OSM on Garmin Etrex 10

[Ent]

Hi

I am a great fan of OSM and tend to adopt a Borg style approach of assimilating any Garmin device that comes past me. High end GPS like the Garmin 62s is dead easy to get OSM installed and with the huge memory you can swing Contour 5 metres on them along with normal Garmin maps. Fine for those of us with deep pockets but not so much fun for cheaper stuff.

Garmin maps are stored on img files. The Garmin 62s supports multiple files. Other units like the Fenix supports two. The gmapsupp.img and gmapbmap.img. This means that you can download the img version of OSM from web and copy it straight to the GPS as a simple USB drive. The img can be found on http://www.osmaustralia.org/garmin.php. Usual warning. Always take a copy of the original img file in case you need a way back!

Now the Etrex 10 has a trick to getting OSM on it. Garmin have been typical and nobbled the software not to allow multiple maps. This means that you can not even load Garmin own maps apart from the preloaded basemap. Also the memory is small at 8mb. But by taking an OSM img file and copying it over gmapbmap.img you can get OSM on the unit. Now as mentioned the OSM map needs to be below 8mb in size. For Tassie OSM for the entire state is 2.4MB so quite feasible for some time to come using the Etrex 10 with OSM in Tassie. For larger states the img file would need to custom rolled. No great issue for the techno-geeks but more mucking around than this simple post can cover.

Cheers

[wayno]

thats bollocks garmin trying to stop other maps being used. you paid for the gps it's none of their business what you put on it... hopefully someone takes them to court for that.
its like microsoft when they would refused to sell windows to any computer dealer who sold a pc with another operating system. or no operating system

[Ent]

Hi Wayno

The Etrex is the base model and likely nobbled to artificially remove some features. Sure the few cents saved on the tiny memory might be a real saving but the missing map is just plain marketing. I do wonder at times how much feature reduction is driven by real cost saving versus distinguishing between the 20 and 30 models. Maybe I am old fashion but believe that something should be the best it can be.

Still with the little trick you can turn the Etrex 10 into a much more friendly beast. It is very handy having a track to follow in whiteout conditions or just to make life easier.

Cheers

[wayno]

they are probably trying to rope newbies in, once they are familiar with the model they are hoping they will upgrade to the more expensive models.
same with Intel they brought out processor chips that cost a lot cheaper , they were no different physically from the more expensive ones except they had disabled some of the memory on the chips... it just shows how companies mark up their higher end products for more profit, the marketers have their finger in the pie....

[Ent]

Hi Wayno

Yeap deliberate downgrading of products is sadly the stock in trade for the software industry. In fact it could cost more to "downgrade" functionality than sell the full version. Adobe is the master of this marketing approach as is Garmin. The iPhone charges a massive premium for extra memory out of proportion to the memory cost.

My first experience of this approach was a Casio calculator that the lower model could not do standard deviation designed to force students up a model. We soon found that if you hit the same key sequence it gave the same answer just that the display would no show SD!

Struck this again with Fluke multimeters. The model 77 had range hold while the 75 did not. The price difference was huge as people working at arms length needed the range hold feature. Friend took my meter and his apart and found a 5 cent resister bridge on his. Added the resister on mine and bingo we had identical feature set.

USA marketing hogwash tends to come with software and USA electronics. Frankly I would be surprised with Garmin that a lot of stuff shares the same circuit boards so the nobbling is done by software.

Garmin is very restrictive on publishing its data file structure so the OSM community is forced to reverse engineer the data structure. Garmin can not get it through their marketing tiny brains that for bushwalking their maps are ridiculously expensive and lacking in detail plus often wrong.

At least with Garmin the OSM community can hack the fixes unlike other brands of dedicated GPS. What will happen is a gifted app designed will put vector data files on an iPhone and people will realise that an iPhone with a Lifeproof case will do the job better than a nobbled Garmin. I will not be sad for the out of work Garmjn marketing merchants.

Cheers

[vicrev]

Hi all.......Iv'e got this etrex 10 does all I want it to,I have just been reading on this thread,a simple little trick ? can improve the map,how ? ......I'm one of those silly old buggars,who has trouble turning on their phone !! .......Help appreciated !!!.......Vicrev

[Ent]

Hi all.......Iv'e got this etrex 10 does all I want it to,I have just been reading on this thread,a simple little trick ? can improve the map,how ? ......I'm one of those silly old buggars,who has trouble turning on their phone !! .......Help appreciated !!!.......Vicrev

Hi

I will post instructions when I am near a real computer.

Cheers

[vicrev]

Thanks Ent..............Vicrev

[Ent]

5.2 EXTREX 10 OSM INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS

The Extrex 10 is a basic Garmin that does not support user selectable maps but does support been accessed as a USB drive so installation of an OSM img map file is relatively straightforward. The device has limitations such as no routing ability and limited memory. The Extrex 10 is not intended by Garmin to be a mapping GPS so this is more a “fix” rather than an intended native Extrex function. The instructions have been done from memory so please inform me if they are flawed.

1. The best map set comes from the OSM Australia website and are the 2km zoomed versions, http://www.osmaustralia.org/garmin2kzoom.php. Downland the appropriate state to your computer. This img will provide the smallest img file possible so suitable for the Extrex 10’s limited memory. The maps will not be routable and will not display non Garmin icons. The 2km zoomed version means that all paths will hang in up to the 2km zoom level, and this is very handy in the bush to see the tracks at higher zoom levels as depending on the orientation of the screen a track is visible for around 10 km. On other sets the walking tracks will disappear at the 80-300 metre zoom level.

2. Rename the downloaded file to gmapsupp. Alternatively to gmapbmap.img but this will mean that you will loss access to Garmins basemap. This might be necessary if you are running out of space on your Extrex 10.

3. Plug the Extrex 10 into the USB port using a standard USB Micro (need to check) cable.

4. Navigate to the Garmin directory.

5. For safety sake copy the entire directory to a safe (backed up) area of your computer in case anything goes wrong.

6. Copy the downloaded and renamed file to the Garmin directory on the Extrex 10. If you use the gmapbmap.img name you will be overwriting Garmin’s basemap so make sure you have the original backed up and can restore it to the unit.

7. Unplug and restart the Garmin Extrex 10 and the map will appear. If you use the gmapsupp.img file name when you zoom out past the state level the Garmin gmapbmap.img will take over.

8. Please report your success or failure on the following link to improve the instructions, http://www.bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic ... 34#p187943

[sthughes]

3. Plug the Extrex 10 into the USB port using a standard USB Micro (need to check) cable.

Mini-USB actually

[Guestnest]

Gday. Firstly ENT thanks for the easy to follow instructions for uploading OSM to the Etrex e10. My problem is the file size for S.A. is 11.3mb. I see you stated "For larger states the img file would need to custom rolled". Are you able to enlighten me how I can roll my own - so to speak - so I can customise the S.A. OSM file to fit. My e10 shows capacity of 8.97mb and used is 1.23mb. So not a lot to play with. Regards, Mark.

[GPSGuided]

Just select the specific tiles you need from the following service. A number of download options including direct use .img file or install on your computer then install.

http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl

[Mozziediver]

Hi,
I realise this is an old thread, but I recently acquired an Etrex 10 (~$80 at JB) to give me GPX traces to use with a garmin VIRB. Its fine as it is, but I can't resist playing around with it, and trying to load OSM data. I found it difficult to get a small enough file, but finally set one up via the BBBike site using their polygon tool. At about 5Mb it seems a good size for just my local area.
I decided to use the gmapsupp.img name, copied it to the Garmin folder on the Etrex, did a full reset (multiple buttons etc). But the file's not showing up, just the original (presumeably) map. Anything else I should do?Zooming out beyond state and country level (Vic, AU) doesn't show it yet.
I"m not able to check it in Basecamp as that crashes on the tip screen. I've also tried installing an old version of Basecamp, but it just "updates" and crashes.

I've combed the archives and other websites, but this group seems to be the most knowledgeable.
So I'm asking - any advice (gratefully received)?