Free Geography Tools

A few months ago, I covered GMapTool, a program that lets you identify the name and coverage area of a Garmin .img map file, whose only outward identifying info is a cryptic 8-digit filename that doesn’t reflect anything about its contents. Some people who have download the most recent version of GMapTool have reported getting virus warnings from their AV programs. I’ve checked GMapTool with MS Security Essentials (a terrific free AV program, BTW; unobtrusive, and doesn’t use a lot of system resources) and Avast antivirus, and neither one has spotted a problem – I suspect that the warnings are a false positive, though I can’t be sure.

Regardless, if you’re leery of using GMapTool because of the virus warnings, an alternative program is Mapsource Map Explorer. It doesn’t have the additional capabilities of GMapTool to split and combine .img map files, plus it only works on maps installed in MapSource (GMapTool can work on any .img file in a directory, not just those installed in MapSource). But if all you want is data characteristics for a set of installed map tiles, it does the job:

While the identifying map number may have less than 8 digits (e.g. “”162923” above), the .img filename for that map tile will have enough leading zeroes to pad out the name to 8 digits, i.e. “00162923.img”.

USGS Topo Maps, Aerial Imagery, And Scanned Maps On Your Garmin GPS!

Choose The Right Option For Your Garmin Handheld Model

Actual screenshots from a Garmin Oregon!

G-Raster For The Garmin Colorado/Oregon/Dakota Series “… great (tool) for creating custom maps ...” GPS Tracklog Blog “… easy as 1, 2, 3.” gpsinformation.net “Works great!” GPSFix "Holy crap; this looks amazing.” GPSFileDepot Click here for more info on G-Raster

Actual screenshots from a Garmin 60Cx!

Moagu For The 60C(S)x, 76C(S)x, And Some eTrex Models "... Moagu rocks! This really is revolutionary!" GPS Tracklog Blog Click here for more info on Moagu

Related posts:

1. Breaking Up A Garmin gmapsupp.img Map File Into Separate Map Tiles
2. High-Res Garmin Topo Maps For CO, WY, and UT (also Argentina, Uruguay and Chile)
3. More Garmin Maps From Open Street Map Data
4. Even More 1:24K-Equivalent Garmin Topo Maps Now Available
5. Exporting Data From Garmin's MapSource Program To Google Earth
6. Garmin MapSource For Free
7. Identify Garmin Map Tiles And The Area They Cover
8. Uploading .img Map Files To A Garmin GPS Unit With MapUpload
9. Put USGS Topographic Maps, Aerial Imagery, And Other Raster Imagery On Your Garmin Handheld GPS
10. World OpenStreetMap Data In Shapefile, XML and Garmin Formats
11. Adding Garmin .img Map Files To MapSource
12. Google Maps Search Interface For Garmin .img Maps
13. G-Raster Updated: Raster Imagery In Garmin Handheld GPS Units
14. Updates For Two Garmin-Related Programs
15. Sources For Free Garmin .img GPS Map Files