Not my doing – this is the hard work and effort of Phil (HTTP404) on here…..

I’ve an edge 605 which is brilliant, but the basemap is the equivalent of using a sheet of sandpaper for a map of the sahara (boom boom)…
But the garmin topo maps are very expensive..

After some net trawling, he came up with some decent info on how to get detailed maps legitimately for free. Essentially:
1 – buy a 2 gig micro sd card
2 – create a folder in it called ‘garmin’
3 – click here and download the 210mb file
4 – unzip it
5 – copy the file GMAPSUPP.IMG to the newly created ‘garmin’ folder on the micro sd card
6 – put the card into the unit, turn it on, et voila……..

I can claim little credit for all this, just letting the masses know – it seems the chap (Andy someone..) who created the maps from ”open street map” deserves a fair chunk of thanks!!

So, enjoy me harties!

DrP

What level of detail is it at? If I look at Cannock Chase on the Open Street Map site, its just 32sq miles of pale green.

My thoughts would be to get the latest Memory Map which has some level of integration to the garmins.

You need to zoom in on open street map to see all the detail. As you zoom out it hides things. The good thing is you can add to open street map yourself so if there is a bridleway missing you can fix it. The downside is Andy someone? exports the maps every 3 months so it might take a while for your edit to get to your gps.

You can’t load memory map maps onto your gps so it isn’t the same thing. memory map is good for plotting routes at home but once you are out in the wild it doesn’t give you any detail just the line you are following.

Given the price I don’t think its fair to grumble about the detail. I don’t see how anyone can justify the £100 Garmin topo mapping when this is comparable.

Cannock is not very detailed. I checked on the GPS and its the same.

The good thing is you can add to open street map yourself so if there is a bridleway missing you can fix it.

There’s whole forests missing in my area.

better get editing then

Nah no need I have lots of mapping software that use OS maps.

Hi all, a newbie here to the STW forums.

With regards to free maps for the Garmin range of gps units I use a site called talky toaster

Hope it’s of some use.

Not bad for a newbie. Welcome aboard.

Ta, John. I’ve been a lurker for quite a while but this topic compelled me to register and post.

so is there any way of getting OS (or comparable) mapping on a GPS without spending a fortune?

Phones are cheeper than GPS’s and there seems to be loads of cheeper/free mapping software for them! But i doubt theyd appreciate being thrown down chappel gate on a wet febuary day.

Hi DrP! glad to see you’re getting use out of the maps.

The run times on phone based mapping is not great.

“talky toaster” site is based on the OSM site. So based on the same maps.

Garmin maps are based on vectors which makes things a little easier for map editting.

For OS maps on a phone try looking at Viewranger.
Or just buy a windows mobile device and use Memory Map.

But like I said runtimes of a few hours is a problem for me.

Dr P- What's the name of the file I need for this? There isn't a 210mb file!

For a more in depth delve into the subject and make a contribution to the OSM mapping that is out there

OR

You could try here – some simple intro stuff

HELLO I have just bought a garmin 705 and need the TOPO Great Britain map or somthink like it.
I have read this thread and cant find a 210mb file I downloaded the 2 closes to 210 mb but there is no file called GMAPSUPP.IMG

can anyone help what am I doing wrong

thanks for any help

Hi,

Have you tried Mobile Atlas Creator?

I think it does Garmin files (Garmin custom map is an option for map types). I use it with RunGPS on Android phone, you can download everything from 1:25 and 1:50 OS maps to OSM and Google maps. It is all free.

Basically to use it you select your Map type. You then select a source (Multimap OS gives you Landranger maps etc). You then highlight on the map what area you want, click a button and it downloads the maps from the interweb and creates your map for copying to your device of choice. Simples.

Depending on the file sizes you many need to make a few maps to cover the whole of the UK etc.

Regards

Hi John,
I think (from memory) I used the zip file ‘OSM-Garmin-Munky-UKIE.zip’ – this should unzip to contain the latest version of the ‘GMAPSUPP.IMG’ file. I’ve been using this on a Garmin Vista HCx and it’s pretty good for road riding and following routes…. I have also tried bike specific opensource mapping from Open Cycle Map which has contours, bridleways (in my area) and roads/cyclepaths etc. Again all good really (and you can contribute too if you want) for free.