Garmin Custom Maps / KMZ downloads
If there's enough demand I'll look at bringing back the Garmin Custom Map / KMZ file downloads.
For more information and links to the old download files - http://www.topomap.co.nz/GarminCustomMaps
Updated map sheet #Garmin Custom Map / KMZ file downloads are now available again from https://www.topomap.co.nz/#Downloads (and will be maintained along with other updates when LINZ releases new versions).
Thanks to everyone who tested and gave super quick feedback – much appreciated!
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Richard commented
Loads of thanks for this Gavin. Using the KMZ files on my Garmin on every trip and it is great now to have the latest map sheets. Richard
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Anonymous commented
Fantastic news. I've just downloaded three to use with a DofE group this weekend. All seems to be working OK. Many thanks. Steve
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Due to the overwhelming response, I will continue to support the Garmin Custom Maps. I'm in the process of trying out new generation methods that will make things easier my end going forward.
The old KMZ files will continue to be made available until I have a new update process in place.
Thank you.
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Melvyn Smith commented
Hi Gavin,
have been using these maps for the past four-five years on my Garmin eTrex 30 (I have a full set covering NZ). Have experienced no issues with them and appreciate that they have assisted me out of uncomfortable situations more than once (in areas where no mobile service, which is totally unreliable anyway). Would be disappointed if they are discontinued.
In am sure there are plenty of digitally capable people out there that are willing to assist. There is a challenge for all! I am willing to at least investigate if I can assist - can you please sent me any background information to the process of converting the files.
Melvyn
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Andrew commented
I absolutely love the ability to utilise these maps. I use them as an overlay in Google Earth for all my trip planning and marking down future trip ideas.
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Terry Broad commented
Works fine on my garmin montana 650t. Unfortunately recently stolen. I assume it will work just fine on my new garmin montana 680. If my 650t turns up, I will ask the insurance company to consider giving or lending to you.
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Peter Hamill commented
Would love this feature back. Used it as part of LandSAR to overlay topo on google earth to determine where we were sending the teams. Then loaded onto the field teams GPS and then we were all looking at the same maps when talking over the radio
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Dave Hansford commented
Please restore the KMZ download option: the Garmin loaded maps are not up to the standard of the LINZ topomaps...
Cheers,
Dave -
Ok, the Garmin Custom Map / KMZ downloads are seemingly a lot more popular than I realised.
When time allows I'll see if I can come up with a new process for generating them so that can be kept up to date with the latest LINZ updates.
The old downloads will remain available until I find a new solution.
Quite encouraging to hear that they were a lot more used than I realised. Thanks for the comments to let me know.
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Anonymous commented
As with others, I agree these are simply the best option out there! Please bring back this functionality if you can!
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Anonymous commented
Absolutely gutted this option is not being continued. Always my first choice to download these files as they are far superior to anything else available. The only good thing is the current maps are still available for download so lets hope this doesn't disappear.
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Richard commented
Hi Gavin,
I have been using the KMZ downloads on every weekend tramp on my Garmin GPSmap 62s where they have worked fine. I have even managed to unzipp the format and stitched map tiles together (with xml cut and paste) to cover tramping routes across map sheets. I do hope you get enough support to see the service resumed. Thanks for your efforts to date.
Cheers, Richard -
Barney commented
Hi Gavin, OMG, Very sad to see gone, has been outstanding facility, used many dozens of times for use with Garmin Etrex and Basecamp - custom maps and overlaying Google Earth all for tramping / hunting purposes. I have bought MapToaster for the whole NZ but still not as good as the real thing so continue to pluck sheets out of your .kmz files to use in the field. I for one would pay for this service, a small fee for each download seems fair if it helps pay for development time. Many thanks for the service so far. Could I suggest that keeping them synced, named and up to date with paper LINZ maps might not be necessary, I've never referenced one against the other, for my purposes it's irrelevant - not sure how others feel ? In fact once downloaded I just rip them apart anyway due to Garmin only allowing 100 sheets per Custom Map and sometimes the route might traverse two or three separate maps. Just having a facility to easily view, and download these topo maps is invaluable. Cheers. Barney
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You can still get the downloads from here to use with Google Earth and teach your students - http://www.topomap.co.nz/GarminCustomMaps
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Anonymous commented
I used to overlay these downloads over Google Earth for teaching students how to read Topomaps. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE bring this back!
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Anonymous commented
Hello Gavin, I along with 5 of my staff have found this to be an invaluable site and used it regularly. Really disappointed to see it go. The overlay onto google earth to provide our client with a map that meant something was so worthwhile. We use Trimble Gps to survey points - lay them on google earth then overlay topo map.
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@ Andrew Carman - Thanks for the app suggestion, but I suspect that app is a lot more forgiving than Garmin devices. The KMZ files seemed to need a very specific structure to work with Garmin devices unfortunately.
@ Ants - Unfortunately I had to remove the direct map downloads as the file names for the KMZ files are now out of sync with the newer files provided by LINZ resulting in broken links. I've really not been tracking how popular the KMZ downloads are, so if I've underestimated their popularity and usefulness I'll definitely chuck some time at coming up with a better automated solution for providing them again.
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Andrew Carman commented
I use the garmin custom maps on my Android phone with a free app called Locus (www.locusmap.eu). You could use that to test the files.
What I most value about them is that the file for each sheet as quite small (15-18MB for each sheet in the Tararuas, for example) but it contains the full detail. Downloading sections of the online maps via the app is cumbersome, restricted as to how much you are allowed to download in a day, and more bulky. With the .kmz files I just load up the map sheets I need for a trip into the Locus/mapitems folder on my phone. -
Ants commented
Absolutely love this feature to download into BaseCamp then onto my GPS. I was just showing a friend how to do it and found it had gone in within the last week :-(
Workaround as you say it to manually download the kmz files but it was nice to click the map to get it. I hate trying to use other tools to convert the LINZ GeoTIFF files to kmz.
Kudos for the site. Excellent work.