Export Garmin Custom Maps
Garmin have recently announced that you can now upload geoferenced tiles to their more recent GPS units. These use a format similar to GE KML. It would be good to have an option to export in a format that could be loaded onto Garmin GPS
COMPLETED: MapTiler 0.6 supports Garmin!
Download the latest version from http://www.maptiler.com/
Video tutorial:
http://youtu.be/w86HWsCxGyM?list=PLGHe6Moaz52PiQd1mO-S9QrCjqSn1v-ay
And documentation: http://www.maptiler.com/how-to/garmin/
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andybryant commented
Using 256x256 size tiles gave me a map file that worked well, using many smaller tiles. I'm confused. Can you explain how the combination of zoom and tile size work? Might also be a good idea to flag a warning if the settings you've selected are going to generate more than 100 tiles (which would mean it won't work on the GPS).
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andybryant commented
I just tried beta 2 on this map http://www.archive.org/details/usgs_drg_ca_36118_f4 with 512 size tiles - but ended up with a map that's got >100 tiles. Is there any way to be able to select a sub-set of the map to tile?
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Scott commented
Arrgh! I swapped the file names. The ones marked 1k are really the 512 version.
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Scott commented
Here screen shots which compare the two files:
http://www.gpsfix.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/512-800.bmp
http://www.gpsfix.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/1k-800.bmp
http://www.gpsfix.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/512-500.bmp
http://www.gpsfix.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/1k-500.bmp
http://www.gpsfix.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/512-300.bmp
http://www.gpsfix.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/1k-300.bmp
http://www.gpsfix.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/512-200.bmp
http://www.gpsfix.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/1k-200.bmpWith the 1k x 1k tiles you can see down to about 300' zoom and don't see much for pixelation where the 512x512 tiles you start to see it around 500' zoom level.
The second map set 512x512 is much faster (zoom in/out is on the order of 1-3 seconds) but I'm wondering is that because the files are smaller or because the jpeg's don't use any deflate compression or both?
-Scott
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soko commented
This second file works without problems on Colorado 400t.
http://yfrog.com/0qcolorado4lj
http://yfrog.com/0qcolorado3j
http://yfrog.com/6zcolorado2j
http://yfrog.com/0qcolorado1hj -
Gavin Treadgold commented
@andybryant - not sure that more compression would make JPGs easier to load, lower-quality JPGs (which generally means more compression), means more processing when they are opened. If anything, performance could well be better with highest quality JPGs. Might be something for someone to test?
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Gavin Treadgold commented
Great stuff! I'm currently too busy to test, so hope some others can help out here. I'd concur with the option to support smaller tile sizes, perhaps also 512x512 and 256x256. Garmin have stated via their forums that there is better performance with smaller tiles - of course this does 'eat up' the 100 tiles allowance a lot sooner. Hopefully their coders will be able to improve the performance with more tiles.
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Scott commented
Garmin has indicated that for best performance the individual jpg images should not be compressed when they are added to the kml file -- simple add them to the archive with no compression since they are already compressed.
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andybryant commented
Yup. Just tested on Oregon 300. Map shows up and looks very impressive, although is indeed quite slow to pan, and did crash my device at one point. I've seen this before with a 1024x1024 map - so I think it's the Oregon beta s/w, not your kml.
Might be a good idea to allow the option to segment into smaller chunks (256x256), and at lower jpeg quality settings (to reduce the size of the file & make it easier for the device to load). Also need the ability to set the draw order ref https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?p=12167#post12167
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Scott commented
klokan, I've tried it on my Oregon 550t and it looks like it is working fine. Seems like this contains 50 1024x1024 files and I can see the entire USGS quad around Grand Canyon AZ. I was hoping it would be a little faster -- depending on the zoom level I see the zoom in/out times around 4-8 seconds which is a little sluggish.
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Gavin Treadgold commented
Some more info and comments from what I've learnt:
- tiles can be at max 1024x1024, although smaller tiles are more efficient on a handheld GPS, but they also reduce the number of available custom maps
- tiles must be jpg, and WGS84
- at most 100 tiles can be stored on the GPS, this is across multiple custom maps -
Gavin Treadgold commented
Adding reference link: