Emerald Island GPS Map

Installation & use

Useful softwares

These software may help you to display maps, to prepare your route and to manage your data to and from your GPS device.

  • BaseCamp is a free Garmin software for both macOS and Windows.
  • JavWa GMTK is a powerful maps manager for Windows and macOS.
  • MapManager is the free official Garmin software to install maps in Basecamp for macOS.
  • MapInstaller is the free official Garmin software to upload maps on your Garmin device for macOS.
  • QMapShack - or its ancestor QLandkarteGT - is available on Linux, macOS and Windows to manage maps, GPS data, create waypoints, routes... and display all of these data.

Installation

The Emerald Island GPS Map is provided as Garmin files gmapi on macOS and as an installer for Windows.

macOS

Install BaseCamp (display installed maps) MapManager (install maps on macOS) & MapInstall (install selected maps on Garmin GPS devices).

Open Emerald-Island-GPS-Map image disk, double click on a ".gmapi" file to install it with MapManager.

Launch MapInstall, choose a tileset with the combo box, select the tiles you want to upload with the drag box on the overview map. Repeat this for each tiles set you need. Once all wanted tiles are selected, upload them.

Windows

Install BaseCamp (display installed maps) & MapInstall (install selected maps on Garmin devices).

The easy way
Install Emerald Island GPS Map with its installer program.

The alternative way (and probably useless)
Open the imgae disk file, copy the files from your desktop to your Windows computer. Use Extra option in JavaWa GMTK toolbar to import "*.gmapi" in BaseCamp.

Launch MapInstall, choose a tiles set with the combo box, select the tiles you want to upload with the drag box on the overview map. Repeat this for each tiles set you need. Once all wanted tiles are selected, upload them.

Linux

(No file provided)

Install QLandkarteGT (compile selected maps into a gmapsupp.img).
Install QMapShak (edit GPS data)

Copy the directory where Emerald Island GPS Map files were installed on a Windows system or in Wine directory (installer for Windows OS works with Wine on Linux).

In QLandkarteGT select the tiles you want to upload on your Garmin device (Map/Select Sub Map).
In the sub window "Selected Maps", click on the summary to enable the button "Export Map", then click it to create and save the "gmapsupp.img" file.

Note QMapShack is not yet able to upload maps on GPS devices.
QMapShack is able to display the content of a gmapsupp.img.
It is wise to use QMapShack to everything else except uploading maps on Garmin devices.

Maps storage scheme

A Garmin device can store data in two places :

  • internal memory
  • external memory (SD card)

Maps shall be stored in a /Garmin directory available in both storages, whereas the GPS software shall be in internal memory.

Preinstalled maps are usually named gmapprom*.img. They are stored in internal memory and they should not be renamed (for performance and display issue).

A supplemental map, i.e. a custom map uploaded by the user, is named by default "gmapsupp.img". It can be stored in either internal or external memory and can be renamed as you want (avoid long name, space, special and accentuated characters if you don't want to experiment any unknown issue).

A same name can be used both in internal and external memories.

Among all data contains in /Garmin directory, here can be found :

  • gmapbmap.img : the basemap (default map when no other map is available)
  • gmapdem.img : elevation data (drawn as shadow on 2D view, or as a terrain in 3D view mode)
  • gmapprom.img : preloaded map (purchased as GPS option "t")
  • gmapprom1.img : second preloaded map
  • gmapoem.img : not selectable/deselectable map (in GPS map menu)
  • gmap3d.img : 3D objects (like monuments in three dimensions)
  • gmap3d1.img : second 3D objects
  • gmaptz.img : time zone map
  • gmapsupp.img : supplemental map
  • gmapsupp1.img : second supplemental map
  • [anyname].img : other supplemental maps

The support of all these files depends on Garmin GPS model.

Upload on a USB device

You can upload selected tiles on any USB mass storage, not only a Garmin GPS device. The data will be stored by default in /Garmin directory.

CAUTION

  1. If you are unsure of what you are doing, make at least a save of all the content of your GPS internal memory (it may take a long time).
  2. Any previous map set with the same ".img" file name will be replaced by the new one you decided to upload on your USB mass storage.
  3. It is up to you to rename the existing file on your GPS to avoid an unwanted deletion.

Important

In BaseCamp, you can display only one tileset (a map) at a time.

Emerald Island GPS Map is organized as a set of layers. Each layer is a map with a priority display level.
On a Garmin device, you can display more than one map covering the same area, according to their priority display.

For Emerald Island GPS Map :

  • OSM is normal layer, with the default Garmin priority display (aka over BGD and DEM)
  • DEM is an intermediate layer which colors the relief. It is displayed over BGD and below OSM
  • BGD is a background layer with a low priority layer, it masks the default Garmin base map

MapInstaller and QLandkarteGT allow to select tiles from more than one map. All selected tiles set will be merged in a unique "gmapsupp.img" file that you can rename but with ".img" file extension.

Final words

The map's rendering depends on a ".TYP" style file, like a CSS file for HTML content. Any unprotected map can be customized.

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