What is customisation?
Garmin GPS maps aren't like paper maps. Instead of being a picture, they contain instructions - like 'here is a hut' or 'there is a contour from here to here to there'. Your GPS has built-in ability to draw these things - e.g. it will draw lakes in blue, and contours as thin brown lines. Garmin recently added the ability to customise maps - to make it possible to change the way that the GPS draws things on the screen. So if you wanted your lakes orange, or your bush cover purple, it can be done. It's a bit like a 'skin'.
How do I install the customisation?
Below you will find a list of possible customisations. Click on the link. This will download a zip file to your computer. Either open or save this file. The zip file will contain one file called nztopo.typ. Save this file into the same location that you saved your maps. Typically, this might be c:\garmin\nztopo. You should be asked if you want to overwrite the existing file.
You will then need to run mapsource again, and reinstall all the map tiles to your GPS or data card. To save time, It would probably be a good idea to save only a couple of tiles initially. That way, you can have a look to see if the effect is what you want, before sending all the tiles.
What if I want something else ?
In the longer term, I would like to be able to make it so that you can choose your own schemes online, and generate the file you want. Until then, I will just have to make them up as required. Contact me if you would like something different. As people make requests for alternate schemes, I will add them here.
Available schemes:
Version 3 schemes:
| Version 3.03 - as released | download |
| Lighter / finer bush and scrub | download |
| Even lighter / finer bush and scrub | download |
| Lighter solid bush and scrub | download |
| Smaller buildings | download |
| Lighter solid bush and small buildings | download |
Version 4 schemes: Please note - the above schemes will only work properly with version 3.xx - they will not work properly with version 4. The default customisation that comes with version 4 is similar to the 'Light Solid bush and Small Buildings' of version 3 - except that there is a stipple added to the scrub to distinguish it better.
Please let me know if you want any other specific customisations that will work with version 4