Are there any utilities for working with OSX? Or am I gonna have to do it all on a Win machine and then
transfer the results to Mac?

Thanks for that comparison, helped me to understand. I’m going to start with Moagu and then only use Mapwel if I’m dissatisfied.

- MapWel has a maximum color count of 16 in the current version, and a technical maximum of 60 colors (which they would implement if people wanted). Moagu can create images with up to 254 colors, the maximum allowed by the Garmin’s hardware. Edit: This is last week’s specs, including the “60 color” limit statement which came from one of MapWel’s programmers; as of this week, it now supports up to 86 colors.

- MapWel vectorizes the raster image, and requires you to prepare the image beforehand (with the limited color set) to improve the quality of that vectorization. Edit: Still true, but the latest version does do an automatic color conversion. Moagu can use the image unprepared, although you can improve the results with some image optimization.

- MapWel gets its best results with images that have a limited set of colors, and well-defined boundaries between colors. If you use those kind of images, you’ll probably get better results with MapWel than Moagu. Certainly faster displays. Edit: The latest version of MapWel is even faster for small areas at high zooms (500ft./120m), but the bigger the total area covered, the slower it gets.

- For general aerial imagery, especially color imagery with gradual color changes, Moagu’s results will usually be superior to MapWel’s. Any time you have an image with lots of small details in different colors, MapWel’s vectorization process is likely to lose some of that detail; Moagu won’t. For example, one Moagu user is converting aerial photos of coral reefs for use in a mapping project; subtle changes in water color with depth would be lost in MapWel, but are visible in Moagu. Edit: Still true, even with the greater color range of the new version. And display speeds for such imagery are comparable for both Moagu and MapWel.

- Display speeds on graphic maps (e.g. topographic maps, maps with sharp color distinctions, and limited color palettes) will be much faster for MapWel maps than Moagu; map size will be smaller, to. On aerial imagery with lots of detail, difference in display speed will likely be minimal.

- MapWel is more expensive ($45 for a version that works with a single unit, $90 for one with no limitations). But MapWel is also a full-featured Garmin vector map editor and creator, while Moagu only does one thing – converts raster imagery into Garmin maps.

Which is better? I’m not unbiased, but I’d say that for most raster imagery, Moagu will give better results than MapWel. Initial display speeds will probably be slower in Moagu maps than MapWel maps, but the display should be able to keep up with your position for walking speeds, and even bicycling speeds for some kinds of maps (maps with lots of white space in them). There are display update issues at driving speeds for maps from both programs. But if you’re primarily using maps with sharp color distinctions, and limited color palettes, MapWel might be a better choice, especially with its vector editing capability; if you want maps that cover large areas, Moagu will probably do a better job.

Here’s an article on using MapWel to make USGS topos:

http://travelbygps.com/articles/cartography.php

So you’re saying the maps work in an iQue 3600? Wow, I would not have expected that.

Edit: Yup, that was the problem. It’s now fixed.

I downloaded the Demo. But no matter what I do the program reports:

“This Worldfile is not in valid…..”

I tried maps in Bagdhad and Danmark. I reprojected the files using Global Mapper and the Utility in Moagu.

What did I miss?