Garmin BaseCamp is a nice (and free!) software for viewing maps, managing geographic data, and planning routes. There are maps offered by Garmin and there are also free alternatives, usually based on the OpenStreetMap project. BaseCamp for Mac OS X uses a specific format—it’s usually a file ending with gmapi. Sometimes the free maps are not offered in this format, so you first have to convert them. As I always forget how this works, I created this page.
Contents
By Garmin MapSource products provide geographic data in CD-ROM format that can be viewed on a PC. Additionally, some GARMIN units can accept map downloads from various MapSource products to. Basecamp initially worked with Topo maps only but Garmin has since made it work with other mapsets as well. To tell you the truth, I use Parallels Desktop for Mac on my iMac and keep Mapsource on the Win 7 side, ready to load maps with because I find the Mac methods hard to get used to. MapInstall is the way to load maps on the Mac side, I think. Garmin Support Center is where you will find answers to frequently asked questions and resources to help with all of your Garmin products. GPS Hardware: Using a GPS receiver with a USB connector (such as Garmin’s eTrex Legend cx, shown here), you can get GPS data on your Mac. MapSource in Parallels: While Garmin doesn’t yet make. Be sure you're running the latest update of MapSource (currently v. 6.3) and you then should be able to find your Garmin GPS device. At this point you may want to also make sure that your Garmin GPS unit has the latest firmware installed. You can also configure Windows XP Pro to run faster by doing at least two things that I did: -A.
- 1 OpenMTB maps
- 2 Garmin IMG format
OpenMTB maps
OpenMTBMap is a project based on OpenStreetMap which offers detailed hiking and mountainbiking information. You can download a map for free here. In the following guide I have chosen the Alps map.
Requirements
You will need a Windows computer (sorry, but I don’t know any other way) with the following free tools installed:
Map installation
Copy the downloaded file mtbalps.exe to the Windows computer and start it.
Click on Next and select Mapsource-Qlandkarte_GT as layout. Choose a directory where you want the map to be installed, e.g., the default one C:Gaminopenmtbmapalps. You should now be able to see the map in Garmin BaseCamp.
Map conversion
Start Garmin MapConverter and select the just installed map. For the Alps map it is called FAMILY_6528. For other OpenMTB maps it will be called differently. You should be able to guess the family id by looking at the beginning of the file names in the installation directory of the map. Click Next and select an installation directory, e.g., the default one C:Garmin. After conversion is finished there should be a directory called FAMILY_6528.gmapi. This can be directly imported into Garmin BaseCamp on Mac OS X: simply copy this directory to you Mac computer, start Garmin MapManager and install it. Finished.
As a last step, I recommend uninstalling the map on your Windows computer. Go to the installation directory C:Gaminopenmtbmapalps and execute openmtbmap_alps_uninstall.
Garmin IMG format
Assume we have a map map.img in Garmin’s IMG format.
Requirements
You will need a Windows computer with the following free tools installed:
First step (GMapTool)
Garmin Mapsource Maps
Copy the map map.img to your Windows computer. Start GMapTool.
Click on Add Files and select map.img.
Garmin Mapsource Apple Mac
Go to the tab Options, select MapTk, and select the directory where MapTk is installed.
Go to the tab Split. Select some empty directory where you want to save the parts of map.img created by GMapTool.1 Select Compile preview map and enter some name describing your map. Select Set mapset FID and enter the FID and PID of your map. You should be able to get these numbers when you click on Info in the Files tab of GMapTool. Otherwise, try some random number between 100 and 9999 for FID.
Now, click on Split all. The process should hopefully finish without error messages. If so, you can close all windows and GMapTool.
Garmin Mapsource On Mac
Second step (Garmin MapConverter)
With the Windows explorer go to the directory you selected in GMapTool for the splitting process. Right click on install.bat and select Run as administrator. You should now be able to see your map in Garmin BaseCamp under Windows. Now, start Garmin MapConverter. Select your map (the one with the FID you have chosen above) and click Next. Choose some directory. After the conversion is done, there should be a directory called FAMILY_FID.gmapi inside the directory you have chosen (where FID is your FID). This file can be used for Garmin BaseCamp under Mac OS X: simply copy it to your Mac OS X computer and install it using Garmin MapManager.
I suggest uninstalling the maps under Windows. Go to the directory of the split process you selected in GMapTool. Right click on uninstall.bat and select Run as administrator.
- In case you use Parallels, this directory should lie on the Windows drive since in the next step we have to execute a batch script with administrator rights and this does not work on a remote drive.