Tag Archives: GPS

Creating routable OpenStreet maps for Garmin

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Problem

You would like to use OpenStreet maps in your Garmin GPS, and be able to use navigation.

Solution

  1. Download the program mkgmap from here
  2. Download the map for the country you want from here
  3. Unzip the downloaded files to a folder ie (map_for_a_country)
  4. Unzip the mkgmap and run the following to create a map that you can upload to your Garmin’s SD /Garmin/ directory
    5.  ./mkgmap.jar --gmapsupp --index --route --description="Country_Name" $( ls /map_for_a_country/*.img )
  5. Rename gmapsupp.img to country_name.img and upload to your Garmin

NOTE: You might need to run java –jar mkgmap.jar …

Combine .img OpenStreetMap files to use in a Garmin GPS

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Problem

You would like to create your own map that includes different tiles and upload it into your Garmin’s SD card.

Solution

  • Make sure that your SD card is formatted with the FAT32 file system and not with the default exFAT that comes as standard in some > 32GB SD cards. There is no limit in the size that your Garmin can read provided is FAT32.
  • In your SD card create a directory called Garmin if it does not exist.
  • Download the latest version of the program mkgmap from here
  • Put all your .img tile files in a directory called my_tiles for example.
  • Go to the directory that you downloaded the mkgmap zip file and extract the files
  • Run the following to combine them all toghether: 
    ./mkgmap.jar --gmapsupp  $( ls my_tiles/*.img )
  • Rename the resulting image file and upload it to your Garmin SD card inside the Garmin folder