GPS Maps From OSM Data

From OpenStreetMap

Overview

The Freemap site now offers a semi-automatic way of generating maps for your Garmin GPS from OSM data within the UK. This works in conjunction with Stanislaw Kozicki's cGPSmapper software.

Quick introduction to cGPSmapper

cGPSmapper is a piece of software, written by Stanislaw Kozicki, to prepare detailed background maps for your Garmin GPS. It takes as its input a data format known as "Polish Format" and generates, as output, a binary format known as .img. The .img format can then be uploaded directly to your GPS using another utility written by Stanislaw Kozicki, "sendmap". You can download both utilities, and get much more information about them, from the cGPSmapper site.

How to do it

1. Go to the GPS maps page on Freemap and enter the latitude and longitude bounds of the area you're interested in. Alternatively, go to the main Freemap page, navigate to the area you're interested in on the map, and click the "GPS Map" button on the right, to autogenerate a GPS map of the currently-displayed area.

2. A Polish format file of your selected area will be generated and displayed on the browser. Copy and paste this to a text editor such as Notepad or kwrite, and save the file with a .mp extension.

3. If you have not done so already, download cgpsmapper and sendmap from the cGPSmapper site.

4. Convert the Polish format file to a .img file, e.g:

cgpsmapper file.mp

5. Send the .img file to your GPS, e.g:

sendmap COM1 file.img

Note that COM1 is the identity of your serial port. It might be /dev/ttyS0 on a Linux system. Both utilities, cgpsmapper and sendmap, have help pages which list all options.

6. That's it! You now have an OSM map on your GPS!