General questions

What maps databases are provided?

GPS Pilot does not provide any pre-defined maps databases, instead GPS Pilot offer powerful and open solutions, to download, convert or/and import maps you are familiar to on your Palm.

• Either instantly download on-line geo-coded maps from a range of worldwide destinations anywhere, anytime.
  Simply, from home or on the move, type a specific address, choose a POI , or locate yourself on a map and in minutes, you get on-line plans to start your journey.
   
• or, navigate with your own maps*, by directly drag BMP or GIF** raster maps to external memory
  (Compact Flash, Memory Stick, SD Cards)
   
• or, convert and install in RAM digital or scanned maps** using Cartographer, our Map Manager companion tool.

* For preparing maps to use on the device. You must specify the longitude and latitude coordinates of each map.
** ARM device recommended.
 

Are there any European maps available? Where can I get them?

You can get any map into your palm from the internet, or world wide digital or paper scanned maps.
To read/display them use GPS Pilot Atlas, Tracker or Fly applications.

Internet maps are available for the following countries:

• Full coverage down to house number location: US, Canada, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Scotland Switzerland, Wales.
  
• City-to-city coverage: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Gibraltar, Greece, Holy See (Vatican City State), Hungary, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malta, Republic of Moldova, Monaco, Poland, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Turkey, Ukraine, Yugoslavia.

You can also get the list of world locations such as the airports of many places around the world from Free POIs DB section.
 

What are Map Datum and which should I use?

A datum is a mathematical model of the Earth which approximates the shape of the Earth and enables calculations to be carries out in a consistent and accurate manner. The datum is physically represented by a framework of ground monuments( i.e trig. Stations) whose positions have been accurately measured or calculated on this reference surface. Line of latitude and longitude on a map or chart are referenced to a specific map datum.
GPS Pilot applications support WGS 84 map datum
 

Are the maps able to be zoomed into street level maps for specific cities in Europe?

Any maps can be formatted for your palm. The scale of the map is then your entire choice. An effective automatic built-in zoom in/out feature detects, loads and/or extends on the fly, appropriate and perfectly accurate maps according to current location and scale.

The zooming function operates slightly differently according to your view:

• In View 1 and 2, your current map can be zoomed in/out (i.e smoothly extends/divides by 2) infinitely using the scroll hard button, whereas selecting the scale indicator brings up the list of the maps available at different scale for the current area.
  In these view to zoom in/out through list of the maps available at different scale for the current area, use either the jog dial or apply the two scrolls icons displayed next to the scale. These two icons give feedback on which loaded maps are available at the other levels.
   
• In the magnifier view, the scroll hard buttons function also extends/divides by 2 the current map. However, if there is a related map loaded on your device, this one will be displayed.
   

Does your software have the resolution or the capacity to zoom in enough in order to navigate through streets?

There is no restriction on the resolution of our GPS applications. You can download as many maps as necessary in GPS Pilot software. The limit is the Palm/sd card memory.
 

Do you support color maps?

Yes, GPS Pilot application support color maps for color Palm devices.

Cartographer allows to convert color maps : via the "Choose color depth" dialog box, you can define the color depth of your map (available here). Cartographer supports also maps compression for Palm O.S. 3.5 minimum.

For online maps, the system will request the appropriate maps (gray-scale or color, compressed, and color table) that will fit best your type of device.
 

Do maps support wide screen (HandEra) or high resolution screen (Sony Clie, Tugsten)?

Yes, all our applications are compliant to new screen definition.
 

How much memory does a map require on my device?

Memory requirements differ by the number of points and maps imported, their size, resolution (Black and white, grayscale or 256 colors) and compression.

A waypoint is about 50 bytes.

The size of a map (in pixels) is around

• Width * Height / 8 for Black and White maps
• Width * Height / 4 for grayscale
• Width * Height / 2 for grayscale (16 levels of grayscale)
• Width * Height for 8 bits color maps

One recommendation about big maps is to use several smaller maps than a big one. If all the smaller maps are under a same sub-directory in /GPSpilot/ on external memory, they will all being seen as one (however you need to calibrate them separately).

BMP is faster on non ARM devices.
 

I see that a "GPSpilot" directory is created on the SD card, but can't figure out how to move maps to it. I tried doing it manually, using an SD card reader on a desktop computer, but then GPS applications couldn't find the maps. Does this feature work yet?

On external memory, all .gif and .bmp files found under /GPSpilot/ directory are maps.
They have a corresponding .geo file which contains the calibration information.
The .geo file is a list of points in the format rpi="Latitude, Longitude, Y, X" (Ex: rp3="40.3606682,-87.4773026,899,639").

If the .geo file is not found, the map is calibrated by default around the equator (Lat=0, Lon=0). The map can be found in the map list, and then multi-point calibrated. Use the menu Calibrate to start and stop the calibration process.

Maps found in a sub-directory of /GPSpilot/ are considered a family of maps : They will all be displayed on the Palm as one big map. Each of them having its own calibration. Maps from a family are supposed having about the same scale.

You can add .gif .bmp and .geo files on the external memory by any means (external card readers, card export software, or HotSync). Be sure that the maps are located under the /GPSpilot/ directory.

Maps may also have a .toc file associated. This file is internally used to improve the performance of GIF display.
 

Map view--what does Nudge do?

Map nudge allows to slide the map under tracks or points. It is used to align a map with a track or a set of points.
Nudging does not modify the calibration, but let you do a translation of the map.
Use the menu Nudge to start and stop the nudging process.
It is only available for GIF and BMP maps.
 

If I download 2 online maps or more, all maps are overwritten - only the last one is on the external memory. What can I do to keep more than one map on the external memory, when downloading from the Internet?

A new map over-writes the previous one because they have the same name: the default one. We took this policy to avoid filling up memory fast if there's no external card.
After each downloaded map, rename it via the option menu "Maps-Details", before downloading another one.
 

It's not picking up the maps database files I have imported on my sd card.

The points and palm map databases should not be on external memory, only GIF and BMP files should be under /GPSpilot/. Try to move all .pdb files back to the handheld memory.
 

May points calibration be removed from my device?

Yes, once the calibration process is done you can remove your calibration points from your POIs databases.
 

Are the rpi points in the .geo files the corner points of the map? And if so is their a particular order that I should enter them?

Create a .geo file on the sd card. The "maps_name".geo file is a list of points in the format rpi="Latitude, Longitude, Y, X" (Ex: rp3="40.3606682,-87.4773026,899,639").
If the .geo file is not found, the map is calibrated by default around the equator (Lat=0, Lon=0). The map can be found in the map list, and then multi-point calibrated. Use the menu Calibrate to start and stop the calibration process.
 

On-line maps and Internet Connection Q&A
 

Trouble shooting:

0n my T3, 480 x 320 resolution is not functional, what should I do to solve this?

To display 320X480 maps on your Palm Tungsten T3, you have to install the patch T3DIAcompatibility.zip  from PalmSource, that it is included in the Tracker.zip package

This PalmSource package distributed by the Dynamic Input area compatibility prcs that are needed on the Tungsten T3 device to be compatible with the PalmSource Dynamic Input Area APIs. Please install these on your device via HotSync if you want to run application that uses the Palm DIA APIs.

IMPORTANT - You must install both prcs at the same time; installing them seperately may force a hard reset.

Zoomed maps are pixel-ized extension or division of maps loaded in your Palm.
Calibration process has to be done on the original map.
 

You mention "nudge controls". How do I find these? It goes into nudge mode but I can not get it to actually do anything.

If you notice that a map is off few meters from your current GPS marker, or the map is not aligned to a track or set of points, use nudge controls to slightly reposition the map. Apply the menu option Map-Nudge and slide the map over the correct locations. re-select the menu Map-Nudge, to end the multi-points calibration process. This function I currently is only available for gif and bmp maps stored on external memory.
 

I got the message "Memory: out of space. (Mem 0102)", on my Device: Palm Tungsten 2 with 20.3Mb free space - sounds like a lot, but is it?

Due to a Palm OS limitation, you need to have external memory (SD card) to download on-line maps/routes on PalmOS 5. Also, make sure your SD card is not in read only mode (on the SD itself, there is a small switch to move)

I digitized a chart map for my navigation area and created a 4600x2800 bmp file.I can zoom out to the 5,1Nm scale but if I try to zoom in to the 1,3Nm scale or zoom out to the 10,2 scale most of the time I get an error (Memory: invalid parameter (Mem 0103)). If I try to zoom in or out any further I always get this error.

Try to load smaller maps instead of a big one. they will react the same as the system automatically load/uodate the right one, but memory access will be fewer.
 

I don't have any SD card reader or card export software to copy bmp files with my scanned map to SD card with HotSync.

You can try the card reader trial version of softick, available at softick.com.

I cannot zoom large maps to 10 miles, why?

You should be able to zoom in 8 times through a map, then the automatic zoom function does not zoom further as the detail level is too blury. To get more maps displayed, download them, following one of our 3 possibilities: either upload instantly on-line maps; or directly drag BMP or GIFraster maps to external memory ; or convert topographical, aeronautical, marine, road street level digital maps or scan paper maps using GPS Pilot PC companion CartographerT

None of my 5.1 maps stored on sd cards seem to come up

The problem is due to the toc files, files associated to calibration process.

Delete the associated .toc files before running GPS Pilot applications. The application will re-built each toc files with the calibration contained in the .geo file.

If you do a new calibration the toc files are automatically deleted.

Converting Maps through Cartographer

Love your software especially the concept of a mapmaking feature. But I am a Mac user. Any plans for a mac version of Cartographer?

GPS Pilot Cartographer/Topographer are windows software. To run them on a Mac platform use any PC emulator such as Virtual PC.
However, you can get on-line "ready-to-go" maps via the maps on web feature.
For the Palm - Internet connection, land modem and wireless connection are both supported. For the most mobile solution, connect your cell phone to your Palm (cable, or infrared solutions).
You can also use your home computer Internet connection. Use Palm hotsync cradle or the infrared port to communicate with your desktop computer and run a software like Mocha W32 PPP or Softick PPP.

Mocha W32 PPP supports IR or serial port connection
Softick PPP establishes PPP sessions over USB connections.

Which image format does Cartographer support?

Cartographer support maps in the following formats .bmp, .gif, .jpeg. So as long as you get the maps in these formats and you know at least lat/long of 2 locations per maps, you will be able to convert them into Palm/GPS Pilot readable maps. For ideas of Maps software check out Cartographer page.
 

When I scan in a map, I get about two dozen map sections (name 1-0, name 1-1 etc).

Cartographer eliminates size restriction in importing maps. If the map is too large for the internal memory management of the Palm Cartographer will automatically split it into several smaller units but calibration within Cartographer will be done once for all.
The split maps are grouped together as a family of map, they are "stitched" together. On your PDA, they will be listed separately, but they do act as the whole map as you defined it. These family of maps are displayed all together, if you delete a map you delete the whole the family. However, in this current version, calibration process on PDA has to be done for every single maps unit.
 

How can I calibrate maps?

Maps can be calibrated in the following ways:

1. In Cartographer, two-point calibration process: enter the top-left and bottom right longitude latitude.
2. On your Palm Handheld, multipoint calibration process: select the menu Maps-Calibrate. Mark known locations on the map and match them to the actual points in your Points Database. End the process by reselecting the menu Maps-Calibrate.
    

What is the syntax for the map_name.txt file?

For best color maps rendering on the Palm?

You have 2 possibilities of conversion.
For best color rendering you can convert your color map into a 256-color map and include its specific color table.
For better execution efficiency, you can ease the Palm's conversion algorithm by using the predefined Palm color table. In this case, prior to convert your map within Cartographer, recast the map with the colors palette of the Palm.
To do so, save the predefined Palm Color table (available here) into your computer. Then open PaintShop pro, load your image, apply the menu "Color-Load Palette. Convert the rendering of your map within the Palm color table range : enter the name of the predefined palette "PalmOS256color.PAL", select the "Apply palette using the nearest colors matching" and click on the "Open" button. In this case do not include any color tables within Cartographer as you are using the default one.
 

Problem with maps from 5.5 to 5.6 versions : one of my GIF maps stored on my memory card seem to come up. The map scale (shown on the bottom right corner of the screen) says 0m. When I get the map details, I see that the map name has > been truncated to 11 characters and the size reported is 795*16580615. That's weird. The map's actual size is 5458*7998. Has the format of the .geo file changed in version 5.5?

The problem of corrupted GIF maps using the new version is due to a change in the .toc file format ....
The .toc file is built, if it doe not exists, on the first read of a GIF map .
If the external memory card is in the Palm device before running for the first time ( and only for the first run) the new version of the GPSpilot application, the software will delete all the .toc files stored under /GPSpilot/ directory and sub-directories. But if you have inserted the memory card after the first run of the new version, the .toc files are "corrupted".
The solution is to delete manually all the .toc files stored under /GPSpilot/ directory. You can also try to re-install the previous version of the application, run it once, then install the latest version and run it with the memory card.

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