Tutorial: Garmin maps to Trekbuddy
From TrekBuddy
This tutorial will teach you how to convert a Garmin MapSource vector map to an atlas which can be used in TrekBuddy. Please note that Garmin MapSource maps are not freely available and you need to have purchased a license to use them. In this tutorial MetroGuide Europe 8 is used as an example and we will create a map of Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Also we assume you want to store your files under c:\maps\, if you want to use another directory you'll have to substitute c:\maps\ with your own path in the rest of this tutorial.
Contents |
Installing the MapSource map
Just follow the standard installation of MapSource. The default installation location is c:\garmin, this is the path that will be used throughout this tutorial. (Of course you can choose your own location but then during the rest of this tutorial you'll have to substitute c:\garmin with your own path).
After the installation you'll have a directory c:\garmin with some files in it, and much more important a subdirectory with the maps, in the Metro Guide Europe 8 case this will be MGEU8.
The directory c:\garmin\MGEU8 will contain the following files:
00147824.img 00147825.img 00147826.img : 00150187.img 00150188.img 00150189.img 00150190.img eula_ENU.txt MGEU8.img MGEU8.mdx MGEU8.tdb MGEU8_mdr.img
Most interesting are the numbered *.img files (as these are the actual maps) and the tdb file (as this is the index file).
From Vector to Raster
Garmin MapSource maps come in vector format, to be able to use them in TrekBuddy they first need to be converted to a raster format (eg. BMP or PNG). The tool to do this with is GPSMapEdit. The vector map of MapSource does not come in one big file, but with one index and a lot of smaller files. Next we'll give a tutorial on how to find out which map files we need and how to convert them to a format usable in TrekBuddy.
So startup GPSMapEdit. And follow the following steps: Vector To Raster Flash Tutorial
Making an atlas/cutting the map
In this section we cut the maps, we just created, into small pieces (this is needed because most phones only have a limited amount of memory available) using TBCutter. In this process we choose the paths in such a way, that we automatically create an atlas. Start TBCutter and follow the following instructions.
Then create a file c:\maps\atlas\Garmin.tba with for example notepad. And add the following text to it:
Atlas 1.0
You can now delete the files in c:\maps\raw because you do not need them anymore and they take up quite some disk space.
Upload to your phone
Now upload the contents of c:\maps\atlas (including all subdirectories) to some nice location on your phone or your phone's memory card.
Select Atlas in TrekBuddy
More about atlasses and how to use/load them in TrekBuddy can be found here
