and installed it into MapSource, take your unlock code and enter it into MapSource in the usual way.

In the event you've got an already-created *.img file and a legal 25-character unlock code for that mapset, you can use GMAPTOOL to 'Write' it into the *.img file quite easily.

Have fun!

CD

UPDATE: One last note... using GMAPTOOL to decompile a 'gmapprom.img' or 'gmapsupp.img' file for installaton in MapSource works exceedingly well, with one exception. The overlay map... or whatever you call the "zoomed out" map... is virtually always BLANK. You won't see any detail until you zoom fairly far in... usually to the 50 Mile level or further... due to the fact that it's simply not available in the *.img file that you've decompiled to create your MapSource installable. This can be helped, somewhat, by increasing your level of displayed detail in MapSource to the "Highest" setting, with the tradeoff that populating the screen now takes substantially longer. Play with it yourself and you'll see what I mean. In any case, if your interest is in installing your *.img mapsets into MapSource so that you can divide them up into smaller compilations, you'll find this is -- though less than ideal -- still a quite workable solution.

Very interesting. I did that for the GMAPPROM.IMG file of City Navigator North America NT2009 that came with my Mobile PC -- that's the file I split and installed into Mapsource. It has two unlock codes in it but it only contains the one product, as confirmed by the details listed.

Yes, I see that. But it's not insurmountable. There are rectangular outlines all over the screen when you zoom way out. If you select the Map Select tool and start clicking them on and off and watch the Maps tab, you soon get a pretty good feel of how to get the segments you want included in a compiled map. Or just zoom out far enough so you can grab all the rectangles in one sweep.

I didn't do this to use the maps on other devices, anyway. I just wanted to be able to use it in Mapsource. It's really quite easy to use the Find command to move directly to areas I want to see while staying zoomed in enough to see the details.

I also found another interesting use for a Mobile PC map in Mapsource. I've added that lovely Mobile PC world basemap with the DEM data in it to Mapsource to make it easier to pan around the world when we're talking about maps and searches in other parts of the world. The older versions (6.13.7 or earlier) of Mapsource can't display the relief view but 6.15.3 does. I did a fast trip around the world and it looks like the basic DEM data is in there for the entire planet. Nice touch, Garmin.

...ken...

I'll agree that the 2 unlock codes you see are undoubtedly both for the same mapset, though I can't tell you why you have 2 rather than 1. What I can say with some degree of certainty after having played around with these things for quite some time is that only 1 unlock code is actually necessary in order to make the mapset functional in a Garmin hardware device. Why you should have 2 unlock codes within your 1 mapset in GMPC is a bit puzzling to me...

Hi.

I have done so more work with combining the City Navigator 2008 NT Europe maps (MobilePC version) and the City Navigator 2009 NT North America maps (MobilePC version). I have found that although you can merge them into one version of MobilePC by naming them gmapprom.img and gmapsupp.img and unlocking appropriately with the corresponding 20X, it leads to performance issues and compromises speed of map updates when you are browsing (and I have quite a quick PC with planty of memory and an NVIDIA graphics card). Mobile PC must still access both mapsets somehow even though only one is unlocked and obviously the City Navigator mapsets are large.

I have resolved this by installing both mapsets into C:\Program Files\Garmin\GarminMobilePC and naming one as gmapprom.img and the other as gmapprom_US.img or gmapprom_EU.img (this is the secondary mapset not in use at the time). We have proven already that the core Mobile PC software is the same. I have then put two batch files in front of Mobile PC - one of these sets the EU mapset as primary and the other to gmapprom_US.img and the other sets the US mapset as primary and the other to gmapprom_EU.img. The batch files are as follows:-

Start Garmin Mobile PC_EU

@echo off
:: Run Garmin Mobile PC - EU Version
:: Batch file created by Julian Pickering 17/2/09

if exist "C:\Program Files\Garmin\GarminMobilePC\gmapprom_EU.img" (
:: US maps loaded - switch to EU maps
ren "C:\Program Files\Garmin\GarminMobilePC\gmapprom.img" gmapprom_US.img
ren "C:\Program Files\Garmin\GarminMobilePC\gmapprom_EU.img" gmapprom.img
)
:: Start Garmin Mobile PC
cd C:\Program Files\Garmin\GarminMobilePC
start QUE.EXE
:end


Start Garmin Mobile PC_US

@echo off
:: Run Garmin Mobile PC - US Version
:: Batch file created by Julian Pickering 17/2/09

if exist "C:\Program Files\Garmin\GarminMobilePC\gmapprom_US.img" (
:: EU maps loaded - switch to US maps
ren "C:\Program Files\Garmin\GarminMobilePC\gmapprom.img" gmapprom_EU.img
ren "C:\Program Files\Garmin\GarminMobilePC\gmapprom_US.img" gmapprom.img
)
:: Start Garmin Mobile PC
cd C:\Program Files\Garmin\GarminMobilePC
start QUE.EXE
:end

You can create shortcuts to these two batch files and then import the program icon from the QUE.EXE file in C:\Program Files\Garmin\GarminMobilePC and you end up with two icons named "MobilePC EU" and "MobilePC US" which look exactly like starting Mobile PC. It hasn't overcome the problem of getting both mapsets live at the same time but it does make the switch easy on a single PC and there are no performance issues.

Hope this is helpful. I realise that many of you will not have the issue of running the European and North America mapsets together but this solution may help if you have any other large mapsets to switch on and off. Regards, Julian.

Hi Julian,

Did you test to see if performance was improved by simply unchecking one of the mapsets in "Tools > Manage My Data > Map sets > Mapsource"?

As you have guessed, when you have multiple mapsets, your Garmin navigation program will load everything, including all the search data and indexes for POIs, addresses, cities, etc. That's a lot of data to go through.

It's most obvious if you have two different map products loaded for the same region. For instance, I often have Metroguide Canada and Canadian segments from City Navigator North America loaded. When I do a search for an address or certain POIs, I'll often get duplicates showing up in the list. That's because the data has been loaded from both map products.

But my experience with that issue has been because I've compiled the segments from both products into a single GMAPSUPP.IMG file (my handheld devices do not support multiple mapset files like Mobile PC does). So in that scenario, all that turning a map product on and off does is control which map product is displayed when navigating. All the duplicated data is still loaded because it's a single compiled mapset.

In your case, because it's two distinct files, perhaps making sure one of them is unchecked would improve the performance?

...ken...

Ken

The City Navigator mapsets are not checked and unchecked in Mobile PC. They appear as "Built-in maps" (which is your gmapprom.img file) and additional maps (which is gmapsupp.img). The locking and unlocking is controlled entirely by which 20X I connect. If I connect both 20X's it picks one - I think it defaults to the one that unlocks the primary maps (the Built-in maps).

If you click on a mapset name it shows a more detailed view of the mapset name, its folder location and size in MB. City Navigator Europe NT 2008 is 1465MB whereas City Navigator North America NT 2009 is 1068MB. They are both substantial files.

Regards, Julian.

Julian, when you are on the screen that lists the two mapsets, look at the bottom where the BACK button is. There should be a MapSource button beside it. If you click that button you should see both mapsets listed with checkmarks beside them.

If both are checked, you can uncheck the appropriate one. That may provide the same resolution as switching maps so only one loads.

If only one is checked and you're having performance issues compared to only having one loaded, then playing with the checkboxes is, of course, a waste of time.

...ken...

I have a feeling the MapSource button doesn't exist in the GMPC hardware version.

Terry

By "Hardware" if you mean the version bundled with a 20x then yes it does exist, but only appears once you have added additional maps through MapSource. Perhaps ChopperDad or Ken in Regina can make it appear another way but I don't know how.

I have added Topo Canada V.2 to my Mobile PC installation and now have the MapSource button.

You're right, Ken. Whenever I have a gmapsupp.img I have the Mapsource button. If there's only the preloaded maps, the Mapsource button isn't there (because there's nothing for it to do).

I don't seen any reason this should be different between the software-only version or the ones bundled with receivers. It has to do with managing the additional maps and has nothing to do with whether it came with a receiver or not.

...ken...

GMPC appears to use one unlock code for the software, and a second unlock code for the maps themselves.


nine

Hello nine,

Yes, that makes sense. Thanks for the explanation.

...ken...

Hi

I posted here a while ago on issues about planning to buy software and hardware.
Now I'm the owner of
- Mobile PC North America - GPS 10x (mostly to get the 10x and Mobile PC)
- City Navigator Australia NT 2009 (to get maps of home)
- City Navigator Europe NT2009 (to get maps for a holiday)

All the software runs on an EeePC 901 (with a bigger solid state disk)
I'm running Win XP SP3
I've used MapSource 6.15.6 to set up waypoints and routes for Europe.
I'm running Mobile PC 5.00.60g

I have the Australian and European maps running inside Mobile PC (I can see the detail)

I am trying to transfer the waypoints and routes from MapSource to MobilePC

I have tried two options

Option 1
----------
If I export the waypoints and routes to a USB drive I get a directory structure
E:\garmin\GPX\userdat.gpx
E:\garmin\userdata\userdata.adm

As a by the way - If I look inside the userdat.gpx file I can see the structures containing the waypoints and the routes.

Can I get Garmin Mobile PC to import these?

Option 2
------------

If I run Mobile PC and select
Tools>ManageMyData>MapSets>MapSource>LaunchMapSour ce

I get MapSource up and running
I load my routes (EuropeRoutes.gdb)

Then export the data back to Mobile PC
Transfer>SendToDevice>GarminMobilePC (marking Waypoints and Routes)

It runs, claims a successful send and I return to Mobile PC

All the waypoints make it across, but none of the routes make it across
I can use the waypoints to make new routes inside Mobile PC, but none of the predefined ones arrive.

Where did the routes go?

The mobile PC data structure seems to be
C:/DocumentsandSettings\user\ApplicationData\Garmin\G arminMobilePC\GARMIN_WPT.NVM
C:/DocumentsandSettings\user\ApplicationData\Garmin\G arminMobilePC\GARMIN_SRTE.NVM

there is a directory
C:/DocumentsandSettings\user\ApplicationData\Garmin\G arminMobilePC\gpx
which contains a file "current.gpx" after I shut Mobile PC down

Apologies again for long windedness but It has me stumped.
As noted I can recreate the routes in Mobile PC, but it is pretty painful.

regards and thanks

Mark

The "current.gpx" file contains any saved routes, waypoints ("favorites"), saved tracks and current track log in Mobile PC. It's really easy to see what's in it. Just double-click it and it should open in MapSource. Then you can click on the tabs to see what Mobile PC has saved.

I never run MapSource from inside Mobile PC. I always run MapSource first to do my stuff. When I'm done I use Transfer > Send To Device send to Mobile PC and check only the items (maps, routes, tracks or waypoints) I want to add.

I did this as a test to see if I could duplicate your problem. I tried it with MapSource 6.13.7 and also 6.15.6. And I tried it with Mobile PC 5.00.50 and 5.00.60.

In every case I was able to get waypoints, tracks and routes to transfer.

I did run into one problem. The first time I tried it I had quickly created two routes .. one in town and one between a couple of towns. When I transfered them to Mobile PC and opened Mobile PC to check them they were both listed in the Manage My Data > Routes list. But the routing data in both was only the route for the first one. That is, even though it had the correct two route names, both contained the same route, the route from the first one.

It seems like Mobile PC will only accept one route at a time.

I deleted the second route in Mobile PC (the one with the right name but the wrong route data) and exited. I went into MapSource and deleted the first route and transfered the routes (only one this time) to Mobile PC. When I opened Mobile PC and checked, the second route was there again but this time it had the correct route data.

So I went back to MapSource and created a third route. This time when I transfered the routes to Mobile PC there were two in MapSource .. the original "second" route which would now be a duplicate because it's already in Mobile PC and the new, third, route. When I checked in Mobile PC it had imported the new third route. It had the proper routing data in it. When I checked the other two, they still had the proper routing data in them.

So it looks like Mobile PC is smart enough to accept routes transferred from MapSource if you only feed it one new one at a time.

Try opening MapSource with no routes, tracks or waypoints. Create a single route. Transfer that route to Mobile PC. Then open Mobile PC and see if the route is there. If so, let us know how many routes you need to transfer and we'll see if we can figure out the simplest way to transfer them.

Here's something to try, now that I think about it. In MapSource, open the file that has your existing EuropeRoutes in it.

- Click on the Routes tab.
- Click on any route in the list.
- Type Ctrl-A (or Edit/Select All)
- Type Ctrl-C (or Edit/Copy)


Now that you've got all the routes on the clipboard in MapSource you need to open the "current.gpx" file. Use File/Open and browse to it. (You might want to save a copy of the file somewhere safe before you start messing with it.)

- Click on the Routes tab.
- Type Ctrl-V (or Edit/Paste)

All the routes should show up in the Routes tab. Check a couple just to make sure they look right.

- Exit MapSource (File/Exit).
- Select "Save" when it asks if you want to save the changes.

Open Mobile PC and see if it's happy with the routes.

...ken...