60csx file question

I apologize in advance for my ignorance in asking this question. I recently
purchased a 60csx and immediately replaced the 64 MB memory card with a 1 GB
card. The unit works great and I love it. I am now going to use the 64 MB
memory card shipped with the 60csx in a cell phone. When I checked out the
64 MB card on my PC, I saw it came with a preloaded file named:
gmapsupp.img with 8,117 KB of data. I don't know what this file is or
whether I should transfer it to my 1 GB card for use in the gps. Can anyone
set me straight here?

James B. Thies wrote:


I think it is the "Marine POI database" which come
preloaded in many units.

If you plan to load maps from CityNav NA 8 or some
such, you likely will not want the preloaded stuff.

If you want it later, you can download it from Garmin.

Phil

Phil Wheeler wrote:

The marine points database (Americas Marine Point Basemap, Jan 2001 by
name) on my 76Cx is stored in main memory, not as a gmapsupp.img file on
the microSD card. At least that is how it appears to me. It may be
that that differs for some models.

On the 76Cx, if I have a gmapsupp.img file on the microSD card, the Map
Setup - Info menu lists all the individual maps in the gmapsupp.img file
and the check boxes show which of those are turned on for display. The
Americas Marine Point Basemap does not seem to be included in the list
of maps when there is a gmapsupp.img file. At least I have not found it
there yet.

It is slightly maddening to find one map or to use the list of maps to
find one map file and turn it on or off. The map files are not listed
in a single alphabetical sort. They seem to be in interspersed groups
by type with intermittent regard for alphabetization and type.

At any rate, controlling map display is easy enough. If I press Menu
again while on the Map Setup - Info page I can turn all maps on or off,
turn the basemap and the marine points map on or off, or turn any maps
in the gmapsupp.img file on or off by their MapSource product name
(BlueChart, USA Topo, City Navigator, Marine Points, etc.).

If I remove the microSD card from the GPS or it if does not have a
gmapsupp.img file on it, the Americas Marine Point Basemap appears as
the only map on the Map Setup - Info page and it is checked as on for
display as a default. If you press menu, the marine point map is listed
and can still be turned on and off from there.

So that leads me to conclude that the marine points map is stored in
main memory not in the gmapsupp.img file.

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA (jackerbes at adelphia dot net)
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine dot com)

James B. Thies wrote:

That file was in a folder named garmin right? If so, that is a
supplemental map image file. It either has additional street level map
detail (from City Navigator for example) or something like marine or
topo mapping (from BlueChart or U.S. Topo).

If that was not a Garmin preloaded mapping card you can copy that folder
and file to a temporary folder on your PC and then copy the folder to
your new card and still use the mapping data.

You tell what mapping is on the card by looking at the Map Info menu
from the Map Setup page as follows:

Press Menu, then press Menu again,

cursor down to Map Setup and press Enter

cursor across to the Map Info icon.

That may or will show you some info on mapping with a list of maps with
check boxes that may or may not be checked. Ignore that for now.

Press Menu again and you should be offered a list of the available types
of mapping and the option to turn any or all of them off.

The mapping that is built into the 60CSx will be the basemap and the
MarinePoint map. Anything else that is listed there will be in the file
you mention above.

Another way of looking at this is that, if you make a list of the maps
seen from the process above and then remove the microSD card, the
mapping that is no longer seen when you go back to that menu again is on
the card.

If you did not get any mapping software on CD or DVD with that
(MapSource City Navigator, USA Topo, etc.) I wouldn't delete the file as
you may lose some of the detail you are seeing now.

If you did get some software, you can install the software to a PC and
change the area covered by the map data in the supplemental map image
file. If the 8 mb file that you are seeing there now has street level
detail it would not cover a very large area. The greater Boston, MA
area takes up about 12 mb as an example. The density of the data varies
with the number of streets and roads so you might have a much larger but
less populous area.

All the data from City Navigator North America V8 takes up about 1.7 GB
so it takes two 1 GB cards to store all of that data.

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA (jackerbes at adelphia dot net)
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine dot com)