Laptop GPS World

Ok - after trying for days I'm gonna give up on MobilePC really soon. I've downloaded a few maps from that offsite location, but I have no idea whatsoever as how to add them. It didn't come with any basemaps built in, so all I see is, well, nothing.

took me a while too to work it out.. and much nashing of teeth...

anyway download the trial as shown above
the get a open source map from here
http://mapcenter2.cgpsmapper.com/ (free open source maps for garmin devices)

install the map in mapsource, use garmin mapsource to "upload" to "mobile PC" (which needs to be running at the time) and there you go.

I finally have it working on my car pc. tho im still not sure if i like it, i may just go back to nroute.

xport 1.21
http://files.joat.co.nz/roadrunner/XPort1-21.zip

Ok - I have MapSource with a map loaded into it and MobilePC is running. When I go to the Transfer - Send to Device menu, all it lists are 2 external drives, MobilePC isn't listed at all.

do you have the latest version of mapsource?

i just downloaded mapsource from garmin, so i'm guessing i do.

You have to have Mobile PC running before you run Mapsource.

...ken...

I had Mobile PC running the whole time I was even installing MapSource.

now you did select a map .. i had to zoom right out and then i selected the whole map, which put that in the box to the left



then

Try shutting down both programs. Then start Mobile PC and then Mapsource. When you choose send to device, it should be listed.
Latest version of MapSource is at least 6.13.7. Check it by choosing Help - About Mapsource... from MapSource.
Terry

Hi Ken,
I have DeLorme, and S&T and would like to try Mobile PC. I downloaded the trial/update version but have no map data.

Is there a way I could export a map from DeLorme or S&T? I tried and could not figure a work around.

Or, could you post a sample map for me to import/drop in the correct folder?

Thanks,
David...

I'll create something that is unlocked, free, legal ( Hi Marvin) and ready to drop into the proper folder in Mobile PC. It will be later today. First I need to track down some free maps, load them into Mapsource and create something you can just drop into Mobile PC without any fooling around.

...ken...

David,

This is a little more complicated than I figured. I'm trying to make it an easy and legal drop-in for you so I need you to answer a couple of questions for me.

1. Does that trial version come with a basemap? You can check this by running Mobile PC and clicking on "View Map". If you see a map it will be the basemap. If you don't see a map that means you'll need a basemap as well as a detail map.

2. Do you have highspeed internet? The North America basemap I can provide is about 13MB. The only free North America detail maps I've found so far are all topo maps so they are very detailed and very large (filesize-wise). The smallest one is a topo of Portland, OR ... the city and surrounding area. It's about 9MB. I have the entire states of Utah and Arizona in topo. They are nearly 150MB each. They might get about 25% smaller if I Zip them. How large is your pain threshold for downloading?

3. I could provide a map that is more reflective of what you'll get with Mobile PC but it would probably be somewhere in southeast Asia or Africa. Do you want something like that?

...ken...

Hi Ken,
No, I don't have a base map.
Yes, I have high speed connection. I down load large files often so no problem.
Idealy, I would like to load in some addresses and see how it plots and how it handles the data and what customizations are available.

What ever map is easiest for you.

Thanks again, I hope you get paid some how for all your help and involvement on this and other forums!!

David...

Hi David,

I finally got the maps together for you to play with. You can download them here.

There are two files in the Zip:

1. gmapbmap.img -- the basemap
2. gmapsupp.img -- the detail map

Just unzip them and stick them in the ..\GarminMobilePC folder along with the Mobile PC program files. On my system they are in C:\Program Files\Garmin\GarminMobilePC. Yours may be somewhere else. I installed the test version a couple of times and it ended up in different places both times. Neither time was in the Program Files and once it was on my E: drive. The installation of the real version is much better behaved. It will install in the Program Files folder by default but gives you the choice to force it elsewhere.

The basemap has some routing data in it so you can play around with a bit of routing. The basemap does not have a lot of detail and not all of the roads and streets on the basemap are routable. So when you do some test routes please be warned in advance that the resulting route might be a little wonky. That's not a reflection of Mobile PC's ability to do routing. It's the lack of detail in the basemap.

The detail map is just a topo map of the Portland, OR, area. So you can browse the map over to Portland and zoom in to see how a detailed street layout will look. This detail map has none of the stuff you would normally get in Garmin's detailed map products: no routing data, no POIs, no address or postal code data, so you can't do any searching except for whatever data might be in the basemap.

I hope this gives you enough to at least try out the look and feel with some maps in it. I didn't include more detail map data because I'm on ADSL so my upload link isn't much faster than a dial-up line. It's only about 17MB so it'll download quickly for you.

Let me know if there's anything else I can do to help.

...ken...

Hi Ken,
Thanks for the map. I still can't use the Address option. "It tells me Detailed maps are required to use this feature"

Is this where I would upload addresses?

I really want to see how it handles the addresses/data.

I guess I'll just buy the darn thing and if its not as good as DeLorme I'll just sell it on Ebay, or here.

Thanks again for all your help.