Most maps are Windows programs that you need to run (double-click) and they in turn then install the maps onto your PC. You can then choose the map in MS. Here are some tutorials:

GPS for Beginners - Motorcycle-Navigation.net

__________________
Cheers,
Peter.

Europe to NZ 2006-10

Thanks kindly for that. I wonder if I have a problem with my Mapsource program as it will not open / recognize the OSM maps.

Simon

The mapset i use for north/central/south america is the following:
Canada/USA- Garmin City Navigator North America
Mexico - BiciMapas Mexico MEXICO GPS ATLAS GARMIN
CentralAm - BiciMapas Latino GPS Atlas Latin America GPS Atlas
Colombia - Colrut Colrut
Venezuela - VenRut gpsyv.net Hogar del VENRUT, el Mapa GPS Ruteable de Venezuela para Equipos Garmin Nuvi, GPSMap, Nokia y HTC
Brasil - TrackSource Tracksource
Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay - Mapear Proyecto Mapear
Peru - Perut PERUT=Peru Ruteable or even better is the Garmin South America map
Bolivia - ViajerosMapas ViajerosMapas
Ecuador - Proyecto Ecuador Ruteable Mapas Ecuador GPS
Suriname - Garmin Suriname Map Online Map Of Suriname
Fr.Guyana, Guyana - Garmin World Map

There is a map of Bolivia floating around cyberspace called BolRut11. you may find it on a GPS forum. It seems to be the best Bolivia map available for free, though it is still bad. There is also a BolRut35 available from Geo-Group in Bolivia. If you contact the guys are ARB Bolivia they can point you to someone who sells it for less than half. I used the BolRut35 and it is essential for travel in Bolivia. All other GPS maps of Bolivia are not worth loading on your unit; this includes BolRut11

While these GPS mapset i am using is the best available, it is not perfect by any means. Outside of cities, midsized towns, and major roads, the mapset is vastly inferior to good local paper maps.

Thank you for that very comprehensive contribution!

Simon, may I suggest you try Garmin maps / OpenStreetMap Forum

__________________
Cheers,
Peter.

Europe to NZ 2006-10

Did you notice the price for Bicimapas, $159 usd.

Yikes.
bill

Hi All,

I'm looking for some free maps for Syria and Jordan for my Garmin 60scx - anyone have any ideas? Unfortunately I'm not too clued up on how to use this thing, but I know the maps that came with teh thing are next to useless so untill I get into Maps4Africa territory it would be great to have some maps!! ANy help much appreaciated (especially to navigate around Damascus which sounds like a pretty crazy place traffic wise!!).

CHeers
Ness :-)

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Ness | two turkeys and a rope | www.greenturkey.co.nz

If this map looks good for you then head to Worldwide routable Garmin maps from OpenStreetMap.

__________________
Cheers,
Peter.

Europe to NZ 2006-10

Something wrong with this link?

Grey Beard

No, but the site has been closed down.

__________________
Cheers,
Peter.

Europe to NZ 2006-10

I've been lurking on the MkGMap developers list for the past several months and through that, was made aware of the existence of NavMaps.eu . I'm not sure but I believe it is largely the web site of WanMil, one of the very active developers on the MkGMap list. This guy knows his stuff.

There are three maps offered on the site:

1) Benelux - Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg
2) Central Europe - Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Croatia, Denmark, France (incl. Corsica), Germany, Hungary, Italy (incl. Sardinia), Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sardinia, Slovakia, Slovenija, Spain, Switzerland
3) Northwest Europe - Andorra, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden

You can simply download the files, change the name to gmapsupp.img and install into the /Garmin directory of a 4G micro-SD card. Set the GPS to use the maps et voila! Be aware that these map files are large (up to 3.7 G) and extremely detailed with virtually every building, walkway (and public toilet) in most cities. They are all routable. The level of detail might be overwhelming while on the road but I plan to give them a try this summer. Also, because of their size, I wouldn't dare try to load them into internal memory on my GPS, just on a removable card.

Recently, the maps for Garmin GPS's, derived from OSM data and processed by MkGMap have undergone a significant improvement as the MkGMap developers have been able to work out a usable search routine for streets... without the use of Garmin's MapSource for loading the maps as had been required in the past. The search index is now part of MkGMap's conversion process from OSM to Garmin. Any limitations now seem to be in the OSM data itself, particularly in areas (like Vancouver, BC) where administrative boundaries are incomplete. They are now moving on to making the maps searchable by house number. It really has been a great thing to watch... I just wish my Java skills were good enough to contribute.

As a long-time Linux user, with MkGMap, GPSbabel and GPSPrune, I am now almost totally free from MapSource, POILoader and yes, Windows itself. Rosetta Stone Russian is my very last tie to Windows


Little clarification from SamIam
Hi Bertrand,

Yes, you are quite right. I am an active data contributor/mapper to the OSM project and have been following the recent developments in MkGMap. I also use Splitter and MkGMap to generate my own Garmin maps from Geofabrik's OSM data extracts. I used Lambertus's maps extensively on my last Europe-Asia trip and will continue to do so I am sure.

Maybe I was not clear in my post, but the navmaps.eu website offers maps, derived from current OSM data and processed by the most recent incarnation of MkGMap. One of my points was that the newest version of MkGMap has the search index and routine built in. I never used it because I don't use MapSource, but you will probably recall that in order to get the search routine to work well, one had to use the MapSource installer version (like one produced by Lambertus) and use MapSource to load the map to the GPS. I assume that Lambertus is also using the latest stable version of MkGMap (r2174) and if so, his gmapsupp.img files also have this ability.

The appearance and visible completeness of the maps offered by navmaps.eu is likely the result of the customization that has been used in the style and typ files. For example, maps by Lambertus have recently dropped the natural=wood cover and buildings are rendered in such a light shade of brown as to be virtually invisible... at least on my Nuvi 255. I believe that is a result of using the MkGMap default styles. ??? Lambertus's maps are fine, and on the road may even be more practical. NavMaps.eu offers a visible alternative.

Of perhaps greater importance, however, is that NavMaps.eu offers a few pre-generated maps of greater areal extent than is possible to download from Lambertus's site. Lambertus (rightly so) limits the download to individual countries or limits the number of tiles to a much smaller area than covered by the NavMap files. And combining .img files (possible in MkGMap) I believe breaks the search function.
I guess your question is how can the navmaps.eu site offer anything better if they use the same data and the same tools as Lambertus? It's how you use the tools. Both have their advantages. The NavMap site does not even offer maps outside the EU. Lambertus does.

__________________
Samuel Longiaru
Kamloops, BC Canada
1975 BMW R60/6
http://thetwilightproject.net

A free (as in beer) map of Tunisia for Garmin GPSRs, made from tracks and other information people provided: http://gps.4x4travel.org/

Regards, Hans

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Seen whilst travelling - Fernwehstammtisch Karlsruhe - Relief action Togo Togoville e.V.

hello traveller,

I 'm just on the jump to zentralamerika,
anyone know some free routable garmin maps
useable with mapsource from zentralamerika,
(panama,costa rica, niccarragua, honduras)
and from mexico ,USA and canada,
thanks for info's,
cant find here something

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http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/434/buchu.th.jpg

Check out Free worldwide routable Garmin maps from OpenStreetMap. For all of Central America, set manual tile selection at the top of the page and select only the tiles you will need. Submit your email on the left side and watch your email. When notified that your map is ready, download the MapSource version and install in MapSource.

__________________
Samuel Longiaru
Kamloops, BC Canada
1975 BMW R60/6
http://thetwilightproject.net