Premium – Mac OSX Map Download

About the Maps - Please Read

Video Tutorial how to send the maps - this Video was made using Windows MapInstall - but the differences are tiny. For more Video Tutorials explaining all the basics go here: wo-beginnen-tutorial/

Maps are available Worldwide. They are usually updated every Friday. An installation guide and general MAC OSX specific Tutorial can be found here - please read it!

Short Instructions: 1. Make sure you have Garmin Mapinstall and MapManager for Mac installed (as well as Basecamp for Mac - well why would you download it otherwise?).

2. Download the map of your choice

3. Unpack it. I recommend: keka or the Unarchiver Please use "unpack here" and not "unpack to folder x" (.7z I use lzma2) 4. Double-Click on the unzipped gmap folder or move the unarchived folder to: /Users/PUTYOURUSERNAMEHERE/Library/Application Support/Garmin/Maps/ (in this case I think you don't even need to install Garmin MapInstall and MapManager for Mac.).

5. Before you send the maps to your GPS - read the "Change Layout" instructions below the downloads - to change the layout of the maps to the one most suitable for your GPS/ your usage. ( If you cannot open the gmap folder/package here is a trick: The GMAP file is a package, thus via the finder you can select the menu “show package content”. You can reach the correct folder only if you allow the finder to show hidden files (from command line type ‘defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles true’ and then killall finder) – infact you need to enter the folder Library in your home. Once this is done you can copy and paste the typ (layout) and the info (counturlines) files as needed and then send to the GPS via map install.)

- Map Data

All maptiles are compiled with mkgmap using map data from openstreetmap.org & Contributors. You can use and edit the map data by visiting openstreetmap.org. Thanks to Geofabrik for providing the map data snapshots which I use to create the maps. Thanks to http://viewfinderpanoramas.org for the best DEM (contourlines) available on the net. -- For Copyrights please see the Installer or if you unextract the installer see the file copyright.txt. Contourlines/DEM data: The altitude data for the contourlines is from varying sources in the following priority (if available):

1. LIDAR data from open government data and other openly available sources - collected and converted to hgt format by - Sonny - DEM Altitude Models This data is very very high quality and resolution - there is no better open data available according to my knowledge.
2. ALOS World 3D30 - überall zwischen N60° und S60°
3. SRTM 1" v3.0 - very rarely for some tiles missing in ALOS data - also only between N60° and S60°.
4. Viewfinderpanormas 1" - then 3" - above N60° / below S60° as there is no SRTM data nor ALOS or LIDAR Data avialble.
5. SRTM 3" v3.0 (very very rarely, 8 tiles only)

more exact info which data is used where - inside the copyright.txt files.

Programs to Display the Mac OSX Velomap

Please use the latest Garmin Mac OSX Basecamp Version. Maps are not compatible with Basecamp v2 or older (as well with other old Garmin Mac OSx programs).

Problems - Help - Tutorials

Beginners Guide can be found here: get started with velomaps Send Maps to GPS with Basecamp/Mapinstall: tutorials/send-maps-to-your-gps/mapsource/ I recommend to always send maps to an external data card and not internal memory. (this way if something goes wrong, or maps would be damaged you run less danger of wrecking your GPS). An installation guide and general MAC OSX specific Tutorial can be found here Please also read the FAQ

Change Map Layout:

All maps have a folder called "Layout Files". In it you find all different layouts. To change the layout, simply go to /Users/PUTYOURUSERNAMEHERE/Library/Application Support/Garmin/Maps/mtbgermany.gmap/Layout_Files (i.e. for Germany), copy the typfile.typ, and paste it into the main installation folder of the map (i.e. /Users/PUTYOURUSERNAMEHERE/Library/Application Support/Garmin/Maps/mtbgermany.gmap/ ) . (don't cut/paste it, else it becomes difficult to change back/forward between map layouts).

By default the contourlines are enabled in the maps, and will be visible. If you prefer the maps without contourlines, you have 2 possibilities. Either just deselect the option to show contourlines in the options menu of Basecamp. Or go to the "Layout Files" folder, and select info.xml from the "Remove_Contourlines" folder. If you use the modified info.xml, contourlines will also not be sent to your GPS. To reenable the contourlines, go to "Integrate_Contourlnes" folder and copy/paste the info.xml you find in it. ( If you cannot open the gmap folder/package here is a trick: The GMAP file is a package, thus via the finder you can select the menu “show package content”. You can reach the correct folder only if you allow the finder to show hidden files (from command line type ‘defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles true’ and then killall finder) – infact you need to enter the folder Library in your home. Once this is done you can copy and paste the typ (layout) and the info (counturlines) files as needed and then send to the GPS via map install.)

Current Issues

The address search is not working consistently. Most problems are due to inconsistent data structures in OSM address data. - General: Autorouting over longer distances on GPS works only with Via Points. plan-routes-efficiently - Autorouting needs attributes like tracktype, bicycle routes, mtb:scale, sac_scale, mtb routes and others to work well. So keep care to enter those details into OSM. (not all are needed, but enough for me to guesstimate wheter a street is cyclefriendly/mtbriendly or not). - Non Connected ways and overlapping ways without node, this is the main problem and a problem of the underlaying map data - please check here: http://keepright.ipax.at/report_map.php Only check/enable: "almost Junctions" , "intersections without junctions" as well as "overlapping ways". This helps you to quickly spot the erros. You can then follow the link to Potlatch (or also JOSM is integrated for JOSM users) and quickly correct mistakes! Watch out not to connect ways that are not connected in reality (i.e. a way crosses another on a brigde, here no connecting node is the right solution). - If you use Windows 2000 you may need to install the "reg" command : Reg cmd at Microsoft. Batches are incompatible to earlier Windows versions. - Note sometimes sea is missing. This is not an issue, but currently not differently possible. It is usually a problem in OSM data.

Notice on Updating Maps

If you want to be notified by email on map updates please go to the frontpage and enter your email address in the subscribe field of the left sidebar. You only get an e-mail when there are changes besides a simple map data update. Map updates are usually every Thursday night / Friday morning. You can look at the server to see the date of map upload. To update the maps, simply overwrite the old data or use Mapinstall.

Overlapping maps in border regions

While you can join maps of different countries, routing over the boundary is a bit shaky, and you will have one map overlaying the other with white background. As long as mkgmap cannot create randomly shaped overview maps (currently only rectangles), this problem is not solvable. There is however the possibility to download a Europe map, which will be updated every 4-6 weeks.

Velomap and Openmtbmap of the same Country -- Problems

If you install an openmtbmap and a VeloMap of the same country with contourlines as separate download (and Spain as well as Canary Islands), you should only send the contourlines once (meaning with either Openmtmbap or Velomap of the country). Else you GPS might not show the maps, or worse not even start until maps are deleted. Therefore: Install one map without conoturlines. E.g. install openmtbmap Europe with contourlines, but do not install the contourlines for Velomap Europe. -- This is not a problem with countries where contourlines are fully integrated like Germany, Alps, Austria,......

Compatibility - Standard (Unicode) vs Non Unicode (cannot authenticate maps)

Unicode is needed to display several alphabets in one map. Non Unicode maps can only display a single alphabet - e.g. kyrillic and latin - but not both. However Garmin blocked using Unicode maps in part of a broken copyright protection on newer GPS device series.

In general just download the Maps from the first "VeloMap" tab - they are in unicode if useful. If you get the message - "cannot authenticate maps", and you have you have one of the following devices:

• All Garmin devices presented 2016 or newer
• Edge 1000,820,520
• Epix
• Etrex 20x / 30x (not "etrex 30")
• Etrex Touch 25/35
• GPS Maps 64 series
• Montana 610, 680
• Oregon 700,750
• Some recent Nuvi devices - as well as some super old devices that do not support Unicode. (E.g. Garmin Vista C, GPS Maps 60 C)

you will need to download the "non unicode" version of the map instead. So get the map from the "non unicode openmtbmap" tab instead. Only maps of regions where several different scripts are used - are in unicode. If Latin is the predominant script - then of course no unicode map is offered. If your device can display Unicode maps - then of course get the standard version - meaning Unicode.

Garmin Edge x30 or newer

Garmin introduced a completely broken high contrast mode - that washes out the colors of the maps. Either disable the high contrast mode on the map visibility section. Or delete the \Garmin\MapThemes\Mountain.kmtf (sometimes also called \Garmin\MapThemes\Mountains.kmtf ) file (back it up if you think you ever want to use that mode. Since the newest firmware in July 2021 you need to enable classic mode - 

Activity Profiles, select a profile, and select Navigation > Map > Map Theme.

Classic: This shows the OpenMTBMaps / VeloMaps as intended, however POI are now shown from Edge profile.

High Contrast: Complete fuckup by Garmin - because they are not able to make their own maps high contrast in first place.

Mountain Biking: Complete fuckup by Garmin - because they are not able to make their own maps high contrast in first place.

SD Cards

This is not about the maps but in general Garmin units that have a microSD card slow only accept SDHC cards - SDXC cards will not work.  Max 32GB size and you need to format it with FAT32 (not exFAT). Be careful with 32GB cards which are available as both SDHC and SDXC. 16GB and smaller usually are always SDHC.

Mac OSx running on new M1/M2 (or newer) chips / Catalina or newer:

You need to Install Android File Transfer so MapInstall can see your device:

https://www.android.com/filetransfer/

Also see here: https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=ufgaLgXyiX2eSZfAsQhdu7&searchQuery=not%20recognized%20catalina

Language and Codepage

Default - Local Language Unicode. All labels / street names are exactly like in the name tag of OSM. Note for any country that uses latin - the default will be latin1 and the options below are not available. An exception is the South America continent map that is additionally available in English Non Unicode. For USA/Canada this is also the only option. For European countries using latin if you want the English version - you can use the European continent map that is available in English versions.

English Unicode: If available in OSM - English or other European language translation is used. If no translation is available in OSM, the local name tag is used.

Local Language Non Unicode: Same as default but instead of Unicode the local codepage is used. So some characters may need to be transcribed automatically in creation. Codepage is always the local default codepage.

English Language Non Unicode (always latin1): If available English or other European language translation from OSM is used. If not names are transcribed to Latin. 

Feedback

Please comment if you like theese maps or even better tell other people about them (forums, blog about it, twitter, etc…) In case maps break Basecamp or don't work - please write exactly which downloads don't work and the time of download as well as your OS and Mapsource version.. Before posting problems please read through here https://www.velomap.org/download/#problems-help-tutorials and here though FAQ And don't forget if you have problems unpacking the maps - .7z is a container, the actual compression I use is the very modern lzma2, most .7z archives however use the older lzma compression, therefore make your you use the latest Unarchiver or another program that can unpack lzma2!

Non Unicode Maps - Only offered for Non Latin Using Countries

You will need to download the Non Unicode Version if you have one of the following devices:

• All Garmin devices presented 2016 or newer
• Edge 1000,820,520
• Epix
• Etrex 20x / 30x (not "etrex 30")
• Etrex Touch 25/35
• GPS Maps 64 series
• Montana 610, 680
• Oregon 700,750
• Some recent Nuvi devices - as well as some super old devices that do not support Unicode. (E.g. Garmin Vista C, GPS Maps 60 C)

This is due to a firmware bug that Garmin introduced as part of their efforts to cut down on people "pirating" their maps. However by doing that they also cut down on Unicode maps produced by mkgmap or even some of their old (legitimate) maps which are not running anymore on these devices. You will know that you need to use the Non Unicode map if on boot your GPS device tells you to "unlock maps". Why is the Europe Map in Unicode? Well for example in Greece and some Eastern Europe countries the script is Cyrillic not latin - and only Unicode maps can contain both scripts in one map. So the non unicode map will not correctly show labels in such countries. Use the country non unicode map instead. They are always in the predominant script of the country. Downloads are only available to VeloMap Members. To try out the maps you can download the Map of Austria for free: VeloMap - Austria OpenMTBMap - Austria   Note1: if you install the non Unicode version of a map - you will overwrite the Unicode map. You can only have either or installed. Note2: Contourlines are identical to Unicode maps. Note3: Local language maps of: Sri-Lanka, Nepal and Cambodia are in latin1  - so the local language maps are not very useful. There is no ANSI Codepage available (besides Unicode) that would support the script/garmin units. Israel-Palestine map is in hebrew (so the Palestine area is not useful). Afghanistan codepage is for Dari - Pashto is not supported outside of Unicode.  

Language and Codepage

Default - Local Language Unicode. All labels / street names are exactly like in the name tag of OSM. Note for any country that uses latin - the default will be latin1 and the options below are not available. An exception is the South America continent map that is additionally available in English Non Unicode. For USA/Canada this is also the only option. For European countries using latin if you want the English version - you can use the European continent map that is available in English versions.

English Unicode: If available in OSM - English or other European language translation is used. If no translation is available in OSM, the local name tag is used.

Local Language Non Unicode: Same as default but instead of Unicode the local codepage is used. So some characters may need to be transcribed automatically in creation. Codepage is always the local default codepage.

English Language Non Unicode (always latin1): If available English or other European language translation from OSM is used. If not names are transcribed to Latin. 

Contourlines Downloads

Most countries, especially the popular ones, have the 20m contourlines already integrated and activated. The 10m are integrated and can be used instead (see Mac OSx tutorial 2ab). However for several countries the contourlines are rather large (rule of thumb if contourlines have more data than the maps) and I integrate them, but you need to download them separately (once). 

In general it is fine to only update the map, as I try to change the contourlines as seldom as possible. Installation instructions for contourlines Point 2a here: Install contourlines on Mac OSx