a couple of times in the past year or so there have been some discussions about the size of SD cards used in Meridian units and more recently the Mobile Mapper. I'm still not sure what the limitations are technically, but I did find out a few things today for myself. The P.E. that we partner with on several municipality's projects had a very strange crash with his Meridian Platinum. The clock was advancing at a minute+ for every tick, and everything else was as big of a mess. So, to prove to him that dirt surveyors were far superior to every day dime a dozen Civil Engineer red tape guys when it comes to technology I told him I would fix the problem. I thought I may have to resort to the hard core memory wash, or worse yet send the unit in, stall for time, and B.S. my way along til the repair/replacement came through, but fortunately the "32" did the trick. Then I called him and suggested I load our area street level maps in his "good as new" unit. He was greatly impressed and I was greatly distressed to find I could not load the street level map file without a SD card....which he did not have installed. I remembered a few discussions about the SD card possibly being too large for the unit to recognize, or something along those lines, and decided to search the local WallyWorld and RadioShack for a 32 meg card. No dice! Both carried 128 meg as their smallest. Found a couple of 64 meg cards on sale (30 bucks each) at the local drug store. Well, after instaling a card in his Meridian Platinum I tried to no avail to install a map from MapSend Streets, but kept getting the error message the my Map 330 did not have enough memory to load the selected map. I kept trying different maps/sizes down to 300kb but still no workie. No sweat! I took my $30 Lexar Jumpdrive, put the 64mg SD card in, and loaded the "region" and "image" files directly (10+meg) to the sd card. Took nearly 20 seconds to load.

I'm not sure what the problem is with the software not recognizing the available memory, and I really don't care (since there is a very simple work around), but I am wondering if this same procedure would work with the more commonly available 128, 256 or 512 meg SD cards?

jd

p.s. the second of the $30 64meg SD cards went into our Mobile Mapper and was set up the same way.

You know what they say about those memory cards....

A card reader is a GOOD thing!

ps---the redneck riviera (sp??--Funk & Wagnalls "rivet" followed by "rivulet", huh, they missed it!) sustained minimal damage including the sailboats!
Modified By Dave Huff on 10/5/2004 at 1:12 AM

Dave

unbelievable news, considering the devastation on the other side of the ferry boat path.

sorry bout the hijack of the thread, will discuss more with ya.

Dangerous Dave
Modified By Dave Huff on 10/5/2004 at 1:28 AM

Regarding the MapSend problems...

Contact the friendly tech support folks through the web page at

http://www.magellangps.com

and they will probably tell you what I was told. It is time to upgrade your MapSend software.

I am presently using a 256MB SD card in Sharon's Meridian Color but the same card used in the MobileMapper that I use causes the receiver to lock up. I have successfully used a 128MB SD card in the MobileMapper and the Meridian Color. My first choice for the MobileMapper is a 64MB card. It seems to provide the best performance for me.

In all cases, the memory limitations have more to do with the GPS receiver than the size of the SD card. A 256MB card will not let me load a bigger region than I can load on the 64MB card with the versions of MapSend that I have.

Whether I use a 32, 64, or 128MB card in the MobileMapper the size of the job file is limited by the memory in the receiver. For more details see the MobileMapper FAQ folder on the ftp server at

ftp://ftp.thalesnavigation.com

Phil

I'm not sure what I was doing wrong, but I couldn't get MapSend to send even the background maps we use on our PM2's to the Meridian or the MM. It is an older version of MapSend we bought year before last, so it may just be a hardware recognition conflict (with the s/w). Whatever it is, I only used my old version of MapSend to create the region and image files, then plugged the SD card reader into the USB port and copied the image and region files directly from the hard drive to the SD card. That was a 10 meg street map file that worked in the Meridian P and in the MM. What would be the limit on the map size, and what would be the actual cause of the limitation? I realize that a Job File on the Mobile Mapper is going to be completely loaded into the ram, thus limiting the overall job file size. But, are the street level maps loaded entirely into ram? My guess is "no", but it is only a guess, and I'm asking.

Here's a good question to start with:

What is the maximum region map size that the Mobile Mapper can handle, and same for the Meridian Platinum?

I asked Sergio for some advice because my little science projects have me very confused about this issue of map size and SD card size.

Don't be bothered by that. Just understand that the receivers I use are sometimes as much or more of a science project than what some of you guys do.

If the the software is the MapSend programs, then the limit per region is up to 16MB and up to 4 regions overall (64 MB.) With MapSend DirectRoute is 1 region of about 64 MB.

Now my guess is that Sergio is working with current MapSend software and current receiver firmware. As far as DirectRoute is concerned he is not talking about the MobileMapper.

For more information about MapSend products please do contact the tech support folks at Magellan.

I believe my questions are answered concerning MapSend. Thanks.

Does this mean, if I wanted, I could install up to 64 megs (or the limit of a 64 meg SD card) of maps, whether in 4 seperate 16 meg panels with old MapSend or one complete file in "new" MapSend, and the Mobile Mapper or Meridian Platinum could handle it. Again, I understand the memory limits of the MM concerning project/job files, but am still not sure of the limits for it to read background maps.

A little more advice from Sergio:

Map region from MapSend Topo or Streets & Destinations can be uploaded to the MM up to the 4 regions of 16 MB each. If you have SD card reader, you can upload several .img files up the the SD card's capacity, just the same as the Meridian models right? Simply change the background maps (files) by choosing Select Map from the Menu/Setup screen.

I now remember doing this on our two week trip through ten western states. We had multiple sets of maps on one SD card and loaded them as we got on new turf.

For MobileMapper background maps we need to spend some quiet time with the manual and the FAQ's. I hit the wall several times in the early days but have not done so for several months.

....we need to spend some quiet time with the manual and the FAQ's.

hehe, JD got a "time out". ;)

:-(

NO Mopin' and clean up THAT mess!

you guys

I am the owner of a z extreme system, and would like to find some training for static sessions. Anyone know of a source?

Where y'at?