Bump
Race Dog
Ok so i was bored and started to play with the idea of getting Google Earth images into my Dakota ( or any other garmin which will handle custom maps).
I have managed to get it right with a little work, so I thought others would like to give it a go!
Here are the steps I used..... If you can improve on them please share.
In Google Earth....
1/ Zoom in to an eye altitude of 1.5 to 2 km. this is about a far as GE will go before running out of resolution.
2/ Find the area of interest and turn off all the on screen info you can - scale bar, side bar, etc. This under "View".
3/ Now click - File, Save,Save Image and save the image as a JPG with a file name using only letters and numbers and no spaces.... I used just numbers eg 1.jpg. Make sure each JGP is less than 1mb.
The images are rather dark when on the GPS so I brightened and increased contrast in a photo editor before continuing.
4/ In GE put your side bar and tool bar back - Under "View"
5/ Under tools select Add Image Overlay (or use the tool button at the top)
6/ This will give you a pop up window and a green mask on the screen.
7/ In the pop up window give the image a name. I used the JPG name and again no spaces.
8/ In the LINK, browse and select the jpg file.
9/ Make sure under the Altitude tab that the Draw Order is set to zero.
10/ Do not click OK just yet......
11/ You should have your JPG file, bound by the green mask, present on the GE main screen.
12/ you can drag the image around by using the corner points to resize and the center point to move.
13/ on the left hand side, near the margin , is a green square this you can use to rotate the image.
14/ by using points 12 and 13 above and the Transparency slider in the overlay pop-up you can now Geo-refarence the image. The closer you get it the better the result!
15/ When done you can now click OK in the overlay pop-up.
16/ In the GE sidebar under the Temporary Places you should have an entry with the name of your JPG file.
17/ you can add more overlays at this point..... up to 100, and they should be listed here.
18/ once done adding image overlays highlight the entry in the sidebar that says "temporary places", right click and select Save as. This will give you a pop up to save the file. Save as A KMZ file again with only letters and numbers and no spaces in the name.
Now connect your GPS and copy the KMZ file created above into the Garmin\CustomMaps directory either on your unit or on the SD card.
When you turn on the GPS the custom map will appear in the map selection page and can be turned on an off as needed. The custom map will only appear on the screen of the GPS when you zoom in quite far, some thing like 120m on the scale bar.
Notes:
1/ JPG images must be less than 1mb each, but up to 100jpg can be stored in a single KMZ file,or the custom map will not read them.
2/ No file names with any spaces or charters other than letters and numbers to be used in the naming of the JPG and KMZ files.... the GPS will not read them.
3/ Some of the individual images in the KMZ file come into view at different zoom levels. I have not managed to figure out why this is as yet, but if you can't see the image then try zoom in futher.
4/The images will be overlayed with any other mapset you have enabled.
5/ You can use multiple KMZ files but all will be enabled or disabled as one mapset.
6/ Only useable in track up or north up mode does not show in auto-motive mode in your map settings.
Give it a go.... not nearly as difficult as it sounds.
Cheers
W
I have managed to get it right with a little work, so I thought others would like to give it a go!
Here are the steps I used..... If you can improve on them please share.
In Google Earth....
1/ Zoom in to an eye altitude of 1.5 to 2 km. this is about a far as GE will go before running out of resolution.
2/ Find the area of interest and turn off all the on screen info you can - scale bar, side bar, etc. This under "View".
3/ Now click - File, Save,Save Image and save the image as a JPG with a file name using only letters and numbers and no spaces.... I used just numbers eg 1.jpg. Make sure each JGP is less than 1mb.
The images are rather dark when on the GPS so I brightened and increased contrast in a photo editor before continuing.
4/ In GE put your side bar and tool bar back - Under "View"
5/ Under tools select Add Image Overlay (or use the tool button at the top)
6/ This will give you a pop up window and a green mask on the screen.
7/ In the pop up window give the image a name. I used the JPG name and again no spaces.
8/ In the LINK, browse and select the jpg file.
9/ Make sure under the Altitude tab that the Draw Order is set to zero.
10/ Do not click OK just yet......
11/ You should have your JPG file, bound by the green mask, present on the GE main screen.
12/ you can drag the image around by using the corner points to resize and the center point to move.
13/ on the left hand side, near the margin , is a green square this you can use to rotate the image.
14/ by using points 12 and 13 above and the Transparency slider in the overlay pop-up you can now Geo-refarence the image. The closer you get it the better the result!
15/ When done you can now click OK in the overlay pop-up.
16/ In the GE sidebar under the Temporary Places you should have an entry with the name of your JPG file.
17/ you can add more overlays at this point..... up to 100, and they should be listed here.
18/ once done adding image overlays highlight the entry in the sidebar that says "temporary places", right click and select Save as. This will give you a pop up to save the file. Save as A KMZ file again with only letters and numbers and no spaces in the name.
Now connect your GPS and copy the KMZ file created above into the Garmin\CustomMaps directory either on your unit or on the SD card.
When you turn on the GPS the custom map will appear in the map selection page and can be turned on an off as needed. The custom map will only appear on the screen of the GPS when you zoom in quite far, some thing like 120m on the scale bar.
Notes:
1/ JPG images must be less than 1mb each, but up to 100jpg can be stored in a single KMZ file,or the custom map will not read them.
2/ No file names with any spaces or charters other than letters and numbers to be used in the naming of the JPG and KMZ files.... the GPS will not read them.
3/ Some of the individual images in the KMZ file come into view at different zoom levels. I have not managed to figure out why this is as yet, but if you can't see the image then try zoom in futher.
4/The images will be overlayed with any other mapset you have enabled.
5/ You can use multiple KMZ files but all will be enabled or disabled as one mapset.
6/ Only useable in track up or north up mode does not show in auto-motive mode in your map settings.
Give it a go.... not nearly as difficult as it sounds.
Cheers
W
