Author Topic: Etrex 20 - minor road visibility at zoom levels > 200ft  (Read 5967 times)

Etrex 20 - minor road visibility at zoom levels > 200ft
« on: 26 February, 2017, 11:42:35 pm »
Despite trying every option I can think of, including compiling my own maps, I have yet to succeed in getting minor and unclassified roads to display on maps with zoom levels set above 200ft.  Does anyone have any advice on mapsets or configurations that solves this issue?
Most of the stuff I say is true because I saw it in a dream and I don't have the presence of mind to make up lies when I'm asleep.   Bryan Andreas

frankly frankie

  • I kid you not
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Re: Etrex 20 - minor road visibility at zoom levels > 200ft
« Reply #1 on: 27 February, 2017, 10:46:45 am »
Presumably you've tried Detail 'more' or 'most'
> > >

It sounds a little odd - I use a similar zoom level (80m or 120m) and have my Detail level set to 'normal' (because 'more' or 'most' leads to very slow map re-draws when the map is zoomed out further) with OSM mapping there is no loss of detail (footpaths) until 300m - which is IMO a step too wide a view for cycling on UK lanes.  Using Garmin Metroguide maps some detail is lost at 200m, but as I say that is set to 'normal'. With these maps (which are less cluttered than OSM) a better setting would be 'more'.
when you're dead you're done, so let the good times roll

Phil W

Re: Etrex 20 - minor road visibility at zoom levels > 200ft
« Reply #2 on: 27 February, 2017, 09:04:12 pm »
I compile my own maps from OSM data. Think I have it set to hide the really minor roads at 500m and above zoom.  I'd have to look at the configuration files to see what I've set levels at. But basically you have to tell your compiler at what zoom levels to show a (minor) road and what symbol code to use which matches up to your style sheet symbols. So you can give roads different symbols at different zooms if you still want to show them but perhaps with a thinner line when zoomed out.

Re: Etrex 20 - minor road visibility at zoom levels > 200ft
« Reply #3 on: 27 February, 2017, 10:52:20 pm »
But basically you have to tell your compiler at what zoom levels to show a (minor) road and what symbol code to use which matches up to your style sheet symbols. So you can give roads different symbols at different zooms if you still want to show them but perhaps with a thinner line when zoomed out.

I will revisit the compiler zoom level options but am suspicious that I may be missing some trick with the etrex itself as I've managed to get my self-compiled maps displaying to my satisfaction on an old Garmin GPSmap 60 but when the same map is loaded on the etrex I get different zoom levels despite manual setting on the etrex?  Ideally, I want to have all minor and unclassified roads visible at zoom levels at <=500 metres. 
Most of the stuff I say is true because I saw it in a dream and I don't have the presence of mind to make up lies when I'm asleep.   Bryan Andreas

Phil W

Re: Etrex 20 - minor road visibility at zoom levels > 200ft
« Reply #4 on: 03 March, 2017, 08:52:59 pm »
P.S. I've got my OSM maps in Dropbox if you want to try them out. Last generated in June 2016.

Re: Etrex 20 - minor road visibility at zoom levels > 200ft
« Reply #5 on: 03 March, 2017, 09:21:03 pm »
P.S. I've got my OSM maps in Dropbox if you want to try them out. Last generated in June 2016.

Thanks Phil that would be great, could you give me access?
Most of the stuff I say is true because I saw it in a dream and I don't have the presence of mind to make up lies when I'm asleep.   Bryan Andreas

Phil W

Re: Etrex 20 - minor road visibility at zoom levels > 200ft
« Reply #6 on: 03 March, 2017, 09:50:28 pm »
P.S. I've got my OSM maps in Dropbox if you want to try them out. Last generated in June 2016.

Thanks Phil that would be great, could you give me access?

Away for weekend. Will sort next week.

Re: Etrex 20 - minor road visibility at zoom levels > 200ft
« Reply #7 on: 17 March, 2017, 09:57:41 pm »
P.S. I've got my OSM maps in Dropbox if you want to try them out. Last generated in June 2016.
Unfortunately the maps that Phil kindly shared with me have not fixed my problem.  At a zoom level of 50m all is well and the minor roads are visible

but at the next zoom level of 80m the minor roads disappear

I ran the etrex side by side with my edge tour on the KV200 last weekend both at the same zoom levels and the edge displays the level of detail I'm looking for perfectly, so I don't think I'm being overly ambitious in my expectations?
Most of the stuff I say is true because I saw it in a dream and I don't have the presence of mind to make up lies when I'm asleep.   Bryan Andreas

Phil W

Re: Etrex 20 - minor road visibility at zoom levels > 200ft
« Reply #8 on: 19 March, 2017, 04:21:32 pm »
P.S. I've got my OSM maps in Dropbox if you want to try them out. Last generated in June 2016.
Unfortunately the maps that Phil kindly shared with me have not fixed my problem.  At a zoom level of 50m all is well and the minor roads are visible

but at the next zoom level of 80m the minor roads disappear

I ran the etrex side by side with my edge tour on the KV200 last weekend both at the same zoom levels and the edge displays the level of detail I'm looking for perfectly, so I don't think I'm being overly ambitious in my expectations?

Hate to say it but those are not screen shots of how my mapping appears on the etrex 20. The styling is completely wrong. Are you sure you don't have other maps active and  set with a higher draw order / priority?

Re: Etrex 20 - minor road visibility at zoom levels > 200ft
« Reply #9 on: 19 March, 2017, 09:48:41 pm »
[quote author=Phil W link=topic=101953.msg2147748#msg2147748 date=1489940492
Hate to say it but those are not screen shots of how my mapping appears on the etrex 20. The styling is completely wrong. Are you sure you don't have other maps active and  set with a higher draw order / priority?
[/quote]
Hi Phil, you're right I mistakenly had the garmin city navigator map enabled when I took the screen shots, but I get the same loss of detail no matter which map is enabled or disabled including the one you shared.  If this isn't normal, I wonder if city navigator is fouling things up even though I only ever have 1 map enabled at a time?
Most of the stuff I say is true because I saw it in a dream and I don't have the presence of mind to make up lies when I'm asleep.   Bryan Andreas

frankly frankie

  • I kid you not
    • Fuchsiaphile
Re: Etrex 20 - minor road visibility at zoom levels > 200ft
« Reply #10 on: 20 March, 2017, 10:06:51 am »
I don't believe multiple maps would be a problem if you only have one enabled, and personally I've never encountered a problem with multiple maps showing at once, other than it slowing everything down a bit.
Your screenshots show that the 'detail' is actually still there - the road names are still showing, and the name is just an attribute of the road, so it's there somewhere, just not being rendered.  That could possibly be caused by having two maps enabled and the one on top showing less detail and partially blanking the one underneath.  But it's not a theory that convinces me.
when you're dead you're done, so let the good times roll

Re: Etrex 20 - minor road visibility at zoom levels > 200ft
« Reply #11 on: 20 March, 2017, 03:13:56 pm »
Your screenshots show that the 'detail' is actually still there - the road names are still showing, and the name is just an attribute of the road, so it's there somewhere, just not being rendered.

Indeed it is, and when I enable PhilW's maps I can also see all the houses and buildings that line the road, but not the road itself ???

I'm still hoping that an etrex 20 user will confirm that it is possible to view all roads at zoom > 50m before I try something drastic like a factory reset.
Most of the stuff I say is true because I saw it in a dream and I don't have the presence of mind to make up lies when I'm asleep.   Bryan Andreas

Ben T

Re: Etrex 20 - minor road visibility at zoom levels > 200ft
« Reply #12 on: 20 March, 2017, 03:15:05 pm »
welcome to try my map builder if you like
https://github.com/bjtaylor1/garminmaps

frankly frankie

  • I kid you not
    • Fuchsiaphile
Re: Etrex 20 - minor road visibility at zoom levels > 200ft
« Reply #13 on: 20 March, 2017, 05:43:05 pm »
I'm still hoping that an etrex 20 user will confirm that it is possible to view all roads at zoom > 50m before I try something drastic like a factory reset.

Oh I see.  Well - this is an E30 (same thing really) with OSM maps displayed plus a contours overlay (separate map file), all other maps at this location switched off.  The detail level is set to 'More' in the GPS setup menus (not my usual setting, I prefer 'Normal').  I've skipped some intermediate zoom levels where nothing much changes.
This OSM map is not a 'custom build' but a straight download from http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/ although I have applied my own style template - but this doesn't alter visibilities, just line thicknesses and colours.  The red dotted lines are footpaths which are the least significant linear features (ranked below any unclassified roads).  They still show at the 300m zoom but not at 500m zoom.  The GPS is still (pointlessly) attempting to render minor roads at the 1.2km zoom - it removes them at the 2km zoom (not shown here).

. . . . . .
zoom levels 50m, 120, 300, 500 and 1.2km
. . .
when you're dead you're done, so let the good times roll

Phil W

Re: Etrex 20 - minor road visibility at zoom levels > 200ft
« Reply #14 on: 20 March, 2017, 08:54:16 pm »
And what do you have under zoom levels (points, streets etc.) within advanced map setup?

simonp

Re: Etrex 20 - minor road visibility at zoom levels > 200ft
« Reply #15 on: 20 March, 2017, 09:20:12 pm »
How do you take those screenshots?

Re: Etrex 20 - minor road visibility at zoom levels > 200ft
« Reply #16 on: 20 March, 2017, 10:16:29 pm »
How do you take those screenshots?
Go to setup>display and enable screen capture, then navigate to the screen you want to capture and press the power button briefly. The capture files are stored in the garmin/scr folder which you can access in mass storage mode.
Most of the stuff I say is true because I saw it in a dream and I don't have the presence of mind to make up lies when I'm asleep.   Bryan Andreas

simonp

Re: Etrex 20 - minor road visibility at zoom levels > 200ft
« Reply #17 on: 20 March, 2017, 10:19:07 pm »
Something I've always wondered about answered, thanks!

Re: Etrex 20 - minor road visibility at zoom levels > 200ft
« Reply #18 on: 20 March, 2017, 10:23:15 pm »

This OSM map is not a 'custom build' but a straight download from http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/ although I have applied my own style template - but this doesn't alter visibilities, just line thicknesses and colours.  The red dotted lines are footpaths which are the least significant linear features (ranked below any unclassified roads).  They still show at the 300m zoom but not at 500m zoom.  The GPS is still (pointlessly) attempting to render minor roads at the 1.2km zoom - it removes them at the 2km zoom (not shown here).

Frankie and Ben, thanks for the "directions" I shall try out the straight download as Frankie has described and report back.
Most of the stuff I say is true because I saw it in a dream and I don't have the presence of mind to make up lies when I'm asleep.   Bryan Andreas

Re: Etrex 20 - minor road visibility at zoom levels > 200ft
« Reply #19 on: 20 March, 2017, 10:27:28 pm »
And what do you have under zoom levels (points, streets etc.) within advanced map setup?

I've tried setting them to the zoom level that I want the detail to appear on the screen, but I've not noticed any difference whatever setting I've chosen.
Most of the stuff I say is true because I saw it in a dream and I don't have the presence of mind to make up lies when I'm asleep.   Bryan Andreas

Phil W

Re: Etrex 20 - minor road visibility at zoom levels > 200ft
« Reply #20 on: 21 March, 2017, 05:41:43 pm »
And what do you have under zoom levels (points, streets etc.) within advanced map setup?

I've tried setting them to the zoom level that I want the detail to appear on the screen, but I've not noticed any difference whatever setting I've chosen.

If you don't tell us your settings we will be unable to determine if they may be the cause or rule them out.  My maps on my E20 show minor roads at zoom levels above 200ft. Your E20 does not. Logic says the most likely explanation is something different in your settings.  Without knowing your settings, given we now have the same mapping and device, we are not likely to proceed much further. You could of course reset your device to its original settings as a starting point.

Of course it may be something about the roads in the area you are looking at. But I presume the minor roads don't show no matter what area of the UK you are zoomed in to.

Re: Etrex 20 - minor road visibility at zoom levels > 200ft
« Reply #21 on: 21 March, 2017, 07:11:45 pm »
If you don't tell us your settings we will be unable to determine if they may be the cause or rule them out.  My maps on my E20 show minor roads at zoom levels above 200ft. Your E20 does not. Logic says the most likely explanation is something different in your settings.  Without knowing your settings, given we now have the same mapping and device, we are not likely to proceed much further.

Of course it may be something about the roads in the area you are looking at. But I presume the minor roads don't show no matter what area of the UK you are zoomed in to.

Phil, I've just loaded your maps again and tested at zoom level settings for map points, street label and land cover of 80m, 120m, 200m and 300m with detail set to "more".  But, the minor roads still only appear with a screen zoom level of 50m, irrespective of the zoom level setting.  Can  I ask what settings you use, I feel I may just be missing something really obvious?
Most of the stuff I say is true because I saw it in a dream and I don't have the presence of mind to make up lies when I'm asleep.   Bryan Andreas

Phil W

Re: Etrex 20 - minor road visibility at zoom levels > 200ft
« Reply #22 on: 21 March, 2017, 08:05:41 pm »
Leave them at auto seems to work and I have detail set to normal.

Re: Etrex 20 - minor road visibility at zoom levels > 200ft
« Reply #23 on: 21 March, 2017, 10:15:14 pm »
Success at last :thumbsup:

Running out of options I did a factory reset of the settings, but to no avail.  Just as I was about to give up hope I idly selected the restore defaults option on the setup map option

and hey presto!


I've owned the etrex 20 for about 3 years and have never been able to view maps in this amount of detail, my suspicion is that the City Navigator maps which I've always had installed may be to blame... although it's worth emphasising that whatever the problem was is that it was resistant to setup>reset>reset all settings

Many thanks to Frankie and PhilW for your perseverance.

Most of the stuff I say is true because I saw it in a dream and I don't have the presence of mind to make up lies when I'm asleep.   Bryan Andreas

Phil W

Re: Etrex 20 - minor road visibility at zoom levels > 200ft
« Reply #24 on: 22 March, 2017, 01:28:10 pm »
Excellent, restore defaults (for map) was what I meant when I said settings. Often hard to recall the exact wording of an option without the GPS turned on and in front of you.