Mapomatic – Applications of Mapping

We’re now beta testing our Garmin OSM map image file. If you asked to join the beta and haven’t got access, please let us know. If you want to join the beta, please follow these instructions, and you should be able to join. A key point is you need to register in our forums, and then contact us (via email, not via comments here please), and we’ll add you into additional areas of the forum.

After a long time (in computing terms) running the same, stable firmware, Garmin have just released a new firmware (v3.60) for the 60Cx, 60CSx, 76Cx and 76CSx models.

The new features / bug fixes are:

• Correct German translation of ‘delete all waypoints’
• Fix data card unlock failure when 2 cards of the same map set are used in one device
• Improve sun times for polar regions
• Fix issue where ETA in non motor vehicle modes can be unreasonably short
• Improve robustness of compass when it would appear uncalibrated until a power cycle
• Increase precision of distance measurement to the cursor on the map page
• Allow backlight adjustment on the track back point selection page
• Fix shutdown when editing Estonian Grid coordinates
• Correct daylight saving time for New Zealand
• Improve selection of the names of cross roads with NT maps
• Correct potential shutdown when viewing a vertical profile

You may not want to apply this update if you are not being affected by the problems listed.

Back in January, Garmin released similar firmware updates for the eTrex HCx range (v2.50) , along with the eTrex HC range (v2.70) and finally the eTrex Cx (v2.90) models.

Even before the Colorado starts shipping in any serious quantities in the UK, Garmin have updated the firmware in these units based on user feedback. The main features added are:

• Displays geocaches on the main screen
• Doubles the number of caches supported to 2000
• Adds the ability to mark the cache as found
• Provides support for Colorado Field Notes, which can be directly uploaded to geocaching.com

[Via UK Gadgeteer]

We’re now ready to start our beta test of our UK OSM Garmin map. If you are interested in trying and providing feedback, on both the actual map file, but also the instructions on how to load them too, then please contact us.

However, please first register in the forums, and then please email us at info@mapomatic.net with the following information;

• Your forum username
• Your Garmin model (or models)
• How much internal or external memory your Garmin has
• Whether you already have additional maps installed

We will then be in touch with you to confirm whether you are able to join the beta test.

A lot of work has been going on behind the scenes to automate the creation of these maps, and also the backend support to allow us to release these maps securely. We’re hoping to be able to announce a beta program for these maps in the near future to ensure there are no major problems with these maps before we start making them available. Please keep an eye on the homepage, and look out for further announcements in the forums.

We’re looking at providing a range of maps suitable for use of various devices. Right now, we’re working on providing a map that can be installed to selected Garmin GPS devices, covering the whole of the UK & Ireland, using data provided by OpenStreetMap. The picture above, from Google Earth, shows the area this map will cover.

More details, including a mockup of the data in the rest of the article…

Continue reading ‘Our first project…’ »