Magellan Base Maps

[HMAS MB]

Is there a way to remove the US Bsaemap from a Gold? And then insert the Oztralian Basemap?

Or Am I an Idiot? (Dont answer that one trufthfully please! )

[evil_hitman]

you can purchase a basemap cd. this will still leave the US one there but will also insert what ever you want or personally i think money is better spent getting discover aus. gives you full detail. note. It takes a while to upload the map to the gps but you only have to do it once.

Matt

[tolmh]

From the Magellan Meridian FAQ. I used the same method on my SporTrak Pro without any problems.

Setup of the Meridian

1. Connect the Meridian to the PC.

2. Switch the Meridian on to make sure that the battery life indicator is over 50%, modify the baud rate if you want to, and then switch off the Meridian.

3. Press NAV and GOTO simultaneously while switching on the Meridian.

4. A small rectangle appears, put in the number 95 (using the cursor keys) and press ENTER. Select Yes and press ENTER. This will delete the basemap! The unit will also switch off automatically.

5. Once again press NAV and GOTO simultaneously while switching on the Meridian. In some cases, the unit will display the following message: UNIT CURRENTLY CONTAINS NO MAPS INITIATING MAP UPLOAD. That's OK, just leave it there. If it displays the small rectangle instead, put in the number 98, and press ENTER. Select basemap upload.

Setup of the PC

1. Start magup.exe.

2. Answer NO to the next question (Proceed with software upload?)

3. File > Select Database File, and select the basemap file that you want to upload.

4. Expert > Expert Upload 'On'. You may also want to choose one of the non-standard baud rates here (equal to Meridian setting). Click OK.

5. Upload > OK > choose 'Base Map Only' > Check 'Upload File'

6. Now uploading will start. With 115200 bps, this will take approximately 30 minutes.

That's it! When the upload is finished you will again have your basemap in the Magellan. Your unit may need initialization.

[HMAS MB]

Many many thanks for that....now I have to figure out how to print your message out......bugga it cut and paste into a text file will work.

[zijerfex]

I hope you actually have a copy of the Australian basemap before you delete the original US one otherwise you will be left with no map at all and could find it difficult to get one.

Check out all the logs on this topic on the Magellan_Meridian Group on Yahoo for more info. You can even pick up a full copy of the users guide which has been written by ppl from the group and is very useful to have around.

If you have any difficulties, just drop me an email

Zijerfex

[evil_hitman]

yahoo group for meridian owners???
do you have a link?

Matt

[leek]

yahoo group for meridian owners???
do you have a link?

It's at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Magellan_Meridian/

Check out the FAQ document in the files section - it's a good source of information...

and there is another site (newer and less popular) set up for Australian specific stuff at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/magelloz/

[Ex Nihil]

Check out:
http://www.mtgc.org/robertlipe/MeridianFAQ/
for background basemap info.

[Damo.]

I attempted to replace the US Basemap in my Magellan Meridian with an Australian one from Mapsend Worldwide.
Followed instructions updating the GPS software sucessfully and did replace the Basemap. GPS seems to function normal without SD card.

However, if I insert the SD card with map into the unit and switch it on, after the start-up and 'lawer' screen it displays the map screen briefly, there is a soft 'click' inside the unit and it goes back to the start-up screen and continues in a loop!
Corrupted map file I think and redo it both with a card reader and Serial cable with no change. Put in an empty SD card and it's fine. (but pointless)

Very weird. Anyone heard of this problem before?

[Ex Nihil]

Weird, should work just fine. I asume that you are loading Australia by selecting it in Card Utilities and you are not trying to delete the native, resident US map? When you say 'Meridian' do you mean the original yellow one? Have you updated to 406 firmware? Did you load the map as an .MGN not an .IMG? Is the file you made a reasonable size, like under 16Mb? Did you try to swap out the US basemap using anything other than Card Utilities? If so are you aware that the yellow Meridian it has only 2Mb memory for basemap and aything bigger won't fit?
I have a Merriyellow runing 406 firmware and the entire planet in basemaps in .MGN files all under 16Mb and the whole of Discover Aus in .IMG files all under 16Mb all on a 500Mb SD card and it all works just fine. I use it exclusively in Australasian region but I always thought it would be good to have the US basemap as native because then I wouldn't have to load it on the SD card and the WWBasemap Australia is better than the native Austalia basemap, which just gets wasted.

[Rogerthatv1]

Magellan Mapsend WW Base Map is a very basic Base Map for Australia but it does have some Contours on it as I use it in Thailand. You can send the unit to Next Destination (formally Magellan GPS Systems) and for a small charge they can load the Meridian Yellow base map on. Or just wait until DisoverAus Ver 2 Topo is released in a few weeks and anytime you zoom in under 2.5kms you will have a full detail map on the unit with 5m contour lines of all Australia plus all roads, POIs Full Stations etc.

[Lt. Sniper]

The basemaps made by the MapSend WWBasemap software are a bit better then the 2 meg basemap that appears in the MeriYellow and MeriGreen but are lot worse then the 8meg basemaps that appear in the MeriGold, MeriMarine, MeriPlat and MeriColor.

There are copies of the 2 and 8 meg Aussie basemap floating around.

[Damo.]

I asume that you are loading Australia by selecting it in Card Utilities and you are not trying to delete the native, resident US map? When you say 'Meridian' do you mean the original yellow one? Have you updated to 406 firmware? Did you load the map as an .MGN not an .IMG? Is the file you made a reasonable size, like under 16Mb? Did you try to swap out the US basemap using anything other than Card Utilities? If so are you aware that the yellow Meridian it has only 2Mb memory for basemap and aything bigger won't fit?
I have a Merriyellow runing 406 firmware and the entire planet in basemaps in .MGN files all under 16Mb and the whole of Discover Aus in .IMG files all under 16Mb all on a 500Mb SD card and it all works just fine. I use it exclusively in Australasian region but I always thought it would be good to have the US basemap as native because then I wouldn't have to load it on the SD card and the WWBasemap Australia is better than the native Austalia basemap, which just gets wasted.

Deleted the resident US map and replaced it with a file I named au_nz basemap.img It's just over 2Mg, 2.03 MB (2,131,196 bytes) to be exact but seems to function properly and my first attempt was Australia only which must have been under 2Mb.
I do have the original "yellow" Meridian. (But it's green...) and have the v4.02 firmware. That's what the www.magellangps.com site currently offers. There's a later update?

I was following instructions from a link posted earlier in this thread and wasn't aware that loading and switching basemaps on the memory card was possible until I had already replaced the original US one.

Problem now is the unit doesn't like an MMC card with a map on it being inserted. So I seem to be stuck with ONLY the Australian Basemap. Rather than the unneeded US basemap PLUS any I loaded from DiscoverAus V1.

Just tested it out with a 128 Mb SD card rather than the 64Mb MMC one I have been using without problems for the past year. Interestingly, it doesn't seem to be able to read this card at all. I loaded a map with a card reader and the Test Card option in Card Utilities claims the DATACARD IS NOT FORMATTED. "Format card" resulted in a soft click and exiting to the current nav screen. Trying to upload through serial cable says there is no room to upload confirming it does not recognise the card.
Putting the MMC back in with preloaded map and detailed map switched off, basemap is displayed. Switch on detailed map and 'click' I am looking at the startup screen.
Any ideas anyone?

[Ex Nihil]

Still not sure exactly whatÂ’s happening here but hereÂ’s some thoughts:
When you say you deleted the US basemap do you mean that you did this through the 2digit hidden codes accessed at startup or did you do it through Card Utilities?

I have real doubts that neither an .IMG nor a .MGN file generated from Mapsend could ever be loaded successfully as a resident basemap. Maybe I am wrong but I think you will have to get a special file from the net, maybe Lt. Sniper.

.IMG files will only load from Card Utilities as detail maps, .MGN files will only load from Card Utilities as basemaps.

The current firmware version for Meridian GPS (yellow) is 4.06, I am running it now and it runs a 500Mb SD card. 4.02 could not run a 500Mb SD card, which is why I updated it. The Magellan site is now downloading 4.02, you are right I checked, I have no explanation for this, you might want to tell them. Give me your email I can send you 406.

I would strongly urge you never to stuff around with the resident basemap, as you can tell from this thread people waste hours and hours tying to recover their systems from attempted resident basemap swapouts. Just never go near those ‘hidden’ two digit codes I don’t think it is possible to break anything using the regular user interface.

If you have WWBasemaps and DiscoverAus it no longer matters what the original basemap was because you can now swap out any basemap on the planet in the field straight from you SD card. You could just forget your built in basemap except that it still has one important function, it generates the world map when you are looking outside of the basemap loaded from the SD card; without it zoom in close on Mozambique and the screen goes black but it no longer matters what that basemap is, Mongolia would be fine.

The quality of the 2Mb original Australian basemap is inferior to the basemap you will get off WWBasmaps. Others on this thread are comparing it with the later 8Mb Australian basemaps on GPSs after yours but I canÂ’t load them on my Merriyellow and neither can you, file too big. Moreover, because your detail will be supplied from DiscoverAus the GPS will switch from the MGN file to the IMG file as you zoom in, your basemap doesnÂ’t need to be that detailed. Stick to swapping basemaps and detail maps from the regular user interface in Card Utilities.

I suggest now:

Get any legit 2Mb basemap v1 of any country, it doesnÂ’t matter you never have to look at it again and load that internally using the hidden codes. Magellan will do this for a fee.

Format the SD card

Divide up WWBasemap into manageable 16Mb .MGN files, about 12 will do the planet I think. Name them carefully.

Divide up DiscoverAus into manageable .IMG files, about 14.

Load the whole lot onto your SD card if it fits.

Go to Card Utilities and load Australia (MGN) as the basemap.

Go to Card Utilities and load NSW or wherever you are.

Now youÂ’re free to roam the world without ever having to plug it in the PC.

[Lt. Sniper]

Read the FAQ and delete your current basemap.

Then either put the basemap .IMG file that matches your GPS onto an SD card and run the secret menu basemap load code

OR

Use MagUp to load the basemap into your Meridian via serial cable (may take a while)

**********

If your running a MeriGold or better then you should be using firmware version T4.51 or 5.12 and can load the basemap by either secret menu/SD card or serial cable.

If using a MeriYellow or MeriGreen you should have version 4.06 and load the basemap via the serial cable.