Open Street Maps OSM - Installing additional maps into BaseCamp and onto the SD card

[Wapping]

I am using:

• A Mac
• BaseCamp
• Garmin MapManager
• Garmin Mapinstall
• A Nav V with a decent sized SD card

I have sucessfully installed into BaseCamp on my Mac and onto the SD card in my Nav V, a sing large OSM map of France, Belgium, Luxembourg plus the western edge of Germany / Switzerland. This was created by selecting all the map tiles I wanted from the OSM site. Everything runs as it should; I can run routes, seemingly with a problem. In some ways it scores over Mapsource as it seems to give more of the road numbers in the blue directions bar at the top of the map whilst the route runs.

Three questions, please:

1. As far as i can make out, if I now download and install say a set of map tiles for Austria and Croatia, it will overwrite the existing OSM maps of France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the western edge of Germany / Switzerland, removing them from BaseCamp and my Nav V. Is this correct?

2. If so, how if I want to retain France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the western edge of Germany / Switzerland and load in Austria and Croatia, do I do it? I assume that I would have to rename the files somehow? If so, where and how is it best to do this?

3. If it is possible to load say France in one set and then Germany separately, does the Nav V see them as one single file if I select both map sets in my Nav V? In other words, if I ran a route that criss crossed between France and Germany would I have to stop one map and start another or would they both just run seamlessly, as is the case with Mapsource maps?

Any simple help and clear advice gratefuly received.... failing that I'll just play about and find out.

Thank you.

Richard

 

[Aidan1150]

I use OSM on my Zumo 500 and have the JaVaWa installer tool for transfering the maps to the SD card.

Like you Richard I could not figure out how to have multiple maps on the SD card because I could not rename the files. As you rightly say, if you can't rename the file then the new addition overwrites the existing one. I would like to know how to rename the maps too.

If you criss-cross a border there is some "bleed over" of about 15km or so at the edge of the installed map that lets you do that.

 

[The Grey One]

I am using:

• A Mac
• BaseCamp
• Garmin MapManager
• Garmin Mapinstall
• A Nav V with a decent sized SD card

I have sucessfully installed into BaseCamp on my Mac and onto the SD card in my Nav V, a sing large OSM map of France, Belgium, Luxembourg plus the western edge of Germany / Switzerland. This was created by selecting all the map tiles I wanted from the OSM site. Everything runs as it should; I can run routes, seemingly with a problem. In some ways it scores over Mapsource as it seems to give more of the road numbers in the blue directions bar at the top of the map whilst the route runs.

Three questions, please:

1. As far as i can make out, if I now download and install say a set of map tiles for Austria and Croatia, it will overwrite the existing OSM maps of France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the western edge of Germany / Switzerland, removing them from BaseCamp and my Nav V. Is this correct?

2. If so, how if I want to retain France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the western edge of Germany / Switzerland and load in Austria and Croatia, do I do it? I assume that I would have to rename the files somehow? If so, where and how is it best to do this?

3. If it is possible to load say France in one set and then Germany separately, does the Nav V see them as one single file if I select both map sets in my Nav V? In other words, if I ran a route that criss crossed between France and Germany would I have to stop one map and start another or would they both just run seamlessly, as is the case with Mapsource maps?

Any simple help and clear advice gratefuly received.... failing that I'll just play about and find out.

Thank you.



Richard

In answer some of your questions when you download to your computer (at least on a PC, I have no experience of a Mac) you are saving it to a file that Basecamp or Mapsource can access rather than saving it to Basecamp. Downloading further map sets should not overwrite those already there. Right now I have 3 different OSM maps stored all of which were downloaded at different times. I suspect you are right that downloading another map set might overwrite what is on the device. As OSM maps are so easy to download I always choose a new set for each major trip. This ensures I ave the latest maps when I set off. Very few people would need more OSM maps than will fit on one sd card so I don't see this as a problem. I currently have the entire British Isles on the sd card in my 390 and have the Garmin Europe maps, which I keep up to date, on the device as backup.

There are no such thing as "Mapsource maps" Mapsource and Basecamp are both for working with maps rather than being the maps themselves. I don't know what would happen if you had two sets of maps and crossed from one to the other. As I said I always have the entire trip on the card, I guess if you head of to go to the North Cape and end up diverting to Gibraltar you might have a problem but otherwise not. Anyway why don't you try it and let us all know how you got on.

John

 

[wessie]

As you know, I used OSM maps for a while on my 2610. I think that John has the right of it: the only way to seamlessly plot a route in OSM is to have all tiles for the route stitched into one data file which is installed on the Mac & satnav. This may mean updating the data on your Garmin, depending on how much of Europe it can hold in one file. John has a useful compromise if you can get an OSM set of tiles in one file as well as the Garmin data and switch between them. Only worth doing if the OSM data is more detailed for your chosen route, as in Austria according to John.

 

[Wapping]

Thank you all.

I can get the full European Garmin (or Navtec, if we are being pernickety) maps AND a large set of OSM tiles onto the same SD card in my Nav V at the same time. I can then flick between them at leisure and run a route between them at the same time. For obvious reasons, I can't run a Garmin and OSM map at the same time.

From a bit of research it seems that it is possible to rename individual OSM map sets. So, you could I guess break the whole world up into bite sized chunks and load them onto a large capacity SD card, assuming the device can run a card that big. Why anyone might want to, I have no idea. There are reports that having two OSM map sets - where two ore more tiles are duplicated - might create a problem. If correct, this indicates that a device will see two separate OSM mapsets as one, but getting confused if two or more tiles are duplicated.

As the Grey One said, it's quite easy to download the OSM maps for the area you need. For instance, if you intend to go from Calais to Rome, you definitely won't need Finland or Spain or even Bordeaux and Dublin. A set of maps from Calais to Rome (and enough either side) can be built, downloaded and installed to a computer and a half decent SD card / GPS device quite quickly.

I had never troubled myself with OSM maps before, being quite happy with Garmin maps. I wanted to see how they worked and if I as a complete IT numpty could use them without too many problems. I think I've achieved that. Like John, I might well load up OSM maps for a specific jaunt and run them in parallel to my whole of Europe Garmin mapsets on my Nav V. If one is better than the other, I'll run it.

 

[The Grey One]

People might like to try the OSM maps, they really are more detailed than the Garmin ones. Yesterday we visited a fascinating National Trust property Chastleton House. In the NT handbook there is a warning not to follow the Sat Nav. Garmin, and in the light of the warning, other suppliers don't show the fact that the car park is remote from the house itself. OSM correctly shows both the car park and the connecting footpath. In this instance the discrepancy is not serious since there are plenty of signs erected by the National Trust to take you to the car park. If on the other hand you were searching for your hotel, maybe in the dark, only to find the map had similar errors it would be a very different situation. Of the 8 places we are booked into for our Scotland trip next month two are shown in the wrong place on the Garmin maps and one could not be found at all! All are shown correctly on my OSM maps

So download the UK maps and try them on your computer for yourselves, zoom in on your local area and compare the detal and accuracy.

They are better in my opinion for the UK and vastly better than the Garmin maps in some countries. If you are travelling to Serbia, Bosnia, Romania you will find the Garmin maps worse than useless in remote areas and even some well known towns and cities. Without the OSM maps we would have been lost completely on several occasions.

John

 

[Wapping]

Anyone can advise mapping and location errors to Garmin, very easily.

https://my.garmin.com/mapErrors/report.faces

You can start with the three hotels.... and the National Trust car park.


PS I quite agree, bods should try the OSM maps or at least know how to load them. Who knows, that Tesco car park might not be shown and bods will be lost forever.

 

[GrinningGSer]

First impressions: shockingly impressive. For the first time I can see paths/tracks/byways in Basecamp and on another evening I'll try to send the map to Nav V.
I just hope that Nav V doesn't see these new paths as a route shortcut in recalculation?

 

[Aidan1150]

Like the Grey One I found the level of detail very impressive indeed, especially in far away countries where I wasn't expecting it to be so comprehensive. Very useful anyone going RTW although I have only used them in Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia and Armenia.

 

[Paul Wakefield]

I first looked at OSM maps a few years ago and the detail was very patchy. Since then they have advanced hugely and I have been using them for a couple of years now on my old Etrex Vista for walking where they are frequently better than OS maps (see the TalkyToaster site for enhanced OSM maps with contours, etc. - I find the free ones there are very good and not worth the extra for the paid for version unless you feel like treating yourself occasionally).

I haven't tried road routing with OSM maps yet but am tempted reading the above.

 

[The Grey One]

I first looked at OSM maps a few years ago and the detail was very patchy. Since then they have advanced hugely and I have been using them for a couple of years now on my old Etrex Vista for walking where they are frequently better than OS maps (see the TalkyToaster site for enhanced OSM maps with contours, etc. - I find the free ones there are very good and not worth the extra for the paid for version unless you feel like treating yourself occasionally).

I haven't tried road routing with OSM maps yet but am tempted reading the above.

You can use OSM maps to create routes in Mapsource or Basecamp in just the same way as using Garmin maps. Routes transfer in just the same way and function on the device without problems. I have used routes created on a Garmin map and transferred as such onto my 390 whilst using the OSM maps on that device, gain no problems-the 390 recalculates to match the different map and away you go. Same with routes created in Garmin maps-they just get recalculated and work fine. As the OSM maps have more detail it is obviously best when using a route made with them to use them on your device as well.

Only downsides are the OSM maps don't support postcode searches,if I need to use a postcode I can look it up on the Garmin map, make it a waypoint or via point and return to the OSM map for routing. Because of the greater detail on the OSM maps there is less need for a postcode search anyway as a lot more places can be found by their name. Also the OSM maps don't have the capability of preventing the lost satellite warnings in tunnels that the Garmin maps do. Not, I feel, a big problem.

John

 

[GrinningGSer]

Does device route calculation ignore the new OSM paths, tracks and byways and/ or is there a setting to make sure they are ignored?

 

[Wapping]

No idea.

You can set most GPS devices own settings (and BaseCamp itself) to ignore unmade roads, just as you can set it to ignore motorways, seasonal closures, U-turns and entire cities. Whether it will do the same running OSM maps might well depend on whether OSM have encoded their map to tell a GPS device's software that a particular goat track is an unmade road. Garmin maps are not perfect on this but they are not too bad.

It would be easy to find out. Find a known goat track and see if it creates a route down it or around it, depending on settings.

 

[GrinningGSer]

I haven't tried the device yet,(that's the next task), but have no reason to believe that it will behave differently to Basecamp and my investigation reveals that the various tracks in the OSM ARE coded to be used:

Let's look at BOAT heaven on Salisbury Plain, (Byway Open To All Traffic),assuming no red flags flying:

You'll see the enormous increase in detail with the OSM. Note Both maps will have the same road route as the first map if you select to avoid 'Unpaved Roads'
Therefore it is essential to use the avoidances section when using the OSM or you'll end up with a very exciting route

 

[GrinningGSer]

Update: My NavV has crashed three or four times whilst on simulation mode using the OSM. I am however repeatedly altering settings, e.g. map detail. It never crashes with Garmin Navigator maps. It's disappointing.Could be a card/speed read issue cos theres lots of data, don't know. Who knows ?
I'll leave it running on a long route and won't change any settings mid route to see what happens

 

[wessie]

The sheer amount of data in OSM made it difficult to use on my old 2610 last year, hence my recent upgrade to a Zumo 390.

It may be that Garmin deliberately cut the detail in their mapping data as they use puny processors in their satnavs which buckle when asked to crunch the OSM bytes.

 

[Wapping]

Keen advocates of OSM like John the Grey One, haven't reported crashes as being a problem. I wonder if it has anything to do with:

(A) It being run in simulation

(B) The speed / quality of the SD card

I have some quite long and quite complex French and Belgian routes, which I'll try running in simulation at the weekend.

 

[alan29]

Excellent thread. gave me hours of innocent fun yesterday. Now to try it out in anger.

 

[GrinningGSer]

NavV uneventfully completed a simulated 45 mile run , but it was third or fourth attempt . Only two waypoints were used.
Zooming in and out is what triggers a reboot and that's something I do very often with the bike thumb wheel .
A reboot also defaults to all maps selected, which results in only Garmin NTU being seen , till deselected.

 

[GrinningGSer]

Actual route test today failed miserably during the first mile of a 250 mile route: Nav V froze during zooming. My NavV OSM map (gmapsupp.img) is a small 376Mb file of southern UK, leaving 8Gb free space on the SD card. Yes, its could be a card read issue. Great in theory, I was excited, but in reality not useable on my hardware. Note Nav V performed flawlessly during the remaining 249 miles, using Garmin maps.